LINDSAY, Neb (KMTV) — In 2023 the village of Lindsay was put in a precarious position.
“At the end of the last school year the 7-12 portion of Holy Family was closed,” said Jenny Korth with Lindsay Academy.
The Archdiocese of Omaha decision to consolidate the 7-12 grades of Lindsay Holy Family with St Francis in Humphrey left the town without a high school.
That’s when families in Lindsay started organizing and just a little over two years later the town once again has a high school, thanks in part to a controversial program.
“The opportunity scholarship has assisted about 10 students here and we have a total student population of 47 so thats a significant percentage of our families,” said Korth.
The support helping so many families in Lindsay came from Opportunity Scholarships, better known as Nebraska’s School Choice program.
The program, which was only operated for less than a year, sent $10 million in tax payer funds to students looking to attend private schools.
Voters pulled the plug on the program this past November when they voted to repeal School Choice but just two months after voters said no lawmakers are trying again to send public dollars back to students attending private schools.
“We have over 4500 kids in Nebraskas now enjoying educational access. They deserve a voice and we really only had ten months to run the program,” said Jeremy Ekler with Opportunity Scholarship of Nebraska.
Jeremy Ekler is the Executive Director of Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska, one of the organizations helping to administer Nebraska's School Choice program.
He feels the latest school choice bill LB509 is a step back in the right direction.
It would re-establish a dollar for dollar tax credit that could be used for opportunity scholarships, essentially the same program that was passed in 2023.
“We thought there was a lot of misinformation that they were putting out with 5 to 6 million dollars. We really dedicated all of our efforts to kids and families and we wanted every dollar to go to kids and families,” said Ekler.
If this past election was any indicator, passing more School Choice legislation in 2025 could be challenging.
On top of voters rejecting it during the election the state is also facing a budget shortfall of nearly a half a billion dollars, creating few prospects for any bills looking to dip into state general funds.
But with the funding of the program potentially changing from appropriations back to tax credits it could see more success.
Either way the roadblocks aren't discouraging Korth or Ekler, who are both calling on lawmakers to bring Opportunity Scholarships back to Nebraska students.
“When I think of the stories of the students that we are able to help, who would not have been able to come here to the Academy without access and leveraging some of those funds,” said Korth.
