LINCOLN - The Nebraska Board of Education had a lively debate Friday morning about a school aid miscalculation error that came to light last month, with one commissioner accusing the districts that benefited from the overpayments of essentially stealing the money.

On. Nov. 17, Omaha Public Schools posted a message on its website saying it had received a $30.5 million overpayment. In the weeks since, the Grand Island Public School district said it received a $3 million overpayment, and Southern School District in Wymore received about $482,000 in overpayments. The school districts will now receive less funding in the future to make up for the extra funding.

In the board meeting Friday, Education Commissioner Brian Maher said many Nebraska schools have been impacted by the miscalculations in aid provided under Nebraska’s Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act, or TEEOSA.

“Many other school districts will end up with more funding due to the reallocation of funds,” Maher said. “But the exact impacts people would like to know – how much money goes here or how much money goes there, due to this error – are not known, since the recalculation of TEEOSA also includes many other factors that are also updated.”

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