LINCOLN — The next front in Nebraska’s school choice fight could shift toward a proposal by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair under which the state would deposit $1,500 a year per student into a new type of state-managed savings account for parents and guardians paying for students attending private K-12 schools. State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair speaks on the floor of the Legislature in May 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner).
Using the language of national school choice advocates, Hansen said his goal is to “fund students, not systems.” He said he has seen other states such as Iowa and Arizona use similar plans to subsidize private school costs.
“Parents are the primary educators of their children, not the government,” he told the Legislature’s Education Committee on Tuesday. “Our role should assist parents in that job.”
Legislative Bill 1386 would let people use the funds for private school tuition, textbooks, school supplies, therapies, books and academic materials approved by the Nebraska Board of Education. The new educational savings accounts for approved or accredited private K-12 schools would begin in the 2025-26 school year.
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The accounts would be overseen by the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office. But the accounts would offer no tax advantages like the tax-free 529 college savings plans the Treasurer’s Office currently oversees. Instead, under LB 1386, these accounts would act as pass-throughs for state appropriations into a school choice fund that would be created, invested and managed by the state.
Few details yet on costs
The bill did not detail the appropriation needed for the new fund. The only costs estimated by the bill’s fiscal note were about $300,000 for the State Treasurer’s Office to administer it. That funding includes the costs of an auditor to make sure funds are properly spent.
Critics of the voucher push said the voucher plan would violate the Nebraska Constitution’s Article VII, Section 11, which says, “No appropriation or grant of public funds or property shall be made to any educational institution which is not owned and controlled by the state or a governmental subdivision thereof.” Tim Royers of the NSEA answers questions from reporters on Aug. 30, 2023, about the petition drive for Support Our Schools. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
Tim Royers, president of the Millard Education Association, who was also testifying on behalf of the Nebraska State Education Association, told the committee that courts have held such voucher plans as state appropriations to private schools regardless of how many steps the money must take to reach there.
Royers said private schools would receive public money, an issue opponents raised last year about the new Opportunity Scholarship Act.
Hansen, reached after the hearing, disagreed. He and State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that state funds can be used this way three times. He explained the Nebraska workaround: The state will be giving state tax dollars to parents and not to private schools, he said.
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He said he proposed starting with $1,500 a year because that’s how much state lawmakers funded last year as a baseline level of state aid per public school student. Iowa last session expanded its student savings account for private school students to the full cost of state aid per K-12 student, $7,598 a year.
Royers said other states starting similar voucher programs have learned that the programs largely help offset the costs of students already attending private schools. He said they don’t often create a large influx of new students from public schools who couldn’t otherwise afford to attend. Private school students in Iowa and elsewhere often see large increases in private school tuition rates once state support increases, he said.
And the funding lost to public schools leaves public school students and districts in worse shape, Royers said.
“We should be learning from the mistakes coming out of other states…,” Royers said. “This does not help needy families. It helps private schools.”
Wayne questions Royers
State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, a school choice advocate, asked Royers why it was OK for the state to subsidize private preschool education and private higher education but not K-12.
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State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan details what she views as the impacts of LB 753 in May 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
“Is there something special about those years?” he asked, after Royers did not answer his question.
A representative of the Holland Children’s Movement shared data from its 2023 poll indicating more than 60% of Nebraskans opposed subsidizing private schools with public funding.
Linehan and Education Committee Chairman Dave Murman said they had seen polling that found the opposite, indicating broad statewide support for school choice programs.
“It depends on how you ask the question,” Linehan said.
Hansen expects the bill to reach the legislative floor this session. Bill opponents, including the NSEA, say they will be ready.
Will Bolt and his B1G Champions are headed to Stillwater for the NCAA Regional Tournament and will face the Florida Gators in the first round. The second seeded Cornhuskers are also joined by the host Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Niagara Purple Eagles. Oklahoma State blew through the Big 12 conference tournament, and Niagara won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Florida comes in with a 28-27 record, and was knocked out of the SEC tournament in their first game. They were considered a bubble team at best, but with an athletic director on the selection committee, they ended up in the field of 64. That said, they have arguably one of the best players in college baseball, Jac Caglianone. The committee chair cited their strength of schedule in their selection. Regardless of their record, they will be a formidable opponent for Nebraska.
The sixteen host sites were named on Sunday afternoon after the completion of the final conference tournament. To no surprise, the SEC and ACC dominated within this list, each of the two conferences having five host sites. In addition, it is no surprise that Oregon State is the only host in a northern state, though arguably there were some deserving schools, for example, Indiana State. However, when you look at the power-base of this sport, you still have to look where the sun shines longer. Here are the sixteen host sites for this year:
Athens, Georgia – Georgia (39-15)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (42-13)
Charlottesville, Virginia – Virginia (41-15)
Clemson, South Carolina – Clemson (41-14)
Bryan-College Station, Texas – Texas A&M (44-13)
Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State (42-14)
Fayetteville, Arkansas – Arkansas (43-14)
Greenville, North Carolina – East Carolina (43-15)
Knoxville, Tennessee – Tennessee (50-11)
Lexington, Kentucky – Kentucky (40-14)
Norman, Oklahoma – Oklahoma (37-19)
Raleigh, North Carolina – NC State (33-20)
Santa Barbara, California – UC Santa Barbara (42-12)
Stillwater, Oklahoma – Oklahoma State (40-17)
Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State (42-15)
Tucson, Arizona – Arizona (36-21)
Indiana got a bid from the conference as well. They are headed to Knoxville as the 3rd seed and will take on Southern Miss in their first-round game. The Hoosiers put together a very solid season in spite of a rash of injuries to many of their top-line players. Because they did not make the Sunday final in Omaha, there were some who doubted that they would get the call.
Regular season champions Illinois also made the tournament as the third seed in the Lexington regional, joining top seed Kentucky, Western Michigan, and a team that many thought was deserving of being named a host, the Indiana State Sycamores.
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There are a few other Nebraska connections in the tournament. Former coach and Nebraska alum, Andy Sawyers has his SE Missouri State Redhawks in the tournament in back-to-back seasons. Former head coach Dave Van Horn has his Arkansas team are back in the tournament as a host once again, nailing down the fifth seed. The OmaHogs have one of the best pitching staffs in the country.
Nebraska’s strength of schedule shows up with the regional selections as well. In addition to playing Indiana, they also played against the following regional qualifiers this season: Kansas State, Oklahoma, Grand Canyon, and Nicholls.
Of note, ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson has the Stillwater regional as the must-watch of the sixteen. Fasten your seatbelts!
Games times have yet to be announced at this point.
Nebraska baseball entered Saturday’s Big Ten Championship game after climbing out of elimination following a first-round loss to Ohio State. The Huskers won four straight games to reach their final challenge in the tournament, Penn State. In a low-scoring battle, Nebraska edged out the Nittany Lions, claiming its first-ever Big Ten tournament title.
The Huskers earned just six hits and two RBIs on the day, while Penn State finished with four hits. Jackson Brockett started on the mound for Nebraska and pitched 8.0 innings, facing down 29 batters.
After coughing up a run in the first, Brockett threw lights out in the following seven innings, finishing the game with five strikeouts and surrendering four hits. Brett Sears pitched the final inning and threw three-up, three-down.
Josh Caron delivered the equalizer with his sixth home run of the tournament, a record, before Gabe Swansen hit the go-ahead RBI double in the ninth, bringing in Cayden Brumbaugh.
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With the win, Nebraska punches its ticket to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2021 and the seventh time in the last 10 years. The Regionals are set to begin on Friday.
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Nebraska baseball is not hosting an NCAA regional in 2024.
That isn’t necessarily a surprise. The Huskers have an RPI at No. 28 and some glaringly bad losses on the résumé, but there remained some outside hope that the committee would find a place for a regional going to Nebraska.
Among the 16 teams selected to host, East Carolina is No. 22 in RPI. Even further down, Arizona’s RPI is 31. The Pirates did get to 43 wins with a tough schedule though, and the Wildcats had the No. 1 nonconference strength of schedule on top of winning the Pac-12 regular season and tournament.
Earlier in the season, Lincoln looked primed to host a regional. The Huskers were ranked by several outlets and rolling. But the midweek woes took over in April. Over the last seven games played on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the only win came with Jackson Brockett’s no-hitter.
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Nebraska went 5-8 in games played on Tuesday and Wednesdays for the season, including a Big Ten Conference Tournament opening game loss to Ohio State before an elimination game win over Purdue the next night.
No, the five-game winning streak through the loser’s bracket didn’t bump Nebraska’s RPI enough to warrant a host selection. But it will certainly scare some of the teams selected to host.
NU went 4-0 over the weekend. In games played Thursday through Sunday, the Huskers went 34-12 this year. The regionals will be played Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday this week. That bodes well for a team that has enjoyed weekend success all season.
The full field of 64 will be announced Monday at 11 a.m. CDT on ESPN2. Nebraska is already in the field as an automatic qualifier for winning the Big Ten tournament.
The 16 host sites and their records are listed below.
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