![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/SenBrasch_inline-200x300.jpg\")
Brasch said the bill is meant to ensure that schools give students foundational knowledge of American history and civics\u2014subjects that she fears some schools do not emphasize. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re falling behind on that knowledge,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Senators voted 27-13 on March 29 to place the bill on general file, even though the Education Committee had taken no action to advance it. This unusual maneuver requires a majority vote of the Legislature.<\/p>\n
A pending amendment introduced by Brasch would replace the bill. It would require each Americanism committee to hold at least three public meetings annually and to keep minutes from those meetings. The committee would ensure that the school\u2019s social studies curriculum is aligned with the standards adopted by the state Board of Education and \u201cteaches and assesses foundational knowledge in civics, history, economics, financial literacy and geography.\u201d <\/p>\n
The committee also would be required to ensure that the district develops and gives assessments to eighth- and 11th-graders to measure mastery of the social studies standards. The assessments would include, but not be limited to, the civics portion of the naturalization exam administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The scores for each student would be made available to the parents or guardians of the student.<\/p>\n
Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte supported the amendment. He said the state Department of Education asked for clarification of the Americanism statute\u2014which has been in place since 1949\u2014before it revamps state social studies standards next year. LB1069 would modernize the law in several ways, Groene said, including by adding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s birthday and American Indian Day as occasions on which the superintendent of every school holds patriotic exercises. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t American pride,\u201d Groene said. \u201cThis is teaching civics, how to be an American.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings also supported the amendment, saying that requiring students to take the civics exam would teach them foundational knowledge of American history and government, including the Constitution, the three branches of government and states\u2019 rights. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t expect our students to graduate with less knowledge than new immigrants will have when they\u2019re successful at becoming new citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln said that any changes to curriculum regarding American history and civic engagement should include the movements to secure civil rights, women\u2019s rights, workers\u2019 rights, voting rights and rights for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cDebating a bill about Americanism without debating our history and about the rights that have been fought for by all kinds of people who have overcome oppression is not, to me, a debate about Americanism at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld opposed the amendment, saying that it emphasizes rote memorization of facts instead of teaching critical thinking skills and civil discourse. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe build good citizens by ensuring that people have critical thinking skills and the ability and the confidence to tackle issues in their community,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The Legislature adjourned before voting on the amendment or the bill. LB1069 is unlikely to be scheduled for additional debate this session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Legislature debated a bill April 9 intended to ensure civic competence among Nebraska students. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-23974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-sen-lydia-brasch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23976,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23974\/revisions\/23976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}