The leader of Senate Republican caucus joined his House counterpart in opposing new proposed social studies standards.
Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said the standards proposed by the state Department of Education, to be used by teachers in the next school year, "are weakened by downplaying and/or eliminating the American understanding of inalienable natural rights we all possess by virtue of our humanity...."
Hann made his comments in a letter to Judge Barbara Nielson of the Office of Administrative Hearings, who is hearing complaints and deciding whether the new standards can go into effect as they are written.
Hann joins House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, who wrote the judge last month that the proposed standards de-emphpasized "the contributions of the United States and our economic and political ideals."
Hann's letter said the department exceeded the statutory authority granted to them by the Legislature in rewriting the standards.
