Nebraska Needs To Step Up On School Choice
By Katie Linehan March 08, 2023
This week, the Nebraska legislature is debating a school choice bill that would benefit all children, but especially those from lower-income families. This debate has been a long time coming and is a testament to the power of parents and advocates who have stood up against some of the wealthiest and most powerful interests in the state.
The fight for education freedom in Nebraska has been hard fought but slow-going for more than a decade. While school choice programs have blossomed in most other parts of the country, two states have held out: Nebraska and North Dakota. To this day, Nebraska students are limited to their residentially assigned public schools with the hope of enrolling in better public schools with option enrollment — but only if there’s room. For parents from underprivileged communities, who must fight every day to make sure their children have a chance to break the cycle of poverty, those options simply are not enough.
Some students from lower-income families have been fortunate enough to attend private schools thanks to private scholarships and the backbreaking work of their parents. But right now, these stories are anomalies. And until Nebraska breaks the education establishment’s monopoly on the system, they always will be.
It's not a coincidence that Nebraska has resisted school choice, even as other states dramatically expand it. Parents and advocates have had to face off against powerful organizations that use their virtually unlimited budgets to convince the public that Nebraska does not need school choice. Two organizations in particular, Nebraska Loves Public Schools and Stand for Schools, exist in large part to quell any effort to expand education options.
Many community members and lawmakers have a personal connection to the foundations that back such organizations and have been hesitant to jump in the crosshairs. But the urgency of the situation demands that more people speak out. And school choice opponents should be put on the record about their hypocritical views.
School choice advocates must also recognize that the opposition is organized, powerful, and well funded. Five years ago, for example, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited Nebraska to tour innovative schools. That day, attached to many of the young students’ purple polos at the private Nelson Mandela School in North Omaha, was a red and white sticker that read, “I love public schools” — part of a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign by Nebraska Loves Public Schools. The message was clear.
Ironically, the same organizations that have poured massive amounts of money and resources into killing any and all school choice legislation in Nebraska have feigned outrage that others would dare to support financial efforts to expand options for families.
But here’s the thing: This debate is not about donors and how they ought to spend their money. It’s about children and what’s best for them. Those on opposite sides of the issue can both want what is best for Nebraska’s students. But whereas one side wants to be in control, the other side wants to put families in control.
Giving families the financial power to determine which education is best for their children has tangible (and often immediate) results. In Florida, for example, which passed a scholarship program in 2001 similar to the one being proposed in Nebraska, students are performing significantly better overall than Nebraska’s students, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
This wasn’t always the case: Before Florida passed its education freedom initiative, Florida's eighth graders performed significantly worse than Nebraska’s and were almost one year behind Nebraska’s eighth graders.
What is most interesting about Florida’s case is the improved opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups: Hispanic children, black children, and children from lower-income families saw the most significant improvement in that nearly two-decade span, and they now far outperform their peers in Nebraska. Right now, black eighth graders in Florida are a full year ahead of their peers in Nebraska in reading. Hispanic students and students who qualify for free or reduced lunch are 1.5 years ahead of their peers in Nebraska.
Florida’s example also proves that states can provide families with the educational options they deserve while also supporting a robust public education system. While more than 100,000 students participate in Florida’s scholarship program, the majority of Florida’s children continue to attend public schools.
Declines in academic achievement in the Cornhusker State should motivate Nebraska lawmakers to action. School choice works — we have the data to back it up. And those who continue to oppose education freedom should be forced to answer a simple question: Whose interests are you advocating? The interests of Nebraska's students or the education bureaucrats who are scared of losing control?
This article orginaly was published by The Washington Examiner, March 8, 2023
Katie Linehan is the national director of communications and marketing at the American Federation for Children and a Nebraska native. Her mother, state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, is the lead sponsor of LB 753, the Opportunity Scholarships Act.