LINCOLN – On a warm Monday evening, volunteers in a church parking lot passed large clipboards to drivers of minivans and pickup trucks, all part of a petition drive. Their objective: block a new measure that would introduce private school vouchers in the state. However, this campaign stirred a sense of déjà vu among Nebraskans. It marked the second ballot initiative within a year by the group Support Our Schools, a public school advocacy organization, following the state Legislature’s recent override of their initial effort.

As the national debate around school vouchers plays out across the country, the Cornhusker State is in a heated tug-of-war between school choice supporters and public school advocates over the passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act in 2023. The Act allocates $25 million from state coffers to tax credits for private school scholarship donations.

“If it gets on the ballot, you can vote whatever way you want. It’s just signing it to give the people a voice that belongs in public schools,” Nebraska State Educators Association President and Support Our Schools sponsor Jenni Benson said. “If you get public funds, you have to be accountable just the same way any other public entity would be if you’re giving them to a private school.”

If the current referendum is successful, it will end both the tax credit and the state appropriation of private school scholarship funds.

While some argue the law was a workaround for the initiative, state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, a sponsor of both bills, said this year’s law was crafted with the public’s response to the initial tax credit in mind.

“They said it was too much money, so we addressed both those things,” Linehan said. “We took it from 25 million to 10 with no escalator, and it’s no longer a tax credit. That’s what they said the problem was. … we listened, and we adjusted to what they said was problematic.”

She added that the state is already adequately funding public schools, pointing to a $1 billion funding boost for public education approved by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen last year, raising special education funding to 80%.

The debate plays out in Nebraska

Currently, 29 states and DC operate some form of school voucher system. While some states have more expansive programs than others, Nebraska’s is one of the newest. It was previously one of two states, including North Dakota, that didn’t offer some form of public funding for private school tuition.

In the days leading up to the Opportunity Scholarship application deadline for the next academic year, approximately 2,000 students had submitted applications, according to Lauren Gage, the Director of Marketing and Outreach at Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska. The program gives priority to students from low-income families, those who have experienced bullying, children of military personnel, foster care students, and those with an Individualized Education Program.

“The core of this program is to help give more kids a chance who are struggling to get their needs met in the school that they’re zoned for,” Gage said. “A lot of families in Nebraska do have school choice because they’re able to afford it. But for those families that are more disadvantaged, more low-income, that’s who this program is really targeting to help.”

While supporters argue that private school voucher programs help underprivileged kids access better resources and educational opportunities, opponents say they deprive public schools of funding.

Between collecting signatures in the church parking lot, June Pederson, a volunteer and League of Women Voters member, brought up a point that many against private school vouchers highlight. She finds putting public funding towards private school scholarships troubling because these are less accountable for discriminating against LGBTQ+ students and staff.

“If you want your child to have education other than a public school, wonderful, but don’t ask me to pay for it,” Pederson said. “Particularly if they have the option to say, ‘as a teacher, we heard you’re gay, and we don’t want you here,’ or ‘you have to follow our rules regarding abortion.’ We don’t do that in public schools.”

A Guatemalan family who was targeted by their neighbor in Nebraska told police that the man had tried to start a fight and “flipped them off” five weeks before he shot seven people at their home last weekend.

The neighbor, Billy Booth, 74, was found dead of a self-inflected gunshot wound at the family’s home after the Friday attack, which the Nebraska State Police is investigating as a possible hate crime.

All seven, including four children, have been released from the hospital, police said.

In the earlier incident on May 21, the family called police to report that Booth was calling them names, but no direct threat was made, according to the department.

Officers took statements from family members but they were “not interested in being involved in a legal dispute,” according to the police report.

Police said Booth, who is white, had been involved in previous conflicts with several of his white neighbors, as well as the Guatemalan family.

Dave Hansen, who lives next door to Booth, said he did not believe the shooting was racially motivated.

“I don’t care what the police say, I lived next to that guy for 10 years. and he wasn’t racist,” Hansen said. “But I feel very lucky he didn’t shoot me.”

Hansen said Booth fired a shotgun at members of the Guatemalan family after some kids walked onto his property to retrieve a soccer ball.

He said Booth often antagonized residents over decreasing property value.

“Anybody who didn’t take care of their yard, he was all over you,” Hansen said. “The last seven years were hell.”

The seven victims were from the state of Huehuetenango in Guatemala and of mixed legal status to be in the U.S., according to the Guatemalan Consul General’s Office in Omaha.

At the time of the shooting, a family gathering was taking place at the home, authorities said. Two of the victims worked at the Smithfield Foods meatpacking company in Crete, the consul general’s office said.

“We are thinking of and concerned about members of our team who have been affected,” Smithfield spokesman Jim Monroe said in a statement. “We hope they will focus on family and recovery at this time.”

Police said calls concerning Booth and the family date back to 2021, most being complaints from Booth regarding “driving behavior.”

During the altercation in May, Booth told members of the Guatemalan family to “go home” or “back to where they came from” and to “speak English,” police said.

Billy Muñoz, consul general of the Guatemalan Consulate in Omaha, said his office would do what it could to help the family.

“Unfortunately, (the) consulate is taking into account that it is an election year where it’s like hate will be more frequent,” Muñoz said.

Saul Lopez, interim executive director of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim, a nonprofit that supports Indigenous people in Nebraska, said many immigrants have had trouble adjusting to life in the state.

“Nebraska is a very difficult environment for immigrants,” he said. “It is not an ideal place where immigrants can move into. It is a very hard place because a lot of people do not like immigrants at all.”

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) – The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is teaming up with Ziplines Education to provide new “micro-credential” certificates.

The focus of the program is to help people who feel they are unprepared for the digital workforce.

As a part of the University’s land grant status, they have to make sure they are fulfilling the needs of the entire community, and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Digital and Online Learning for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Kevin N. Shriner, is excited about it.

“Primarily what we’re trying to do is fill a gap that we have, where there is 76% that feel they are unprepared for the digital workforce,” Shriner said. “And so we want to ensure that we meeting that need across the state as our land-grant mission.”

Another goal is to help the 250,000 Nebraskans who started college but did not finish. With these micro-certificates, they are able to now advance in their careers and have the same sense of accomplishment that college graduates have.

“There are currently 41 million US adults nationwide that have some college and no credit, no credential,” Shriner said. “Within Nebraska there’s 250,000 of those. So what we want to ensure is that we’re providing not only education towards degrees, but education towards improving individuals in their current work environment.”

They offer credentials in five areas, product management, business analytics, sales development, project management and digital marketing.

While these aren’t degrees, they do prove someone’s abilities in a certain skill space, which can help further someone’s career and money making potential.

If you’d like to learn more or sign up, you can do so here.

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