Rural Matters

Turmoil reins supreme over both urban and rural education issues in Nebraska, and the session promises to be filled with horse-trading at its best – or worst. LB 1024 enacted last year split the Omaha district into three, arguably along implicit racial lines, and then forced over a dozen districts in the metropolitan area to merge tax bases into a “learning community” that shared resources and had to meet uncertain integration goals. That legislation is stalled by a court order in a suit filed by the Omaha Chicano Awareness Center, and no fewer than seven alternative bills have been introduced to amend or replace it. Meantime, LB 126, a bill passed two years ago forcing the consolidation of Nebraska’s elementary-only “Class I” districts and high school-only Class VI districts was repealed by voters in a referendum in November – but only after it had been implemented. The issue of whether the closed districts are brought back to life is both in the courts and in the Legislature, where at least four bills are pending on the subject. Governor Dave Heineman was the big winner last year, as he vetoed both LB 1024 and LB 126, cultivating the favor of both suburban Omaha and rural Nebraska, although both vetoes were overridden.

There is also pressure to reorganize Nebraska’s educational service units governed by locally-elected boards that some lawmakers call “inefficient.” Meantime, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Nebraska’s funding system is pending a decision from the Nebraska Supreme Court on the issue of whether the state constitution mandates adequate funding. To head that off, the Governor is calling for an additional $171 million to “fully” fund the state aid formula, which the lawsuit plaintiffs say is not enough.