LINCOLN — Lawmakers kept $3.5 million in Nebraska’s state budget Monday to help students using voter-repealed state funding to attend private K-12 schools with one-time “bridge” support until a new federal tax credit comes online. An amendment to LB1071 to remove the bridge funding and $150,000 in administrative costs failed 23-17. The change, from State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, needed 25 votes. Brandt said he was “disappointed” in the outcome and said he had 27 senators at one time, but a few backed out.

LB 1071 faces up to two more rounds of debate.

“This is not about taking a kid’s rights away,” Brandt said in debate. He said he was confident donors could seek to privately finance the $3.5 million, “if that gap needs to be filled.”

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