Offering tax credits for scholarships to private schools has been a controversial issue in Nebraska.

After tax-credit bills failed to pass in 2020 and 2021, this year the Opportunity Scholarships Act was signed into law. Legislative Bill 753 provides donors to scholarship-granting organizations a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of their income tax liability.

Carlie Jonas, policy associate at the Center for Rural Affairs, said public schools are a big part of rural Nebraska. She predicts communities will be affected by any loss of funding this bill creates, regardless of whether they have any private schools.

"In 48 of Nebraska's 93 counties, there are not any private schools and, as you move from the central to the western parts of the state, that's even more true," Jonas pointed out. "Only seven counties west of Kearney County have a private school," which is seven of the 38 counties in the region.

Jonas said the Center's analysis found a huge disparity between the Opportunity Scholarships Act tax credit and the standard tax credit for donations. Someone owing $100,000 in income taxes could reduce their tax liability by $50,000 by donating $50,000 to a scholarship-granting organization. But donating that $50,000 to a charitable group would reduce their tax liability by only around $3,300.

Supporters of the bill maintain it gives Nebraska families more freedom to pick the school that best fits their child's needs.

Dave Welsch, a retired Nebraska organic farmer and longtime school board member from Milford, said he worries about the losses other Nebraska charities may experience if the law stands.

"With LB-753, it takes one brand-new charitable organization, the scholarship-granting organizations and elevates them," Welsch noted. "And it actually incentivizes people to give to them because they're offering a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit."

Welsch also anticipates lost tax revenue from the measure, combined with the 2023 income tax breaks, will lead to a revenue shortage. His decades on a school board have shown him that usually means cuts in public school funding.

He also believes providing public dollars for private schools goes against the state Constitution.

"That's why they had to create this scheme to create scholarship-granting organizations," Welsch contended. "So that when individuals and corporations donate to them, then they can offer up this dollar-for-dollar income tax credit."

Jonas emphasized that the experience of other states, such as Arizona, where its scholarship fund has grown to an annual $250 million, should be a warning to Nebraska.

"It leads them to rely more heavily on local taxes, like property taxes, to fund the budget deficit," Jonas explained. "In Nebraska this is an issue, with the amount of property taxes used for public schools."

A petition drive is underway to get the measure on the ballot in the 2024 election, as is an opposing drive aimed at keeping people from signing.

A New York bill would require schools to teach about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The bill calls for all K-12 students to be taught about the event, with the state determining how best to incorporate the events into history classes. Since 2021, public opinion on the U.S. Capitol attack has dulled because President Donald Trump and his supporters have downplayed it since then

Asm. Charles Lavine, D-Glen Cove, the bill's sponsor, said it is important not to whitewash the facts.

"The problem with whitewashing history is that students in those states are not going to learn to be the critical thinkers that we really need in order to confront the great dilemmas that will face us in the future," Lavine contended.

Though initial polls found people equated the Capitol attack with an attack on democracy, some polls show people approve of Trump's actions. Many groups have teaching tools so educators can accurately answer students' questions about Jan. 6.

While the bill is relatively new, it has garnered positive feedback. It is under review by the Assembly's Education Committee.

The bill comes several weeks after President Donald Trump pardoned everyone prosecuted for participating in the Jan. 6 attack. Polls show most people disapprove of the pardons.

Lavine acknowledged one challenge for the bill is finding an impartial way to teach about a politically polarizing event, adding it will be left to the state's education experts.

"Those are the members of the Board of Regents, in consultation with the state's Education Department, to make the determination about what is taught particularly in subject matters," Lavine outlined. "What this bill simply does is add to a list of major subject areas that should be instructed in our public schools."

Along with the Capitol attack, the bill also calls on teachers to educate students about patriotism, citizenship, civic education, values and America's history with diversity and religious tolerance. Lavine noted one goal of the bill is to ensure children learn about good and bad parts of history, from slavery and the Holocaust to the Irish potato famine.


get more stories like this via email

With cost at the forefront of prospective students' minds, higher education institutions in North Carolina are rethinking how to overcome one of the biggest barriers to enrollment.

William Peace University in Raleigh has launched its "Peace Pledge," a program offering 100% tuition coverage for qualifying students.

Damon Wade, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at the university, said school officials took a hard look at the enrollment challenges students faced.

"Cost was a major factor in their decision-making for them and their families," Wade observed. "We wanted to do our level best to try to mitigate that and remove cost as a barrier to their education as reasonably as we possibly could."

Qualifying students must be first-time, traditional undergraduate students who reside in North Carolina. They also must come from households with incomes of $75,000 or less, be eligible for federal Pell Grants and have a high school grade-point average of 3.25 or higher.

Other colleges in North Carolina are also offering free tuition, including Duke University, which covers tuition for families with incomes less than $150,000. Wade pointed out colleges are closely considering the cost students face.

"A lot of institutions around the country and then particularly in North Carolina have given thought to the cost associated with education and have come up with different pathways for students to enroll," Wade explained.

Wade added students want to enroll in programs to prepare them for the workforce or graduate school.

"But they want to do it in as cost-effective as possible," Wade emphasized. "We hear that from them and their parents, and they understand that mom and dad or their guardians don't always have the capacity to cover the cost."

Connecticut education advocates feel Gov. Ned Lamont's 2026-2027 budget proposal continues a history of underfunding education.

While the new budget increases special education spending by $40 million, some feel it's not enough, as Connecticut is in the third year of a statewide teacher shortage.

Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, said education funding must change to benefit the whole system.

"What we tend to do is say, 'The costs were $260 million, we'll budget $160', without realizing districts across the state have to absorb $100-million in expenses," she explained.

She added if special education needs $260 million in funding, that's what should be included in the budget.

Another issue includes reviewing the Education Cost Sharing formula which hasn't kept up with the rate of inflation. Dias said adding more dollars to school districts can help retain educators and expand a dwindling workforce.

Underfunding of education has left Connecticut with larger class sizes and lower wages for all educators, making it harder to recruit new teachers. A 2024 survey finds 97% of educators are concerned about burnout because they're wearing many hats. But Dias said proving there's a problem is a challenge to get more education funding.

"One of the challenges we face is, ironically, our educators do a really good job of overcoming some of these barriers. We have teachers who put their own money back into their classrooms. As a result our test scores -- our national ranking if you will -- has not gone into the toilet," she continued.

This comes as federal education dollars are imperiled by President Donald Trump's agenda. Beyond executive orders initiating a total federal funding freeze, his plans to dismantle the Department of Education worry Dias, who believes as Connecticut's budget planning continues, the state of the federal government lurks in the back of her mind.

"Connecticut's not going to be able to cover for the federal government. It will be a loss of services to families and children, and that's the bottom line. In the education space, the loss of federal funds is a reduction in school lunch. We're not going to be able to provide school lunches," she concluded.


get more stories like this via email