Get tales like these delivered straight to your inbox. Join The 74 E-newsletter
This text is a part of The 74’s EDlection 2024 protection, which takes a have a look at candidates’ schooling insurance policies and the way they may affect the American schooling system after the 2024 election.
LINCOLN — Voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected Nebraska’s new faculty voucher or scholarship program, steering public {dollars} spent to public colleges.
Supporters of utilizing state tax {dollars} to offset the prices of a personal Ok-12 schooling have argued that households sad with their public colleges want extra choices.
However rural and concrete supporters of public colleges, the Nebraska State Schooling Affiliation and personal foundations supporting public colleges gained the day.
Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Schooling Affiliation, stated he was proud to see right- and left-leaning counties agree that vouchers had been the mistaken alternative.
“It confirms what we knew, the vast majority of Nebraskans don’t need public {dollars} going to personal colleges,” Royers stated. “What actually stood out to me is the consistency.”
Royers hopes state senators transfer on
Royers stated he’s hopeful that state senators will observe the desire of the voters and transfer onto different extra urgent points in schooling that lecturers and fogeys can work on collectively.
Assist Our Colleges argued that diverting even small quantities of public cash towards non-public Ok-12 colleges with a scholarship program or vouchers risked long-term help for public schooling.
They pointed to the experiences in different states with voucher applications, together with neighboring Iowa, which has seen the nationwide rankings of its public colleges slide since that program started.
They argued that college alternative applications usually find yourself largely benefiting the folks already making the selection to ship their kids to personal colleges.
They usually stated such applications risked creating larger concentrations of poverty in some colleges by draining them of scholars who usually act as stabilizing power.
Lawmakers plan to maintain working for alternative
State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha and different lawmakers backing “alternative scholarships” have already stated they plan to maintain working for college alternative whatever the consequence of Tuesday’s election.
Linehan, in an announcement, stated the lecturers union and Assist Our Colleges spent two years and $7 million distorting the reality “of their infinite pursuit to maintain alternative away from children.”
“I’m assured Nebraskans and the leaders on this state will proceed preventing to maintain children first,” Linehan stated.
The primary model of Nebraska’s faculty alternative legislation, handed in 2023, offered a tax credit score for these donating to a scholarship fund for personal Ok-12 schooling. After passage, these opposing the legislation launched a petition drive to place the difficulty earlier than voters.
2023 legislation changed in 2024
Linehan sidestepped that referendum by changing the legislation within the 2024 legislative session.
She and different lawmakers reworked this system right into a $10 million annual state appropriation for personal faculty vouchers, to be run via the workplace of State Treasurer Tom Briese, a Linehan ally.
The Assist Our Colleges marketing campaign, with help from public faculty proponents, together with Omaha Public Colleges supporter Susie Buffett, collected the mandatory signatures a second time to problem the legislation on the poll.
Royers, new president of the NSEA, and Jenni Benson of Assist Our Colleges, the earlier NSEA chief, have stated Linehan mustn’t have tried to keep away from letting voters weigh in on an unpopular program.
Households of some kids attending non-public colleges via the precursor program, Alternative Scholarships, or via the newest model have stated they’ll’t afford non-public faculty tuition with out such monetary assist.
State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, a Democrat who helps faculty alternative, has stated dad and mom can’t afford to attend for public faculty programs to enhance. They need assistance for his or her children now, he stated.
Jeremy Ekeler, govt director of Alternative Scholarships of Nebraska, stated his group and supporters of this system have targeted on serving to households who couldn’t wait for college districts and programs to vary.
“Whereas tonight we didn’t see the outcomes that we hoped for, these 1000’s of Nebraska households who lastly have entry to the precise instructional match for his or her kids because of LB 1402 will make their voices heard for years to return,” he stated.
It stays to be seen whether or not different lawmakers will supply the same proposal in 2025. Linehan and Wayne are each term-limited and gained’t return to the Legislature subsequent yr.
Nebraska Examiner is a part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit information community supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: data@nebraskaexaminer.com. Observe Nebraska Examiner on Fb and X.
Get tales like these delivered straight to your inbox. Join The 74 E-newsletter