Conservative Nebraska lawmakers push bills that would intertwine religion with public education
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Conservative lawmakers who want to intertwine religion with school curriculum in Republican-dominated Nebraska presented a slew of bills Monday to the state Legislature’s education committee. The list includes a bill that would give parents more control over their local school’s library books and curriculum and another that would allow public school students to receive school credit for attending religious classes outside school. Another measure would change school funding to loop in private school tuition while forbidding the state from interfering in private schools’ curriculum or beliefs. Sen. Dave Murman, the conservative chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee, has revived his so-called parents rights bill that would make it easier for parents to object to curriculum and remove books from school libraries. The bill introduced last year was among those that stalled as conservatives focused on passing a bill to allow taxpayer money to be used to fund private school scholarships. That measure, signed into law last June, is the subject of a ballot referendum that will ask voters in November …