LINCOLN- State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, the chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee, and some of his eight handpicked testifiers previewed the structure of education during a three-hour hearing at the Capitol that devolved at times into talk of slavery, critical race theory, porn and whether philanthropist Bill Gates influences the evaluation of curricula for K-12 schools.

Murman’s hearing lumped together input on LRs 147, 148 and 149, which seek interim studies of parent involvement in education, how the Department of Education has used COVID-19 pandemic relief funds and the concept of social and emotional learning. He said his goal for the hearing was to improve and help him pass his “parents’ bill of rights,” LB374. Murman spelled out his belief that some schools and school districts are preventing parents from reviewing objectionable books and materials in libraries and keeping some from pushing back against parts of the curriculum that involve discussions of race and gender.

Murman and several testifiers faced pushback from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, an Education Committee member. Sen. Terrell McKinney and three other senators hosted a competing forum Monday in another State Capitol hearing room, defending social and emotional learning, along with State Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha and Carol Blood of Bellevue.

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