Could Critical Race Theory be the next Nebraska Legislature hot button?

If you thought that the mostly one-sided filibuster-driven debate on transgender issues and abortion was the thing that dragged the 2023 Nebraska legislature to a near standstill, steel yourself for what could lie ahead.

State Senator Dave Murman of Glenvil, the chair of the legislature's Education Committee, says he wants to study the use of critical race theory and other controversial subjects in the classroom.

Innocently enough, the studies stem from a request to investigate the Nebraska Department of Education made by a collection of state senators.

Those were met with a trio of interim study resolutions to look at parental involvement in public schools, the usage of "social-emotional learning" in the classroom and how federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding was used for a state website aimed at helping schools through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kudos to the senator for starting with a hearing instead of just landing on a topic that has the backing of the national Republican Party and cramming it down his colleagues' throats. In case you forgot, that's pretty much what happened with the transgender and abortion issues. The 32-member Republican majority in the officially nonpartisan legislature decided to bully the 16 Democrats and one Independent who are also state senators.

So, the hearing, albeit a little restrained, will be held July 31 and committee members will hear invited testimony from department officials, retired educators and parents. The hearing is open to the public, but the general public will not be allowed to testify, Murman said, adding it's not unusual for interim study resolutions to limit testimony to invited guests. IMHO, it doesn't do anything for goodwill.

Last year, Murman was among those calling for an investigation into the Department of Education, alleging it provided materials to teachers promoting critical race theory through the website Launch Nebraska.

Now he says that "investigation" is too strong a word to describe his goals. He wants to consider how Nebraska's education system can improve in these areas moving forward. Uh, ok. Investigate or improve. That's what parents have demanded over the past two years.

Bottom line, it boils down to CRT, the moniker for critical race theory and one document titled "Winning Racial Justice in Our Schools," by the Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative at New York University. The document was never directly available on the department's websites, but it was accessible by clicking a link to a different website which at one point had a link to it.

Education Department spokesman David Jespersen said this connection was in place for a few months at most. The department was not aware that the document was indirectly available until last summer, when then-Gov. Pete Ricketts' office reached out with concerns, and in response department officials removed the link. Former Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said in October the lawmakers who backed the investigation did not reach out beforehand.

There's no evidence the document was ever used in any Nebraska public schools. But Murman said he continues to hear concerns from parents and teachers about inappropriate material being taught in the classroom.

Although people have differing interpretations of critical race theory, a central tenet of it is the assertion that the laws and legal institutions in the U.S. are inherently racist and advantage White people over other races, particularly African Americans. Adherents say the theory is a framework or lens for understanding race in history and society. But critics say it promotes the idea that members of a specific race are inherently inferior or superior.

Now here's what we like to hear from an Education Committee chairman, Murman said he would prefer Nebraska's public schools focus on "the basics," such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Social issues, he said, are best left to be taught by parents or churches.

Critical race theory has existed for decades within academia, but it has recently become a key talking point for Republican politicians, including then - Gov. Pete Ricketts. It's an academic framework that views racism as systemic, embedded in systems and policies, rather than as an individual issue. It's generally taught at the graduate level, but opponents often call it un-American and use the term to cover a broad range of anti-racism and diversity curriculum and initiatives.

Gov. Jim Pillen was a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents when the UNL Office of Diversity and Inclusion was created in 2018. The office was created to coordinate and advance diversity efforts, mostly focused on campus culture.

Charles Herbster, one of Pillen's opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary, constantly reminded voters that critical race theory first entered the university under Pillen's watch. It didn't work; Pillen won the nomination and the governor's race.

But Herbster and his money are still out there. His political action committee has not proven to be shy in throwing money at controversy.

Let's just hope that Murman's reading, writing and arithmetic issues take precedent.

J.L. Schmidt has been covering Nebraska government and politics since 1979. He has been a registered Independent for more than 20 years.