Nebraskans may get to vote on using public money for private school vouchers

It appears that Nebraskans will finally get to vote on a plan to use state money to fund vouchers for students attending private schools.

A group opposing the plan, Support Our Schools, turned in 87,000 signatures Wednesday to be verified by the office of Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, a requirement for putting an initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Support Our Schools needed to collect 61,000 signatures, or the signatures of 5% of Nebraska’s 1.2 million registered voters statewide. 

The petition drive was spearheaded by the Nebraska State Education Association, the state teachers union, which has noted that 48 of Nebraska’s 93 counties have no private schools.

“We’re going to take this to the ballot because we have enough signatures — we have way more than enough signatures,” said Jenni Benson, president of the union. “Nebraskans rose to the occasion, as they always do, because they love their public schools.”

A law passed in the 2024 legislative session sets aside $10 million annually to pay for a voucher program for students attending private K-12 schools.

The law repealed the core of a 2023 law called the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which included a $25 million-a-year, dollar-for-dollar tax credit for people to pay for scholarships for students attending private K-12 schools — an amount that could have eventually increased to up to $100 million a year. 

The petition group initially gathered signatures to let voters weigh in on the 2023 law, but before that could happen, lawmakers revised the law with the 2024 version.

Republican state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, who sponsored both voucher bills, has acknowledged that she revised the 2023 law partly because she worried voters would vote to repeal it.

“Opponents of school choice have once again demonstrated they have the money and muscle to circulate petitions and collect thousands of signatures,” she said in a statement. “But no matter how much money they spend or how many signatures they collect, supporters of school choice won’t stop fighting for parents rights and for our kids.”

The voucher effort has support from Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, former Republican Gov. and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, and former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who worked for President Donald Trump.

The petition drive was also supported by Omaha philanthropist Susie Buffett, the daughter of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

A national debate over school vouchers has raged for years. Opponents say vouchers siphon tax dollars away from public schools. Supporters say vouchers simply give families more choice about where their kids go to school.

According to Education Week, 29 states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school voucher program. Of those, 12 states have at least one private school voucher program that’s  accessible to K-12 students in the state.“Universal school choice” is part of the Republican Party platform, which was adopted ahead of this week’s National Republican Convention. Most education experts interpret that language to signal support for vouchers.