LINCOLN — The war over whether private schools should have public money has been raging in Nebraska for years now.
Nebraska passed its first School Choice bill in May of 2023 despite significant opposition from supporters from public schools, just months later those public school advocates thn gathered enough signatures to put the potential repeal of LB753 on the ballot.
Then in April of this year supporters of school choice pulled a fast one, passing a new law LB1402 that went a step farther than LB753 and appropriated tax payer money directly to private schools to the tune of $10 million dollars while also repealing LB753, effectively killing the ballot referendum.
But supporters of public schools weren't about to give up.
"They said how come they took the vote from us? We would like to know that to but we aren't getting it taken this time friends. We are gonna take it to the ballot and we are gonna do this," said Jenni Benson, President of the Nebraska State Educators Association.
On Wednesday the Save our Schools organization submitted just under 87,000 signatures, over 20,000 more than they needed, that if certified will put the debate on school choice back on the ballot.
The submission drew immediate criticism from the groups behind the push for more School Choice bills, namely the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
They released a statement that said in part,
"This ballot referendum is frustrating beyond measure. It demonstrates a blatant disregard for thousands of students in need of more educational options, and it undermines the fundamental rights of parents as the primary educators of their children."
While they have gathered enough signatures to make it to the ballot the referendum isn't passed the finish line just yet.
Supporters of School Choice have shown that they aren't afraid to use political maneuvering to kneecap their opposition and with a special session just around the corner, there is a chance Linehan and her supporters try to supersede the ballot initiative and pass another School Choice bill to kill the latest referendum.
But Support our Schools says they are ready this time and are confident that in 2024, it will be voters deciding school choice and not legislators.
"That trickery that I was talking about, for sure. We always have those concerns, when we are running these petitions we are running legal things on both sides. We do and our really paying attention to all of those things.
Should the legislature pass another school choice bill in the special session it will be too late to gather signatures for another referendum before November, meaning voters would have to wait until the next election cycle.
