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LINCOLN — After the secretary of state approved the language, petitions began circulating in Nebraska Wednesday to force a vote on scrapping part of a new law that spends $10 million per year in state money to support private school scholarships.
The petition by Support Our Schools Nebraska proposes to repeal the first section of Legislative Bill 1402, which narrowly passed the Nebraska Legislature earlier this year. The same group ran a successful petition drive last year that aimed to repeal a similar law, LB 753, by putting it on the November ballot.
But LB 1402 gets around that potential outcome by repealing LB 753 before the vote and providing state support for private scholarships in a different way.
LB 1402 calls for spending $10 million a year on scholarship funds for K-12 private and faith-based schools in each of the next three years. LB 753 allocated $25 million annually in tax credits for private donations to the same scholarship funds.
By seeking to repeal just the first section of LB 1402, the new petition — if it qualifies for the ballot and passes — would eliminate only the program establishing the $10 million per year for the scholarships. It would leave the rest of the legislation untouched, including the Legislature’s repeal of LB 753. It remains unclear whether the former referendum to repeal LB 753 will remain on the ballot.
Petition organizers have roughly 70 days remaining to collect signatures, with a mid-July deadline. The exact date has not yet been confirmed by the Secretary of State’s Office. The petition supporters must collect around 61,000 verified signatures, including about 5% of registered statewide voters and 5% of registered voters in at least 38 Nebraska counties, in order to qualify for the ballot.
So far, petition organizers have claimed strong support for their effort.
“Half my signers yesterday didn’t sign last time and were fired up,” Support Our Schools member Brian Mikkelsen said on social media Thursday. “Many of them approached me because of the shirt.”
Public school educators and other critics have contended that state funding for private school scholarships, whether direct or indirect, risks depleting funding for public education. Opponents of LB 1402 further argue the measure was a deliberate attempt to thwart the Nebraska citizens who signed last year’s petition.
State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of the Omaha area, who introduced both LB 1402 and LB 753, previously acknowledged that LB 1402 was an “end run” to get around the referendum. She described last year’s petition drive as a “mischievous, unfortunate, dishonest campaign.”
Less than a week after Gov. Jim Pillen signed LB 753, Support Our Schools launched a petition drive to force a vote on repealing the measure. The three-month drive gathered more than 117,000 signatures, with roughly 91,000 of those signatures verified.
Though Support Our Schools has less time this year to gather signatures, they may not face the same opposition as last year. A rival group called Keep Kids First discouraged people from signing the petition and sometimes urged those who had already signed to remove their names. Linehan was affiliated with that group.
This year, Linehan said, many of the people who were involved in Keep Kids First are now busy working on organizing the scholarships that LB 753 allowed, and are preparing for LB 1402 to take effect. Because of this, Linehan expressed doubt that the group would be as involved with the current petition drive.
Linehan said she believes Support Our Schools has enough manpower and funding to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot again. But she said the referendum will eventually be challenged because appropriations bills are not subject to referendum under the state constitution.
Linehan said she will decide how to challenge the referendum once the signatures are gathered.
“I’m still trying to figure out what to do,” Linehan said.
Nebraska high school boys soccer state tournament bracket, after first round
As filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron said during a ’96 commencement address at Wellesley College, “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” If that’s the case, high school may be one of the greatest dress rehearsals of all.
It’s a place where students explore their interests, dive into extracurricular activities, finally get the freedom to choose their own classes, and prepare for college or the workplace. For many of these students and their families, education is key: 1.4 million students enrolled in private high schools in fall 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. There were about 3,600 private secondary schools nationwide as of 2020.
For many anxious parents, getting their kids into the best of these private high schools is of the utmost importance. Some families even move homes to send their kids to better schools. However, among all of these thousands of schools, a few stand out for their academic excellence, incredible track records, and the future success of their young students.
Stacker compiled a list of the best private high schools in Nebraska using 2024 rankings from Niche. Niche uses seven weighted factors for its rankings. A majority of the score is based on academics, but other factors include culture and diversity; sports; clubs and activities; resources; and surveys of parents, teachers, and students.
– Location: Grand Island, NE
– Enrollment: 51 (8:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Norfolk, NE
– Enrollment: 530 (12:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Falls City, NE
– Enrollment: 228 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Norfolk, NE
– Enrollment: 122 (11:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Columbus, NE
– Enrollment: 364 (12:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Fremont, NE
– Enrollment: 436 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: North Platte, NE
– Enrollment: 365 (11:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Bellevue, NE
– Enrollment: 522 (13:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Hastings, NE
– Enrollment: 238 (10:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B
– Location: Elgin, NE
– Enrollment: 132 (15:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Kearney, NE
– Enrollment: 357 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Nebraska City, NE
– Enrollment: 354 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 395 (17:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Lincoln, NE
– Enrollment: 295 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 98 (8:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Lincoln, NE
– Enrollment: 141 (9:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Lincoln, NE
– Enrollment: 700 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 407 (16:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade B+
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 710 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A-
– Location: Bellevue, NE
– Enrollment: 429 (14:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A-
– Location: Central City, NE
– Enrollment: 200 (11:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A-
– Location: Grand Island, NE
– Enrollment: 271 (10:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A-
– Location: Lincoln, NE
– Enrollment: 1,193 (18:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A-
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 1,000 (13:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 367 (11:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 326 (9:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A
– Location: Waco, NE
– Enrollment: 56 (6:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A
– Location: Omaha, NE
– Enrollment: 692 (10:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A
– Location: Elkhorn, NE
– Enrollment: 248 (7:1 student to teacher ratio)
– Niche grade: Grade A+
ebamer@owh.com Twitter @ErinBamer
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On the final day of their legislative session, Nebraska lawmakers passed a controversial “end run” bill that will appropriate $10 million per …
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