Nebraska school choice supporters, opponents ready for another rematch

Lawmakers supporting those programs introduced proposals this month with an end goal of helping students attend private K-12 schools in the state. Two bills would revive the laws passed, repealed, replaced and then repealed by voters in just the past two years. 

The latest version in law, Legislative Bill 1402, was repealed by 57% of voters in November — in 45 of Nebraska’s 49 legislative districts, 82 of its 93 counties and all three congressional districts.

“I’m not dissuaded by the fact that it was defeated at the ballot box,” said freshman State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of Omaha, one of many lawmakers with school choice proposals in 2025. “There’s been a number of cases that lost at the ballot box and were reinstated, so let’s hope for that.”

The effort to revive LB 753 and its one-for-one tax break to fund “opportunity scholarships” will return to the Revenue Committee, while the effort to revive LB 1402 and its state-funded vouchers or “education scholarships” will return to the Appropriations Committee.

Two new proposals will go to the Health and Human Services and Education Committees. The first would create and narrow a voucher or scholarship program for private education to youths in foster care. The other would pay families whose K-12 “option enrollment” application to a different public school district is rejected.

‘We will out-resolve them’

Tim Royers is president of the Nebraska State Education Association, which led successive repeal efforts against the state-funded version of the law in 2024, and successfully placed the tax credit version on the ballot before lawmakers replaced that program.

Royers said he and others are disappointed that senators, no matter their approach, are “choosing to ignore the very clear message that voters set in November on this issue.”

“We’re really looking for our leaders in Lincoln to be championing legislation that’s going to tackle the real issues surrounding education and not trying to relitigate something that has already been resolved at the polls,” Royers said.

Royers said the focus should be on getting friendly, pro-public education legislation over the finish line, such as those to tackle teaching vacancies statewide. He’s confident school choice efforts will be stopped before a major vote this year.

But if needed, Royers said, opponents are ready for a school choice rematch, even if they have to “make it an annual summer habit” to get signatures to repeal the laws.

“We joke about it, but in all seriousness, we will out-resolve them on this issue,” Royers said. “We will be more tenacious than them. We will have more resources and more commitment than them on this. If they don’t get that point, yes, we will absolutely put this in front of the voters again so that way they can reject vouchers for the fifth time in the state’s history if necessary.”