Nebraska joined the ranks of states cutting ties with the National School Boards Association on Saturday, making it the 25th state to boycott the organization after the NSBA sent a letter to President Biden in September 2021 urging the federal government to use domestic terrorism laws to go after parents at school board meetings. The Nebraska Association of School Boards voted to withdraw less than a month after its executive committee voted to cancel its membership, the Omaha World Herald reported.
The NSBA’s letter to President Biden has enraged half of the states in the union now by suggesting that parental involvement in school board meetings amounts to“domestic terrorism” and by calling on the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Secret Service to quash parent interference. The letter’s first draft apparently included a petition for use of the Army National Guard but a different copy was sent.
“[W]ith such acute threats and actions that are disruptive to our students’ well-being, to the safety of public school officials and personnel, and to interstate commerce, we urge the federal government’s intervention against individuals or hate groups who are targeting our schools and educators,” the letter read.
The only supposed “hate” group referenced in the letter was one that posted watchlists about school boards.
As states like Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania began to drop out of the association almost immediately, the NSBA issued an apology for the letter in October 2021, but the public backtracking hasn’t stopped the mass exodus.
Nebraska politicians joined the state school board association in criticism of the NSBA letter, with Sen. Ben Sasse labeling the NSBA’s collusion with the Biden Justice Department a “political hack job” and Gov. Pete Ricketts insisting that following the letter’s requests would be an “absolute outrageous abuse of federal power” meant to “browbeat parents into not going to school board meetings.”
Source: The Federalist
