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Nebraska Referendum 435, Private Education Scholarship Program Referendum (2024)
| Nebraska Referendum 435 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Education and Charter schools and vouchers | |
Status Defeated | |
| Type Referendum | Origin Citizens |
Nebraska Referendum 435, the Private Education Scholarship Program Referendum, was on the ballot in Nebraska as a veto referendum on November 5, 2024.[1][2] Electors voted to repeal the legislation.
A "retain" vote supported upholding Legislative Bill 1402, which authorizes the state treasurer to administer an education scholarship program with a $10 million budget beginning in fiscal year 2024-2025 for eligible students to cover all or part of the cost of attending any nongovernmental, privately operated elementary or secondary school in the state that fulfills all accreditation requirements. |
A "repeal" vote supported partially repealing Legislative Bill 1402, which authorizes the state treasurer to administer an education scholarship program, but would not repeal the part of the bill that repealed Legislative Bill 753, which enacted a tax credit for taxpayers who contribute to education scholarships. |
Election results
See also: Results for education and school choice ballot measures, 2024
|
Nebraska Referendum 435 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 382,921 | 42.97% | ||
|
|
508,140 | 57.03% | ||
Overview
What did the referendum repeal?
- See also: Text of measure
The veto referendum partially repealed Legislative Bill 1402, which authorized the state treasurer to administer an education scholarship program with a $10 million budget beginning in fiscal year 2024-2025. The program distributed scholarships to eligible students to cover all or part of the cost of attending any nongovernmental, privately operated elementary or secondary school in the state that fulfills all accreditation requirements. LB 1402 required that the average of the scholarship amounts awarded per student did not exceed 75% of the amount determined by the statewide average general fund operating formula per student.[1]
The law defined eligible students as a resident of Nebraska who was:[1]
- a student receiving an education scholarship for kindergarten, ninth grade, or the first-grade level offered by a qualifying school;
- a student transferring from a public school to a qualifying school;
- a member of an active military family transferring into the state and attending a qualifying school;
- a student who received an education scholarship under LB 753;
- a sibling of a student who has already received an education scholarship; or
- a student of a qualified school whose family income does not exceed 213% of the federal income poverty level.
The law prioritized students based on household income level, with those whose household income level did not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level prioritized first. The referendum did not repeal the part of LB 1402 that repealed a previous tax credit enacted by LB 753 for qualifying taxpayers who contributed to scholarship-granting organizations for education scholarships for private schools.[1]
Who supported and opposed the referendum?
- See also: Support for repealing LB 1402 and Support for retaining LB 1402
Support Our Schools led the campaign in support of repealing LB 1402. It was endorsed by the Nebraska State Education Association, League of Women Voters of Nebraska, NAACP Lincoln Branch, Nebraska Civic Engagement Table, and Parent-Teacher Association of Nebraska. The campaign said, "Private education should continue to be privately funded. Taxpayer dollars should be invested in strengthening our public schools, which are open to all children, subject to state curriculum standards, and supported by the vast majority of Nebraskans in annual polls."[3]
The referendum was opposed by the primary sponsor of the bill, State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (R-39), as well as State Sen. Dave Murman (R-38), Nebraska Family Alliance, and Omaha Catholic School Consortium. State Sen. Dave Murman said, "Others have argued LB 1402 defunds public schools. Those who make this claim either haven’t done the math or simply know they are lying. In the 2022-2023 year, K-12 schools received about $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds. Since my time as chair of the Education Committee, we have additionally appropriated over $1.6 billion for our public schools. Compare this spending with the $10 million cost of LB 1402, and we see that it is only about 0.2 percent, or two one-thousandths, of our total education funding. Compared to most school choice programs across the country, LB 1402 is amongst the humblest and most meager in the nation."[4]
Support Our Schools previously qualified a veto referendum against Legislative Bill 753, which would have created a nonrefundable tax credit for qualifying taxpayers who contribute to scholarship-granting organizations for education scholarships. On May 16, 2024, the secretary of state announced that the referendum would not appear on the 2024 ballot. The Nebraska State Legislature passed Legislative Bill 1402, which repealed the targeted law of the referendum, during the 2024 legislative session. Secretary Bob Evnen (R) said, "Since the previous law will no longer be in effect by the time of the general election, I do not intend to place the original referendum on the ballot."[5]
Jenni Benson, Support Our Schools Nebraska sponsor and president of the Nebraska State Education Association, said, "Since last summer we’ve collected more than 200,000 signatures from Nebraskans who believe voters should decide whether public funds should be used to pay for private schools. The incredibly short timeline was a huge challenge, but Nebraskans wanted to sign this petition – many were appalled that LB1402 was passed to block citizens from voting on the issue and to impose a costly new voucher scheme on taxpayers."[3]
State Senator Lou Ann Linehan (R-39), the sponsor of both bills, said, "No matter how much money opponents of school choice spend or how many signatures they collect, supporters of school choice won't stop fighting for parents rights and for our kids."[6]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Referendum 435 was as follows:[1]
| “ |
Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402, enacted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2024, provides for $10 million annually to fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska. Shall Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 be repealed? [ ] Retain [ ] Repeal[7] |
” |
Ballot summary
The ballot summary for Referendum 435 was as follows:[1]
| “ | A vote to 'RETAIN' will keep in effect Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 enacted in 2024 by the Nebraska Legislature. Section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 provides for $10 million annually to fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska.
|
” |
Object statement
The object statement of the petition was as follows:[1]
| “ | Repeal Section 1 of LB 1402, passed by the 108th Nebraska Legislature in 2024, which directs $10 million dollars annually for financial grants-in-aid for eligible students to attend a qualifying privately operated elementary or secondary school in Nebraska.[7] | ” |
Full text
The full text of the ballot measure is below:[1]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The attorney general wrote the ballot language for this measure.
The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 14, and the FRE is 15. The word count for the ballot title is 49.
The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 17, and the FRE is 16. The word count for the ballot summary is 68.
Support for retaining LB 1402
Keep Kids First led the campaign to uphold the law.[3]
Supporters
Officials
- U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R)
- U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith (R)
- Gov. Jim Pillen (R)
- State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (R)
Organizations
Arguments
Support for repealing LB 1402
Support Our Schools Nebraska led the campaign to repeal the law.[3]
Supporters
Political Parties
Unions
- National Education Association
- Nebraska State Education Association
Organizations
- League of Women Voters of Nebraska
- NAACP Lincoln Branch
- Nebraska Civic Engagement Table
- OpenSky Policy Institute
- Parent-Teacher Association of Nebraska
Arguments
Campaign finance
Keep Kids First registered as a political action committee (PAC) to advocate for retaining the legislation. The committee reported over $1.5 million in contributions.[8]
Support Our Schools registered to advocate for repealing the legislation and organized the signature drive to place the bill on the ballot as a veto referendum. The committee reported over $7.2 million.[8]
Note: 'Support' is for upholding the bill and 'Oppose' is for repealing the bill in the following charts.
| Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $1,234,874.95 | $298,892.46 | $1,533,767.41 | $1,234,874.95 | $1,533,767.41 |
| Oppose | $6,301,261.37 | $967,087.53 | $7,268,348.90 | $6,498,560.77 | $7,465,648.30 |
| Total | $7,536,136.32 | $1,265,979.99 | $8,802,116.31 | $7,733,435.72 | $8,999,415.71 |
Support to uphold
The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committee in support of upholding the bill.[8]
| Committees in support of Education Scholarships Tax Credit Referendum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committee | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures |
| Keep Kids First | $1,234,874.95 | $298,892.46 | $1,533,767.41 | $1,234,874.95 | $1,533,767.41 |
| Total | $1,234,874.95 | $298,892.46 | $1,533,767.41 | $1,234,874.95 | $1,533,767.41 |
Donors
The following table shows the top donors to the committee registered in support of upholding the bill.[8]
| Donor | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Federation for Children Growth Fund | $375,000.00 | $16,570.81 | $391,570.81 |
| American Federation for Children | $0.00 | $281,572.75 | $281,572.75 |
| C.L. Werner | $100,000.00 | $0.00 | $100,000.00 |
| James Pillen | $100,000.00 | $0.00 | $100,000.00 |
| James Timmerman | $85,000.00 | $0.00 | $85,000.00 |
Support to repeal
The following table includes the total contributions and expenditures of the committee in support of repealing the bill.[8]
| Committees in opposition to Education Scholarships Tax Credit Referendum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committee | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures |
| Support Our Schools | $6,301,261.37 | $967,087.53 | $7,268,348.90 | $6,498,560.77 | $7,465,648.30 |
| Total | $6,301,261.37 | $967,087.53 | $7,268,348.90 | $6,498,560.77 | $7,465,648.30 |
Donors
The following table shows the top donors to the committee registered in support of repealing the bill.[8]
| Donor | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Education Association | $4,298,076.20 | $30,855.23 | $4,328,931.43 |
| Nebraska State Education Association | $1,221,335.00 | $532,610.10 | $1,753,945.10 |
| Opensky Policy Institute | $75,000.00 | $168,138.15 | $243,138.15 |
| Vote for Schools | $152,500.00 | $63,000.00 | $215,500.00 |
| New Venture Fund | $99,000.00 | $0.00 | $99,000.00 |
Methodology
To read Ballotpedia's methodology for covering ballot measure campaign finance information, click here.
Background
Legislative Bill 1402 (2024)
During the 2024 state legislature, Senator Lou Ann Linehan (R), the sponsor of LB 753, introduced Legislative Bill 1402 (LB 1402), which was designed to appropriate $10 million in state funds for private school scholarships to qualifying schools and students. Qualified schools would have included any nongovernmental, privately operated elementary or secondary school in Nebraska that is not for profit, complies with the anti-discrimination provisions of federal law, complies with all health and life safety laws that govern private schools, and fulfills the accreditation requirements. LB 1402 passed by a vote of 32-14 on April 18, 2024. The bill also includes a provision designed to repeal the education scholarship tax credits enacted by LB 753. LB 1402 took effect three months after the state legislature adjourned.[9]
| Vote in the Nebraska State Senate | |||
| Requirement: Simple majority of all members in each chamber | |||
| Yes | No | Not voting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 32 | 14 | 3 |
| Total percent | 65.31% | 28.57% | 6.12% |
| Democrat | 1 | 12 | 2 |
| Republican | 31 | 1 | 1 |
| Nonpartisan | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Legislative Bill 753 (2023)
Support Our School previously qualified a veto referendum targeting Legislative Bill 753 (LB 753), which passed by a vote of 33-11 with five not voting during the 2023 legislative session. The vote was largely along party lines. The referendum was removed from the ballot by the Nebraska Secretary of State after the passage of LB 1402.[10]
| Vote in the Nebraska State Senate | |||
| Requirement: Simple majority of all members in each chamber | |||
| Yes | No | Not voting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 33 | 11 | 5 |
| Total percent | 67.35% | 22.45% | 10.20% |
| Democrat | 3 | 10 | 3 |
| Republican | 30 | 0 | 2 |
| Nonpartisan | 0 | 1 | 0 |
LB 753 would have created a nonrefundable tax credit for qualifying taxpayers who contribute to scholarship-granting organizations for education scholarships. The law would have defined a scholarship-granting organization as "a charitable organization in this state that is (a) exempt from federal income taxation pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and (b) certified pursuant to section 4 of this act to provide tax-credit-supported education scholarships to eligible students to assist them in attending qualified schools." Qualified schools would have included any nongovernmental, privately operated elementary or secondary school in Nebraska that is not for profit, complies with the antidiscrimination provisions of federal law, complies with all health and life safety laws that govern private schools, and fulfills the accreditation requirements. Scholarships would have been provided based on a five-tier priority system.[1]
The law would have limited total tax credits for 2024, 2025, and 2026 to $25 million. For every calendar year beginning with 2027, the annual total limit would have been the limit from the prior year multiplied by (a) 125% if the tax credit amounts exceeded 90% of the prior year limit or (b) 100% if the tax credit amounts did not exceed 90% of the prior year limit. The law would have prohibited the limit from exceeding $100 million.[1]
The Legislative Fiscal Analyst estimated that 5,000 students could utilize the scholarship system to transfer from public to private schools.[11]
School voucher programs, 2024
As of September 2024, 14 states and Washington, D.C. operate school voucher programs that provide parents with funding to pay partial or full tuition for their child or children to attend private school, including religious and non-religious schools. The map below highlights which states offer such programs, including Nebraska's Education Scholarship Program.[12]
Veto referendums in Nebraska
Between 1950 and 2022, Nebraska voters decided on 10 veto referendums—repealing nine laws and retaining one.
| Year | Measure | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Referendum 426: Death Penalty Repeal | |
| 2006 | Measure 422: Dissolution of Class I School Districts | |
| 1990 | Referendum 1: Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support |  |
| 1986 | Referendum 1: School Consolidation | |
| 1986 | Referendum 2: Mandatory Seat Belts | |
| 1978 | Referendum 1: Financial Support for Public Schools | |
| 1974 | Referendum 1: Public School Support | |
| 1966 | Referendum 1: Income Tax Law | |
| 1950 | Referendum 1: Gas Tax | |
| 1950 | Referendum 2: Vehicle Registration Fee | |
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Nebraska, the number of signatures required to qualify a veto referendum for the ballot—without suspending the enactment of the targeted legislation—is equal to 5 percent of registered voters as of the deadline for filing signatures. For a veto referendum that does suspend the targeted legislation until the election, signatures equal to 10 percent of registered voters are required. Because of the unique signature requirement based on registered voters, Nebraska is also the only state where petition sponsors cannot know the exact number of signatures required until they are submitted. Nebraska law also features a distribution requirement mandating that petitions contain signatures from 5 percent of the registered voters in each of two-fifths (38) of Nebraska's 93 counties. Signatures must be submitted 90 days after the legislature that passed the targeted bill adjourns.
The requirements to get a veto referendum certified for the 2024 ballot:
- Signatures required (without suspending the law): Signatures equal to 5 percent of registered voters (61,733)
- Signatures required (with suspending the law): Signatures equal to 10 percent of registered voters (123,465)
Signatures are submitted to the secretary of state. The secretary of state sends the appropriate signature petitions to each county, where county election officials verify the signatures. Upon receiving the signatures back from county officials, the secretary of state determines whether or not the requirements were met.
Details about this initiative
- Support Our Schools Nebraska filed the veto referendum on April 30, 2024.[13]
- On July 17, 2024, the campaign submitted an estimated 86,603 signatures.[14]
- On September 5, 2024, the secretary of state announced that the referendum had qualified for the ballot. The campaign collected more than 68,184 valid signatures and met the distribution requirement in 60 counties.[15]
Sponsors of the measure hired Fieldworks LLC to collect signatures for the petition to qualify this measure for the ballot. A total of $575,604.00 was spent to collect the 61,733 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $9.32.
Lawsuit
| Lawsuit overview | |
| Issue: Whether the referendum is constitutional because it relates to a state appropriation | |
| Court: Nebraska Supreme Court | |
| Ruling: The referendum does not illegally target the state's power to appropriate funds and, therefore, can appear on the ballot. | |
| Plaintiff(s): Latasha Collar | Defendant(s): Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) |
| Plaintiff argument: The partial referendum is unconstitutional because the state constitution prohibits veto referendums from targeting state appropriations. | Defendant argument: Unknown. |
Source: WFLA
On September 5, 2024, Latasha Collar, a Douglas County woman whose daughter has benefited from such scholarship laws, filed a lawsuit with the Nebraska Supreme Court seeking to remove the referendum from the ballot, arguing that the referendum violates the state constitution because it relates to a direct state appropriation.[16]
On September 13, 2024, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled the referendum can appear on the ballot because it does not illegally target the state's appropriation power.[17]
How to cast a vote
- See also: Voting in Nebraska
See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Nebraska.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Nebraska State Legislature, "Legislative Bill 1402," accessed May 2, 2024 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Text" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nebraska Secretary of State's Office, "Current Petitions in Circulation," accessed May 2, 2024 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "SoS" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Support Our Schools Nebraska, "Home," accessed August 28, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Legislative News, "Clearing Up the Misconceptions of LB 1402," May 13, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Private Education Tax Credits Referendum will not be on November ballot," May 16, 2024
- ↑ The Catholic Voice, "Petitioners again seek to undo school choice law benefitting students in need," July 19, 2024
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, "Campaign finance," accessed October 11, 2023
- ↑ Nebraska State Legislature, "LB 1402," accessed April 14, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska State Legislature, "LB 753 vote," accessed November 3, 2023
- ↑ Nebraska State Legislature, "Fiscal Note," accessed November 3, 2023
- ↑ Ed Choice, "What are School Vouchers?" accessed September 11, 2024
- ↑ 1011NOW, "Group files referendum petition to repeal new school choice law," May 2, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Private Education Scholarship partial referendum petition returned for signature verification," July 17, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Secretary of State certifies Private Education Scholarship partial referendum for general election ballot," September 5, 2024
- ↑ North Platte Telegraph, "Lawsuit seeks to remove private school scholarship referendum from Nebraska ballot," September 8, 2024
- ↑ WFLA, "Measure to repeal Nebraska’s private school funding law should appear on the ballot, court rules," September 13, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Statutes, "Section 32-908," accessed April 18, 2023
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, “Nebraska Voter Registration Background,” accessed April 18, 2023
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, “Felon Voting Rights FAQ,” accessed April 18, 2023
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Nebraska Secretary of State, “Voter Information Frequently Asked Questions,” accessed April 18, 2023
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, “Online Voter Registration Frequently Asked Questions,” accessed April 18, 2023
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 NCSL, "State Profiles: Elections," accessed August 28, 2024
- ↑ Omaha World-Herald, “Online voter registration is coming to Nebraska,” September 5, 2015
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State’s Official Voter Registration Application," accessed November 1, 2024
- ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
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