(AUDIO) State Senators Issue Joint Letter Opposing Nebraska Department of Education Health Standards

(AUDIO) State Senators Issue Joint Letter Opposing Nebraska Department of Education Health Standards
Photo courtesy Nebraska Legislature
April 1st, 2021 | Beth Rogers

Twenty-eight Nebraska State Senators issued an open letter to Nebraska Department of Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt asking him and the State Board of Education to remove “ideologically motivated content” from the newly proposed Health Standards.

The group includes Sen. Joni Albrecht, who says she has designated LB 281, which centers around child sex abuse, as her priority bill.

Albrecht says LB281 has been passed in 37 other states, and has been around since 2009.

“While there are beneficial health-related items in the recently released Health Education Standards, we are deeply disturbed about material related to sex education, marriage and family, and gender,” the letter reads. The Senators specifically note the “Human Growth and Development” portion of the standards, which violates “the right of parents as the first educators of their child.”

Albrecht expresses her concern.

Senators asked that all sex education be removed from the proposed standards.

Albrecht tells KTIC News people can weigh in on this.

The joint letter comes right before the State Board of Education public meeting to be held on Friday at 9:00 a.m. The proposed Health Standards have drawn significant opposition from Nebraskans across the state.

The letter mentions past legislative attempts to mandate statewide comprehensive sex education, which the Nebraska Legislature has “repeatedly rejected,” and calls the proposed Health Education Standards a “back door attempt to propose what the people of this state have rejected.”

The group also includes Senator Julia Slama (LD 1), Senator Robert
Clements (LD 2), Senator Robert Hilkemann (LD 4), Senator Mike McDonnell (LD 5) Senator John Arch (LO 14), Senator Ben Hansen (LD 16), Senator Brett Lindstrom (LD 18), Speaker Mike Hilgers (LD 21), Senator Mike Moser (LD 22), Senator Bruce Bostelman (LD 23), Senator Suzanne Geist (LO 25), Senator Myron Dorn (LD 30), Senator Tom Brandt (LD 32), Senator Steve Halloran (LD 33), Senator Curt Friesen (LD 34), Senator Ray Aguilar (LD 35), Senator John Lowe (LD 37), Senator Dave Murman (LO 38), Senator Lou Ann Linehan (LD 39), Senator Tim Gragert (LD 40), Senator Tom Briese (LD 41), Senator Mike Groene (LD 42), Senator Tom Brewer (LD 43), Senator Dan Hughes (LD 44), Senator Rita Sanders (LD 45), Senator Steve Erdman (LD 47), and Senator John Stinner (LD 48).

Click here to listen to Interview with Senator Albrecht 

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