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Nebraska Replace Department of Education with Office of Education Amendment (2022)

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Nebraska Replace Department of Education with Office of Education Amendment
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Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Education
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

The Nebraska Replace Department of Education with Office of Education Amendment was not on the ballot in Nebraska as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

The initiative would have amended the Nebraska Constitution to replace the Department of Education with the Office of Education. The Office of Education Director would have been appointed by the governor subject to confirmation by the legislature.The measure would have taken effect on January 1, 2023.[1][2]

Text of measure

Object statement

The object statement for the initiative would have been as follows:[1]

“ Replace the Nebraska Department of Education, School Board, and School Commissioner with its functions assumed by a newly formed Office of Education, which is accountable to both the governor and Unicameral, through a constitutional amendment.[3] ”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article I, Nebraska Constitution

The measure would have amended sections 2, 3, 4, and 13 of Article VII and section 1 of Article XIII of the state constitution. The following underlined text would have been added and the following struck-through text would have been deleted:[1] Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Article VII

Text of Section 2: State Department of Education; General Supervision of School System The State Department of Education in its entirety, including the State Board of Education, the Commissioner of Education, and all elected or hired positions, and all programs contracted by the State Department of Education, including proxies, shall be replaced with the newly formed Office of Education. The Director of the Office of Education shall be appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by a majority of the members of the Legislature. All functions, programs, and funds of the State Department of Education shall be reallocated to the Office of Education.

The State Department of Education shall be comprised of a State Board of Education and a Commissioner of Education. The State Department of Education shall have general supervision and administration of the school system of the state and of such other activities as the Legislature may direct.

Text of Section 3: State Board of Education; Members; Election; Manner of Election; Term of Office

The State Board of Education shall be composed of eight members, who shall be elected from eight districts of substantially equal population as provided by the Legislature. Their term of office shall be for four years each. Their duties and powers shall be prescribed by the Legislature, and they shall receive no compensation, but shall be reimbursed their actual expense incurred in the performance of their duties. The members of the State Board of Education shall not be actively engaged in the educational profession and they shall be elected on a nonpartisan ballot.

Text of Section 4: State Board of Education; Commissioner of Education; Appointment; Powers; Duties

The State Board of Education shall appoint and fix the compensation of the Commissioner of Education, who shall be the executive officer of the State Board of Education and the administrative head of the State Department of Education, and who shall have such powers and duties as the Legislature may direct. The board shall appoint all employees of the State Department of Education on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Education.

Text of Section 13: State Colleges; Government; Board; Name; Selection; Duties; Compensation

The general government of the state colleges as now existing, and such other state colleges as may be established by law, shall be vested, under the direction of the Legislature, in a board of seven members to be styled as designated by the Legislature, six of whom shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Legislature, two each for a term of two, four, and six years, and two each biennium thereafter for a term of six years, and the Director of the Office Commissioner of Education shall be a member ex officio. The duties and powers of the board shall be prescribed by law, and the members thereof shall receive no compensation for the performance of their duties, but may be reimbursed their actual expenses incurred therein.

Article XIII

Text of Section 1: State May Contract Debts; Limitation; Exceptions

The state may, to meet casual deficits, or failures in the revenue, contract debts never to exceed in the aggregate one hundred thousand dollars, and no greater indebtedness shall be incurred except for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, or defending the state in war, and provision shall be made for the payment of the interest annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose, or from other sources of revenue, which law providing for the payment of such interest by such tax shall be irrepealable until such debt is paid; Provided, that if the Legislature determines by a three-fifths vote of the members elected thereto that (1) the need for construction of highways in this state requires such action, it may authorize the issuance of bonds for such construction, and for the payment of the interest and the retirement of such bonds it may pledge any tolls to be received from such highways or it may irrevocably pledge for the term of the bonds all or a part of any state revenue closely related to the use of such highways, such as motor vehicle fuel taxes or motor vehicle license fees and (2) the construction of water retention and impoundment structures for the purposes of water conservation and management will promote the general welfare of the state, it may authorize the issuance of revenue bonds for such construction, and for the payment of the interest and the retirement of such bonds it may pledge all or any part of any state revenue derived from the use of such structures; and provided further, that the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges, and the Office State Board of Education may issue revenue bonds to construct, purchase, or otherwise acquire, extend, add to, remodel, repair, furnish, and equip dormitories, residence halls, single or multiple dwelling units, or other facilities for the housing and boarding of students, single or married, and faculty or other employees, buildings and structures for athletic purposes, student unions or centers, and for the medical care and physical development and activities of students, and buildings or other facilities for parking, which bonds shall be payable solely out of revenue, fees, and other payments derived from the use of the buildings and facilities constructed or acquired, including buildings and facilities heretofore or hereafter constructed or acquired, and paid for out of the proceeds of other issues of revenue bonds, and the revenue, fees, and payments so pledged need not be appropriated by the Legislature, and any such revenue bonds heretofore issued by either of such boards are hereby authorized, ratified, and validated. Bonds for new construction shall be first approved as the Legislature shall provide.[3]

Full text

  • The full text of the measure is available here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Nebraska

The state process

In Nebraska, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of registered voters as of the deadline for filing signatures. 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 at least four months prior to the next general election. Signatures do not roll over and become invalid after the next general election at least four months after the initial initiative application filing. Depending on when the initiative application is filed, petitioners can have up to just under two years to circulate petitions.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2022 ballot:

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

  • The initiative was filed by Michael Connely and Kelli Brady on September 2, 2021.[2]
  • The sponsors of the initiative did not file signatures on July 7, 2022.[2]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nebraska Secretary of State, "Full text," accessed November 8, 2021
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nebraska Secretary of State, "Petitions in circulation," accessed November 8, 2021
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
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