Brewer: Don't sign petition

There is a petition being circulated gathering signatures from Nebraskans to repeal LB 753. This is a bill we passed in the last session creating a modest school choice program for parents. I urge registered voters not to sign it.

The Nebraska State Education Association, the state teacher’s union, is strongly opposed to this bill. They are misleading Nebraskans telling them this bill will take money away from public schools. This is not true. In fact, funding for public schools in Nebraska was dramatically increased by a number of bills this past session.

A number of bills were passed and signed into law that increased funding for K-12 public schools by hundreds of millions of dollars. The education committee’s package we debated and passed had parts of over twenty different bills for public education. This past legislative session we set aside $1 billion dollars to establish the Education Future Fund that reduces demand for property taxes. We have growing teacher shortage in Nebraska. One of the bills in the package created $10 million for grants to help retain teachers who continue working in Nebraska. Another bill established alternative pathways for prospective teachers to obtain a teaching certificate. Another bill created funding to help pay tuition costs for Nebraskans trying to become a teacher. Another bill created an additional $250 million that will be transferred annually to school districts to pay for the state’s increased commitment to public school funding.

Small, rural school districts in Nebraska have always drawn the short straw when it comes to funding from the state. For decades now most received little to no funding from the state’s school equalization formula. The Governor and the Legislature both recognized this very old problem. Another bill in the package made a dramatic change to our formula for education funding resulting in no less than $1,500 per student being directed to every public school. Using dollars from the new Education Future Fund, the state will also reimburse school districts for 80% of their special education costs, which doubles the state’s share of those costs.

All of this education funding is on top of the state’s existing annual commitment to funding K-12 public education, which totaled more than $1.5 billion in state general fund tax dollars in fiscal year 2021-2022.

The increases the legislature passed in funding for public education in Nebraska are nothing short of historic. That’s why it really disappoints me to see the teachers union spread false information to generate fear about the school choice bill. The bottom line is all Nebraska parents should have a right to choose the education that best meets their child’s needs regardless of their income. The new law will give middle and lower-income families the ability to receive a scholarship to attend the school of their choice. I urge every Nebraskan not to sign the petition to repeal LB 753.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions, or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.