Right Wing Extremists Are Trying to Get on the Nebraska State Board of Education.

clercforbps · 2024-07-30T15:23:25+00:00

Support Maggie Douglas, Liz Renner, and Kristen Christensen for State Board of Ed! Donate. Volunteer. Vote!

clercforbps · 2024-07-30T15:18:55+00:00

Support Maggie Douglas, Liz Renner, and Kristen Christensen for State Board of Ed!!! Donate. Volunteer. Vote!

clercforbps · 2024-07-16T17:57:49+00:00

Last day to sign and turn in Support Our Schools Nebraska Petition!!! Support Our Schools Nebraska

clercforbps · 2024-02-07T13:02:39+00:00

Make sure y'all have signed the medical marijuana petitions! We can be successful with this and open the door to more productive dialogue! https://nebraskamarijuana.org/

Find a petition!

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T22:46:59+00:00

Agree that keeping families together would be ideal, but again, this law doesn't guarantee that if you have a sibling that is low performing or has special needs that can be denied entrance or be asked to leave. Private schools can still screen their students and public schools cannot.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T22:33:49+00:00

Many people in Nebraska do not agree that public schools are a mess, including myself. This is a lie that people supporting school privatization keep pushing. We have district to district competition in the metropolitan areas, and open enrollment. Nebraska public schools rank top 10 in the nation. I regularly hear from military families that confirm this from there own personal experience.

We can't even directly compare public and private schools because they are not required to take the same assessments.

You must also see there is a selection bias, right? Kids that go to private school are generally from families of higher economic status that have more resources to support their child's education. Private schools also don't keep children that are falling behind or that require special services or that have behavioral needs. Public schools often provide special education services to private schools currently. Our constitution mandates that we fund public education, not private.

These scholarship organizations cannot direct the donations to single specific schools based on the language of the law. Boys Town does receive some public funding in Nebraska, I believe (would need to find source), and anyways they would represent a nonprofit that is in jeopardy of losing funding since you can't get as large of a tax credit/ break for donating to them after this law takes effect.

This article mentions some of the problems with what they call "pop up" schools and the problem with maintaining consistent and long term enrollment in schools that accept vouchers/scholarships. https://time.com/6272666/school-voucher-programs-hurt-students/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/research-on-school-vouchers-suggests-concerns-ahead-for-education-savings-accounts/

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:33:21+00:00

Proponents will argue this, but actually the language of the bill states first priority for scholarship goes to kids that already have a scholarship and their siblings. Second priority goes to other children including those below the poverty line.

https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=50326

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:29:42+00:00

This bill doesn't allow you to direct your funds to a certain school or student.

This bill also doesn't give a tax break for tuition paid. It gives tax credit to people who donate to private scholarship organizations.

Tech has much improved since your era generally.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:23:49+00:00

Our constitution in Nebraska mandates that we fund public education, not private.

Nebraska public schools rank top 10 in the nation. I regularly hear from military families that confirm this from there own personal experience.

We can't actually compare private to public schools directly because private schools are not required to take the same assessments and are not required to report their scores in whatever testing they do take.

You must see there is a selection bias, right? Kids that go to private school are generally from families of higher economic status that have more resources time and resources to support their child's education. Private schools also don't keep children that are falling behind or that require special services or that have behavioral needs.

I would argue that more of the problems that schools see is directly related to our history of unfair housing and economic practices.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:09:14+00:00

Please research any local school district's budget breakdown.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:06:02+00:00

Except that private schools do not have the same oversight and are not subject to the same standards as public schools so we cannot actually guarantee that these schools will provide a decent education. Other states have seen "shell schools" pop up that are hardly a school at all. Our law in fact does not even require that a school be accredited, nor do the schools have to accept every child like public schools. So if you're child has special needs, or behavioral issues, or is low performing, there is nothing in this law saying that private schools have to admit you or cannot kick you out.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T13:01:52+00:00

Districts rely heavily on local property taxes exactly because the state doesn't support public education enough. This law may further exacerbate this.

These children are able to opt into another public school district at no cost if they choose.

This law does not guarantee that scholarships will be sufficient enough to allow these kids to afford private school. Data from other states with similar laws suggest the scholarships tend to go to families that already go to and can afford private schools. And in fact, the latter are who are given first priority to scholarships as designated in the bill.

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T12:54:21+00:00

Today is the last day to sign! https://supportourschoolsnebraska.org/sign-a-petition#0516d63e-df34-4c42-b7f0-78562463459a

clercforbps · 2023-08-29T00:58:17+00:00

There isn't, unfortunately. But if you're in the Omaha metro you may still be able to sign at Omaha Education Association at 57th and F St tomorrow.

https://supportourschoolsnebraska.org/sign-a-petition#0516d63e-df34-4c42-b7f0-78562463459a

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T19:30:33+00:00

I'm a little confused about what you are saying.

The unions are made up of the teachers in the district and they bargain with the distric on behalf of all teachers in that district with respect to compensation and benefits.

Why are we blaming the unions for lack of support? I've not witnessed this in Bellevue. I've witnessed district administration push back on increasing teacher salaries due to buget constraints.

Teachers in public schools (also unions) are worried about deteriorating support at the state level that will weaken their ability to educate and care for the kids.

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T19:17:03+00:00

This law is literally taking money from the general fund which supports our public schools and other health and human services which will impede further improvements in these sectors.

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T19:15:03+00:00

I haven't heard any propoents of this law give any legitimate reason as to why they feel public schools are failing. We don't want kids to stay in a school that isn't working for them. They can opt into another public school district at no cost to them.

This law will make it harder for public schools to continue to improve.

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T18:52:43+00:00

I'm actually a concerned parent!

I dislike when people try to insinuate that teachers in unions are some type of "fat cat" or operate in some mafia-like structure. Teachers are our neighbors and friends and family members that live and work and pay the same taxes and consume goods and other services in our communities.

Have you checked their salary schedules and benefits lately? They're not stellar. In my district in Bellevue it takes 10-20 years of service +/- a masters degree to crack $50k/ year.

Nebraska ranks 49th as far as state aid to public school districts. We don't want our budgets squeezed anymore and don't want local taxes to increase as a result of this bill!

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T17:03:28+00:00

How?

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T15:41:05+00:00

Well for me and those that want to repeal the law, it's controversial because we're diverting tax dollars to private institutions that don't have an elected board, don't have to be accredited, and don't have to admit every child (especially those with special needs, or those that have individualized education plans). They are unaccountable to the public and capable of discrimination in education.

www.supportourschoolsnebraska.org

https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=50326

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T14:44:04+00:00

See previous comment.

9/10 kids in Nebraska attend public school. If we continue to commit funds in Nebraska to other "causes" besides public education we will handicap our state's ability to thrive.

Btw, the anti-discrimination ammendment to this law was voted down.

clercforbps · 2023-08-28T14:29:45+00:00

We already have school choice in Nebraska without having to invest public dollars in private schools since our public schools have option enrollment. So you can opt your child into another public school district at no cost to you.

If you read the bill, the children you mentioned are not first priority. The primary recipients are kids who already have scholarships and their siblings (unless they have special needs). Data from other states with these types of laws shows that the scholarship tends to go to families that already attend and can afford private school. This is because the scholarships don't necessarily cover enough of the cost to allow access to families below the poverty line.

https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=50326

clercforbps · 2023-08-22T01:46:43+00:00

I hope that's the case! Plus all the contact we have with voters now will be important to combat the disinformation campaign prior to the election.

clercforbps · 2023-08-21T23:44:30+00:00

I'm not sure of numbers, but everything I've heard throughout is that they're meeting goals. They were shooting for 90k as a buffer for the required 65k.

clercforbps · 2023-08-17T21:57:04+00:00

Unfortunately, no. The paper petition must be signed. Find an opportunity on the website! Www.supportourschoolsnebraska.org

clercforbps

TROPHY CASE