Signatures being gathered seeking to stop Nebraska’s revamped school choice law

Tim Royers of the NSEA answers questions from reporters on Aug. 30, 2023, about the petition drive for Support Our Schools. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — The union representing Nebraska’s K-12 public school teachers and its supporters can now gather signatures seeking to stop a new state law that helps some students pay for private schooling.

Members of the Nebraska State Education Association march from their annual downtown Lincoln meeting to the Nebraska State Capitol. April 20, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Bob Evnen released the language that petition gatherers are using to target much of Legislative Bill 1402, the latest version of a scholarship or voucher program for students attending private K-12 schools. 

The petition seeks to “repeal section 1 of LB 1402 … which directs $10 million dollars annually for financial grants-in-aid for eligible students to attend a qualifying privately operated elementary or secondary school in Nebraska.” 

Support Our Schools had no immediate comment about approval of the petition language. The group has until mid-July to gather about 61,000 signatures from about 5% of registered voters statewide, plus 5% from voters in at least 38 counties.

Its leaders have argued that people who want to spend public dollars on private education revamped the first version of the scholarship program, passed last year, in order to derail Support Our Schools’ first effort to let voters decide on the issue.

Direct appropriation of $10 million

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha and other scholarship program supporters also had no immediate comment on the language, other than Linehan saying that the state Department of Education approves which schools are eligible.

Gov. Jim Pillen (left) signs Legislative Bill 1402 from State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, a replacement “school choice” measure for a 2023 bill. (Courtesy of Gov. Jim Pillen’s office)

The scholarship program started as a privately funded effort backed by a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $25 million a year for donors. The program shifted under LB 1402 into a direct appropriation of $10 million to the State Treasurer’s Office to distribute.

Some have questioned the constitutionality of the appropriation and whether there’s enough of a step between state money and private schools. Others have questioned whether a ballot measure can repeal a legislative appropriation.

Program advocates, including Linehan and State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, have said families with kids in public schools that don’t work well for them need options and can’t afford to wait years for school systems to change. 

Critics of the school choice push say many other states that have started with small scholarship programs like this one later expanded into costly voucher programs that pull tax dollars out away from other priorities, including public schools.

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