Local parents are suing LPS because it tries to support trans kids
The Good Life? Vol. 1, No. 5
Hi,
Welcome to the fifth installment of my column for paid subscribers in which I talk about good and not-so-good things happening in Nebraska. If you're new to the newsletter, I explain the concept here:
Tynan Stewart
Today's piece is mostly devoted to unpacking an insane lawsuit against Lincoln Public Schools that's part of a broader conservative legal effort to convince the courts that public schools are unconstitutional. There are a ton of other news stories I wish I had time to talk about, including the Board of Regents' decision to cut more degree programs at UNL, the proliferation of (extremely sketchy) new political parties, and the latest development in the saga of alleged ballot petition fraud. But I spent too much time reading about the lawsuit and watching an NPM segment about bighorn sheep.
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Paying for the newsletter helps keep it sustainable. The other stuff I publish, including the weekly events calendar and coverage of the local arts scene, is free! I've also left my discussion of the lawsuit against LPS outside the paywall because I think it's important.
~ Ty
P.S. Please send me things I should write about. Or just tell me how wrong I am about something. My email is tynanstewart@proton.me
Not The Good Life: A new lawsuit is part of a far-right effort to destroy public schools
Yesterday, Nebraska Public Media broke the news about a new lawsuit filed against Lincoln Public Schools and spearheaded by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit that litigates on behalf of right-wing causes and has the backing of powerful conservative funders like billionaire Charles Koch.
While I appreciate NPM's initial coverage, their story doesn't even begin capture how insane this lawsuit is. So let's talk about it.
I read the whole complaint, all 34 pages of it. It was filed on behalf of parents who say they have, for the most part, removed their kids from the local public school system. Why? Because the parents disagreed with so-called "government-curated ideologies," as the lawsuit puts it. In other words, the parents are upset that their kids were exposed to ideas (and in some cases, facts) that they object to because of religious or political reasons. Of course, the families have every right to opt out of public schools if they want. That's not the issue: They're suing because the state of Nebraska won't cover the costs of sending their children to private school or homeschooling them.
So what are the "government-curated ideologies" that bothered the parents? Primarily, they're upset that schools expect students to treat their trans classmates like human beings. From the lawsuit:
That last one really gets to me. I can't personally speak to how well or consistently LPS supports and accommodates its trans and queer students. But the fact that a parent would object to the idea of respecting the pronouns of someone else's child is deranged. That's the bare minimum a school could possibly provide to a trans kid and it's still too much for these parents.
The lawsuit cites a few other conservative bugbears, including social and emotional learning practices and the district's racial equity goals. Remarkably, it also lays out what sounds like a paranoid conspiracy theory from one set of parents about how their child was allegedly "coached" (presumably by someone in their school) to argue with the parents about the reality of climate change:
In addition to the examples above, Plaintiffs experienced other government school messaging affecting their children. One of the Menter’s children became very forceful in suggesting that her parents reduce their driving because the school had successfully inculcated the child with the idea that carbon-dioxide was a pollutant that would destroy the planet. The government’s education was motivating conduct through fear. Not only that, but the child was coached to take a hostile or disrespectful tone toward adults concerning this topic.
I want to laugh at this. The idea that a parent can't handle an argument with their child over whether or not they should be driving less (and that their solution is to sue the school district over its teaching of science) is wild. But the broader context of the case is just too grim for me to find much humor here.
The lawsuit seems to be premised on a right-wing legal theory propagated almost exclusively by the New Civil Liberties Alliance and its founder, Philip Hamburger, that parents have an exclusive right to control their kids' education, a right that is supposedly protected by the First Amendment. Moreover, Hamburger's goal — as he has spelled out quite clearly and explicitly in his public writing — is to destroy the public school system as we know it.
Don't believe me? Read the op-ed he published in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago. Here's the kicker:
The public school system therefore is unconstitutional, at least as applied to parents who are pressured to abandon their own educational speech choices and instead adopt the government’s.
Parents should begin by asking judges to recognize—at least in declaratory judgments—that the current system is profoundly unconstitutional. Once that is clear, states will be obliged to figure out solutions. Some may choose to offer tax exemptions for dissenting parents; others may provide vouchers. Either way, states cannot deprive parents of their right to educational speech by pushing children into government schools.
This is an argument so fringe and out-there that it has been rejected even by other conservatives. But, alas, Lincoln has become the test case for putting it into practice, and a few local parents' hostility towards trans kids is the excuse for doing so.
I should note that the news release put out by the New Civil Liberties Alliance claims that the parents "do not seek to end, defund, or influence public schools," a statement that may technically be true but feels rather hollow. This lawsuit might not explicitly call for the end of public education. But it's clearly part of a larger legal project that seeks to profoundly influence and ultimately dismantle public education.
Frankly I have no idea whether this case is likely to succeed, and I'm not qualified to speculate. All I know is that it's depressing and I'll be watching it closely.
The Good Life: A Nebraska city is rejecting automated license plate readers (aka Flock cameras)