LINCOLN- Lawmakers gave final approval to an updated bill that will devote $10 million a year in state funds for scholarships to attend K-12 private or parochial schools. The 32-15 approval of LB1402 on the final day of the 2024 legislative session would end Nebraska’s distinction as one of only two states that don’t allow some form of school choice. Gov. Pillen has pledged to sign the bill into law, but the measure faces an almost certain challenge, either in the courts or at the ballot box.

LB1402 has been described as “an end run” around a planned referendum on the November ballot over a school choice law passed last year, LB 753. Jenni Benson, the president of the Nebraska State Education Association, called the passage of LB 1402 “a slap in the face to voters,” who signed petitions to place the issue of school choice, as designed under LB 753, on the November ballot.

The NSEA, in a press release after Thursday’s vote, pledged to either challenge the new law in court or mount another petition drive to force a referendum on it.“We will continue the fight to ensure voters’ wishes on this issue are heard and respected,” Benson said. If LB1402 is challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional because it allocates public funds to non-public education, it would render the entire bill void, and thus leave LB 753 in place.

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