School Choice Referendum
School Choice for Nebraska? You Decide.
The debate over school choice has come to Nebraska. Nebraska’s new school choice law has established a voucher program that sets aside $10 million for private school scholarships.
One of your choices on the ballot this fall will be to repeal or to retain that voucher program.
Nebraska’s fight over school choice has a 2-year backstory. Last year, Nebraska legislators passed LB 753, allowing $50 million in tax credits for qualifying families to send their children to private schools. Governor Pillen signed it on May 23, 2023. The bill provides scholarships “with priority . . . going to kids who live in poverty, foster care, experience bullying, harassment, or other victimizing behaviors, or have a parent or guardian who is serving in the military.”
In response, the organization Support our Schools organized a petition drive to repeal LB 753, to reserve tax money for public schools. They got enough signatures to place a referendum on the November 2024 ballot.
But legislators didn’t give up. In LB 1420, signed by Governor Pillen in April 2024, they replaced LB 753. They designated $10 million for vouchers for scholarships. LB 1420 drove Support our Schools back to the streets to collect signatures to repeal the voucher program. They succeeded.
The efforts of the legislature put school choice into law. The efforts of Support Our Schools put school choice on the ballot. Now the choice is yours.
The debate about school choice involves many factors, but the ones brought up most by Save Our Schools focus on government’s role in education and the cost. School choice advocates focus on giving low-income students better educational opportunities.
Government’s role in education
Nebraska’s constitution requires it to provide free education to K-12 students.
Support Our Schools contends that taxes should provide education through public schools, which serve 90% of Nebraska’s children. Omaha Sen. Christy Armendariz frames the issue differently, stating Nebraska must fund K-12 education for all students—not necessarily public schools. She believes that public schools fail to provide education in her district, where only 26% of students meet standards for English.
Lincoln Sen. George Dungan argues that using taxes for private schools violates the Nebraska constitution, Article VII, Section 11, which states that government funds cannot go to “any school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the state or a political subdivision thereof.” This point is particularly relevant to those who don’t want taxpayer funds going to religious schools. While some are concerned that the law is unconstitutional, others, such as St. Paul Sen. Fred Meyer, say that similar programs for colleges have been approved by courts and that “the legal question is behind us.”
The Cost
Support Our Schools believes that vouchers for private schools will take funding away from public schools, and that the State can’t afford both. Senator Lou Ann Linehan, who introduced the school choice laws, argues that the $10 million comes from the general budget, not the budget for public schools. In addition, Sen. Dave Murman notes that the state has increased funding for public schools—by $1 billion. He notes that the $10 million for vouchers is 0.2 percent of state money directed toward education.
Despite the current cost, it is clear from LB 753, and the first version of LB 1420, that lawmakers’ intent was for the program to grow. The first plan was to start at $25 million and expand to $100 million if demand existed. LB 1420 does cap the amount at $10 million. Whether future laws might expand the program and affect the public school budget is unknown.
Vouchers affect public school funding in various ways. The Shanker Institute explains a few. For example, losing per-student funding to students who leave for private school can reduce a public school’s resources for fixed costs. It costs the same amount of money to maintain a building whether that building is full or empty.
However, the biggest threat to public school funding comes from the growth of vouchers, particularly in universal voucher programs, according to the Shanker Institute. Universal programs make every student eligible for vouchers, even those from high-income families who already attend private school. Those families then use government money instead of their own, even though they don’t need it. This is the type of program that causes costs to balloon to the point where public school funding is affected significantly.
LB 1420 is not a universal program. High-income families, or students already in private schools without a voucher, are not eligible.
Another part of the picture is the cost per pupil. Readers can see the cost per student for every Nebraska school district in 2022-2023 here, but below are the most and least expensive districts, measured in cost per student, for some of the counties we cover.
Cass County:
Lowest: Plattsmouth, $15,730
Highest: Weeping Water, $23,352
Douglas County:
Lowest: Millard Public Schools, $12,047
Highest: Omaha Public Schools, $17,901
Lancaster County:
Lowest: Norris, $12,648
Highest: Raymond Central, $17,044
Sarpy County:
Lowest: Gretna: $12,238
Highest: Springfield Platteview: $17,822
Private school costs also vary widely. However, VIP has attempted to choose some representative current tuition rates of some Catholic schools in Omaha, to compare to the 2022-2023 OPS cost of $17,901 per pupil.
· The Omaha Catholic School Consortium, comprised of six K-8 schools, charges tuition of $4,245 for one student, with discounts for multiple students in one family.
· Mercy High School, an all-girls school, charges $13,985 for tuition, plus $800 in fees—however, 82% of students get financial aid through Mercy’s Negotiated Tuition Program.
· Creighton Prep, an all-boys school, has a sliding fee scale. Tuition ranges from $3,500 or less for a family making up to $50,000, to $15,500 for a family earning over $225,000. They also offer scholarships.
Even with no financial aid, each of these schools costs less per pupil than OPS.
Given the lower tuition in private schools, it seems that moving some students there could save money. However, that doesn’t mean that dollars for public schools would not decrease if they have fewer students, depending on how state and local governments allocate funds.
Another financial consideration is fairness to the taxpayer. Parents whose children attend public schools may not want their taxes to go to private schools. However, parents paying for private schools are also taxed for public schools. The difference is that the private-school parents choose to do so.
That is Linehan’s point: “We love school choice in Nebraska. We believe in choice if you have the money to do it.” Voters can reasonably ask several questions to this point: How important is school choice when public schools are available? Is it possible to strengthen public schools so that families do not feel the need for private schools? If not, what is the fairest way to open private-school opportunities to families who cannot afford it? Should school choice be provided by taxpayers or by private entities?
Effects on Students and the Community
Studies on the success of school choice vary. Research from over the last 20 years shows negative, neutral, and positive effects of school choice in other states. Much depends on the method used to provide school choice, and who is eligible, but even similar programs can get different results. An overview of several studies seems to indicate the following:
· Better results are more likely, though not guaranteed, when the state targets the program to students who need it most. Universal programs tend to be less effective.
· Academic achievement tends to go down initially as the student adjusts. In some studies, the students catch up after 3 or more years. In others, they do not, and their scores are lower than their public-school peers. Most studies showing increases in academic achievement do not show large increases.
· Students using vouchers tend to be more likely to finish high school.
· Parents and students using vouchers are more likely to be satisfied with the schools, in terms of factors such as safety, student motivation, and school environment.
Beyond studies, the stories of individuals are important. LaTasha Collar is a mother who brought a lawsuit against the Save Our Schools referendum. Her daughter received an Opportunity Scholarship under LB753. Ms. Collar said that the private school makes her daughter “excited to go to school again.” She fears losing the funding that allows her daughter to attend the school.
Because of the lack of consensus, and the fact that many of the programs studied are not comparable to Nebraska’s, VIP cannot make further generalizations on the success of voucher programs. Below are links to articles that are both pro- and anti-school choice, both of which include many studies that readers can review for themselves.
Conclusion
Both school-choice advocates and opponents want to help struggling students. Is it better to give them a tax-paid option of private school, or to invest in improving public schools? When deciding to retain or repeal LB1420, voters can consider their beliefs about government responsibility for education; the best use of resources; the advantages (or disadvantages) of private schools; how to increase opportunities for low-income children; and the likelihood of Nebraska’s success with its school choice program.
https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024-EdChoice-Study-Guide.pdf
Research and writing by Vickie Hecker. Vickie is a state employee, but her postings on this site do not speak for the views of the state, its customers, clients, suppliers, or employees. Any links to state sites are provided for informational purposes only.