{"id":2644452,"date":"2026-08-13T14:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T18:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlawsuit-its-unconstitutional-that-education-is-free-but-only-at-government-indoctrination-mills\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T14:26:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T18:26:55","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlawsuit-its-unconstitutional-that-education-is-free-but-only-at-government-indoctrination-mills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlawsuit-its-unconstitutional-that-education-is-free-but-only-at-government-indoctrination-mills\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit: It&#8217;s Unconstitutional That Education Is &#8216;Free,&#8217; But Only At Government Indoctrination Mills"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlawsuit-its-unconstitutional-that-education-is-free-but-only-at-government-indoctrination-mills%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2644452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Two families from Lincoln, Nebraska, are suing government entities over what they claim is a viewpoint monopoly on free education, arguing that families only receive educational benefits if they accept the government&#8217;s opinions and curriculum. The lawsuit, filed by the new Civil Liberties Alliance, claims this violates first Amendment rights by effectively penalizing parents who seek alternatives to public schools, such as private or homeschooling, which must be paid for entirely out of pocket.Nebraska law mandates children attend some form of schooling,but only public education provides free benefits,creating a system where education is viewed as a form of speech dictated by the state.<\/p>\n<p>The families allege they&#8217;ve experienced government overreach in schools, such as exposure to transgender ideology, critical race theory, and climate change indoctrination, which they find unacceptable. They also argue that the state&#8217;s funding preferences amount to viewpoint discrimination, infringing on parents&#8217; free speech and parental rights to direct their children&#8217;s education. The lawsuit emphasizes that education, as a form of speech, shoudl be protected, and the current system forces families to choose between paying high costs or accepting the state&#8217;s curriculum.The families request a court declaration that current benefits linked solely to public school attendance are unconstitutional and seek damages. The case aligns with recent Supreme Court rulings affirming that government cannot condition free education on acceptance of certain ideologies, reaffirming the constitutional right of parents to control their children&#8217;s educational speech.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Two Lincoln, Nebraska, families are suing multiple state and local government entities over their viewpoint monopoly on a free education, arguing families are only afforded educational benefits if they agree that their children be exclusively subjected to the government\u2019s opinions and curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit, obtained by The Federalist, argues on First Amendment grounds that parents in Nebraska seeking alternatives to government schools are blocked from the benefits of a free education, because choosing an alternative forces families to foot the bill entirely.<\/p>\n<p>The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which is representing the two families, said, \u201cNebraska ranks among the worst states in the nation for parental choice.\u201d There are no tax credits, scholarships, education savings accounts, or the like that many states have adopted to allow attainable alternatives to public schools for families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe unconstitutional conditions doctrine exists to stop the government from doing indirectly what it cannot do directly,\u201d NCLA counsel Christian Clase said. \u201cNebraska cannot ban parents from teaching their own children their own values\u2014so instead it penalizes them for exercising that recognized right. But the Constitution does not tolerate that abridgement of parents\u2019 free speech rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Nebraska, it is a Class III misdemeanor for parents not to enroll their children in some form of school, whether that is public, private, denominational, parochial, or homeschooling. If a parent does not, they could face up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.<\/p>\n<p>While it is the law to educate one\u2019s children, only a public school education will afford parents the benefits that come with a free education. <\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit argues that the state does not fund education, but rather it\u2019s preferred viewpoint on education which therefore makes education a form of speech. For example, the school chooses its teachers, the guidelines of what the teachers can say, texts, images, expressive conduct, and which books they assign and what ideas to emphasize from those books. Those are all viewpoint choices on the part of the school, according to the suit.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of benefits for parents who do not want to subject their children to that viewpoint violates their First Amendment right to direct their children\u2019s educational speech, and creates a system where parents must \u201cpay to escape government indoctrination,\u201d the lawsuit argues.<\/p>\n<p>The Jacobsen and Menter families each had experiences with unacceptable educational realities at Lincoln Public Schools (LPS).<\/p>\n<p>LPS told the Jacobsen daughter that she \u201cmust accommodate transgender individuals in the girls\u2019 bathrooms and locker rooms. She was encouraged to remove herself from those spaces if she felt uncomfortable sharing them with biological males,\u201d the lawsuit states. She was also required to use false pronouns for students who claimed to be the wrong gender.<\/p>\n<p>The school district also exposed the Jacobsen children to critical race theory-style programming that said some races are oppressors and some are victims, based entirely on skin color, according to the suit.<\/p>\n<p>The Menter family was forced to pull two of their children out of LPS after the district made a prominently displayed sticker \u201cendorsing alternative sexuality and transgendered ideologies,\u201d the lawsuit states, and a school librarian recommended one of their <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >children read books promoting transgender ideology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There was climate change indoctrination as well, which saw one of the Menter children become \u201cvery forceful in suggesting that her parents reduce their driving because the school had successfully inculcated the child with the idea that carbon-dioxide was a pollutant that would destroy the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government\u2019s education was motivating conduct through fear,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cNot only that, but the child was coached to take a hostile or disrespectful tone toward adults concerning this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both families have either had to cover the cost of an education they otherwise would not have, or are facing down the reality that they will have to submit to the government\u2019s viewpoint.<\/p>\n<p>The families \u201chave been forced to undertake burdens not imposed on public school parents and have, in effect, been penalized for refusing to continue to adopt government messaging as their own educational speech,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2024-2025 school year, Nebraska spent about $19,038 per student, and LPS spent about $17,432. An average private elementary school tuition in the state is about $7,100 per year, while high school is about $11,000. Homeschooling costs less in overhead, but typically requires one parent stay out of the workforce, costing an entire salary.<\/p>\n<p>As the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided in <em>Mahmoud v. Taylor<\/em>, the \u201c\u2018government cannot condition the benefit of a free public education on parents\u2019 acceptance\u2019 of instruction that violates their First Amendment free-exercise rights,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>Another Supreme Court case says that the \u201cunconstitutional conditions doctrine \u2018vindicates the Constitution\u2019s enumerated rights by preventing the government from coercing people into giving them up.&#8217;\u201d In other words, the government cannot create the conditions that coerce people into surrendering enumerated rights like those in the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff families are not asking the school or state to change the curriculum, or to tell the state legislature to pick a remedy to the problem. Rather, the families are asking the court to declare that public benefits afforded only if children attend public school is an unconstitutional free speech violation.<\/p>\n<p>They are also asking that the government defendants stop maintaining that unconstitutional system and award families damages equal to the per-pupil funding in LPS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat formal education is speech is largely undisputable. That parents have the primary right to provide educational speech to their children is legally established,\u201d Zhonette Brown, general counsel and senior litigation counsel at NCLA, stated. \u201cCourts have long recognized speech rights in the education context, protecting parents\u2019 educational speech is the next logical step.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Families sue Nebraska over viewpoint restrictions in education<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2644453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Copy-of-M-1-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5152,32311,5045,51639],"class_list":["post-2644452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-education","tag-free-speech","tag-government","tag-law-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Copy-of-M-1-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2644452"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2644456,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2644452\/revisions\/2644456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2644453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2644452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2644452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2644452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}