Teacher's Rights are Equally Important

Nebraska 2023 LB 374 is good for teachers as well as parents

by Sue Greenwald, MD

The Parent’s Bill of Rights and Academic Transparency Act has a lot of good things in it’s 16 pages. The reason for that is the creative team that submitted their wish list to Senator Murman and his amazing staff. That team’s most listened to members were the Educators who volunteered. No Parent’s Rights bill was going to be presented that wasn’t also good for Educators— that was the mindset.

In my previous article on this topic Parents and Teachers—Take Education Back, I pointed out that education has been captured by the high dollar game of government money buying expensive on-line curriculum and surveys, and then rewarding the cooperative districts with grants. Administrators, while we may like them as individuals, are collectively creating a very top heavy environment for education dollars.

This graph is 10 years old, but you get the idea:

Something more recent, from the U.S. Dept of Education tells the same story:

All of these administrator salaries must be paid. Students bring in Esser funds, and lunch funds, and federal and state dollars that are per pupil disbursements. In contrast, parents and teachers bring in nothing dollar-wise. Is it any wonder that many school boards, administrators and superintendents seem oblivious to the plight of this constituency; or worse, see them as impediments to greater profit?

Teachers generally have a great heart for their students and are not driven by profit. In this respect, teachers and parents are natural allies. With this in mind, what is in the Parent’s Bill of Rights for teachers?

Transparency

Teachers and parents alike have struggled to obtain curriculum in a shareable manner. The on-line courses are “proprietary” they are told. They are password protected. Gone are the days when you could hand over a textbook for educators and parents to review before they were purchased. In some districts, school boards are approving large expenditures based upon a vague description by an online vendor, and a superintendent recommendation. There is often no disclosure as why that particular curriculum was chosen over another, such as potential conflicts of interest. There are parents in Nebraska who have spent this entire school year trying to obtain some samples of curriculum and are still being stymied with the year being 3/4 over. Teachers have been unable to help.

The Parent’s Rights bill puts the onus on administration to create an online portal for parents. Much of this portal will likely consist of access to web sites from which teaching materials are obtained. This can only be helpful for teachers. When everyone knows what to expect, there will be fewer bewildered parents taking the teacher’s time with concerns. There are some materials that are NOT to be publicly disclosed. These include (Sec 2b)

“Learning materials does not include academic assessments or tests, a teacher's individual lesson plans, or plans or materials that are specific to an individual student, such as an individualized education plan, an individual plan of study.”

The teacher’s individual lesson plans, and thus their privacy, is preserved.

Autonomy

Lately, we have been hearing from teachers that some of the expensive curriculum being purchased for classroom use is inappropriate for their students. They have had to spend their time picking through lessons to find the “least bad” parts that they are willing to use. This is an unconscionable waste of their time. Bad curriculum is bad curriculum. If parents have access, it will be weeded out. If the portal is developed according to the proposed statute, teachers will have the ability to make changes on a weekly or monthly basis after the broad outline is entered by administration at the beginning of the year.

Significantly, teachers will not be forced to teach ideologies that are antithetical to their sincerely held beliefs. (Sec 10)

(1) “No school or school employee shall compel a teacher or 6 student to adopt, affirm, adhere to, or profess ideas in violation of 7 Title IV or Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964”

And this: “No course of instruction, unit of study, professional development, or training program shall direct or otherwise compel teachers to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the ideas listed in subsection (1) of this section.”

But they will not be limited in instruction, these exceptions are enumerated:

“This section shall not be construed to prohibit: (a) A teacher or school employee from discussing the ideas and history of the ideas listed in subsection (1) of this section; or (b) Teachers or students from discussing public policy issues or ideas that individuals may find unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive.”

Career Protection

Teachers are fearful of retaliation. We hear it all the time. The fear is not only for themselves and their career goals, but also for their children who have been bullied by other teachers and administrators when a teacher takes a stand. It is horrendous to think about, but it is happening here in Nebraska. The smallest towns are the worst. The Parent’s Rights bill has not forgotten about these teachers. (Sec 11)

“(1) A teacher who refuses to teach matters prohibited by section 10 of this act or to teach matter against such teacher's sincerely held religious beliefs shall not be subject to an adverse licensure or employment action by a state or local educational authority because of such refusal.”

“(2) For purposes of this section: (a) Adverse licensure or employment action means: (i) To receive a negative evaluation; (ii) To have a certificate revoked, suspended, or otherwise subject to restriction or discipline; or (iii) To have a contract refused renewal”

Respect

Sometimes all it takes is to even the playing field. (Sec 12)

“A parent, student, or teacher aggrieved by a violation of the Parents' Bill of Rights and Academic Transparency Act may bring a civil action for appropriate relief. Appropriate relief includes: (a) Actual damages; (b) Such preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief as may be appropriate; and (c) Reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred”

Although LB 374 is entitled “The Parent’s Bill of Rights and Academic Transparency Act”, the rights of teachers have always been at the forefront. Anything that is good for teachers will also be good for parents and students. Improving communication between the school-room and the parent is a win-win.

The author is a retired Pediatrician and a co-founder of the Protect Nebraska Children Coalition