What's Behind Nebraska's Grinchiness?

The new Grinch movie is great! You really start to feel sorry for the poor Grinch who is lonely and sad up there on the mountain while he listens to the Whos singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” below. But, fortunately, the Grinch is a dynamic character whose heart actually grows three sizes over the course of the show. Three sizes! Always optimistic, we’re hopeful that some frozen Nebraska hearts are growing during this Christmas season as well.

In the midst of a media firestorm, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture. This past week, Nebraskans have once again felt embarrassed as one of our public schools made national headlines for “banning Christmas.”

Let’s take a step back and look at a developing pattern:

2014: LPS teacher training materials advise teachers to stop calling children “boys” and “girls.”
2016: LPS bans students from flying flags.
2018: Elkhorn principal bans Christmas.

All three of these stories garnered significant attention from national news outlets, as well they should. These authoritarian overreaches might make some wonder if our state is still part of the United States of America where freedom in its various forms is guaranteed by our first (First! They’re that important!) amendment. But why do these constitutional breaches keep happening in Nebraska?

There may be several reasons Nebraska is prone to this, but there’s a pretty straight-line correlation between the money watering the K-12 orchard and the strange fruit being grown on the trees.

Leftist Billionaire Influence
Warren Buffet once said that the answer to the problems in our education system is to “make private schools illegal and assign every child to a [state] school by random lottery.” Fortunately, Nebraska state senators haven’t completely wiped out parental authority like Buffett seems to want. But the Buffett family’s influence reaches into just about every facet of our education system.

Let’s take a look at the current controversy. Jennifer Sinclair, the principal who attempted to ban Christmas at Manchester Elementary School, is the acting president for Region II of the Nebraska Association for Elementary School Principals (NAESP), which is part of the Nebraska Association of School Administrators (NCSA). The NCSA receives funding from the Sherwood Foundation, which is run by Warren Buffett’s daughter Susie and is funded with shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

What does it take to receive funding from the Sherwood Foundation? This the word-for-word mission statement on their website: “The Sherwood Foundation® promotes equity through social justice initiatives enhancing the quality of life in Nebraska.”

Social justice is essentially Marxism, and Marxist-like authoritarianism is exactly what is causing Nebraska to get so much national airtime. If you look at the three controversies listed above, they’re all about taking away teachers’ and students’ freedom. Marxism depends on the state as the ultimate authority, so religion is, in leftist terms, “problematic.” Individualism, a hallmark of the school choice movement, is also problematic, and if you ever want to see a group of people who are wholeheartedly committed to dispelling any chance of school choice in Nebraska, peruse the social media feeds of the leadership of NElovesPS, NCSA, NAESP, OpenSky, Nebraska Appleseed and Stand for Schools.


Climbing the Education Ladder in Nebraska
It’s virtually impossible to climb the education ladder in Nebraska without joining the Sherwood club. Sherwood funds NElovesPS, Stand for Schools, OpenSky, Nebraska Appleseed, NCSA and many more organizations that seek to expand authority over parents and children (and teachers, obviously) and fight freedom and choice. Sherwood also funds many nonprofits that support state senators who tow the leftist line.

In fact, loyalists have to show their fealty by wearing NElovesPS t-shirts and repeating hypocritical phrases like “All Means All” if they want to move into coveted, highly-paid administrative positions. ​

Poor Jennifer Sinclair was moving right up that ladder. Somehow she had become a leader in NAESP even though she was a first-year principal. Perhaps someone took notice of how boldly she was willing to wave the authoritarian banner. The Nebraska education system operates in such a bubble that some administrators have no idea how out-of-touch and unAmerican their ideas seem.

Can our Grinches change? They can if they want to. Either way, we can change the system and increase education freedom and opportunity in Nebraska.

What Can You Do?
Tired of seeing our state look ridiculous in the national news? We have an action list for you:

• Send an email to your state senator and say you won’t vote for him or her again unless you see votes for school choice.
• Call your state senator and ask what he or she will do this upcoming session to support first amendment rights for students, parents, and teachers.
• Learn more about school choice by following us on Facebook and Twitter and reading up on charter schools, tax-credit scholarships, ESAs, and vouchers.
• Get ready to celebrate Nebraska School Choice Week!
• Start seeing the NElovesPS propaganda for what it is.
• Offer support to local teachers who feel oppressed by authoritarian treatment from unions and administrators.
• Teach kids that they still have first amendment rights when they’re at school, even if they’re told otherwise by people wearing propaganda t-shirts.
• Write letters to the editor proclaiming support for freedom and choice in our education system.
• Watch school choice YouTube videos from Choice Media, PragerU, Reason, and more. You’ll find a wealth of material produced by people from all walks of life and both sides of the aisle. In fact, Bob Krist and Pete Ricketts both appear in this one.
• Refuse to vote for candidates who accept money from the NSEA, LEA, or other Nebraska teachers unions.
• Contact us to write a guest blog post for the School Choice Nebraska blog. We’d love to hear your perspective!