Nebraska
K-12 public schools in Nebraska enroll about 293,000 students, with 38% in poverty, 6% learning English, 25% minorities, and annual expenditures of close to $3 billion. (Most recent NCES data)
Litigation
The Nebraska Supreme Court has found claims challenging the state school funding system under the education provisions in the state constitution to present political questions that should be left to the legislature, making it one of only 5 states to reach that conclusion. In 2004, a trial court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss an equity claim, but the plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew that suit prior to trial after the legislature greatly revised the school funding system in 2008 and enacted other legislation to address many of the shortcomings raised in litigation.
Plaintiffs challenging the equity of the state school funding system voluntarily withdrew the case without prejudice in 2008 in light of a new state funding scheme that provided remedies for plaintiffs’ claims.
In 1993, in Gould v. Orr, the Nebraska Supreme Court dismissed the case because plaintiffs’ had presented an equity claim and had not alleged that unequal funding of schools affected the quality of the education students received.
A second school finance challenge, Douglas County School Dist. v. Heineman, was filed in 2003. In April 2008, plaintiffs’ dismissed their lawsuit in light of a new state school funding formula and other legislation that resulted in more equitable school funding and increased and improved programs and services for at-risk students.
A consortium of rural school districts filed another school finance case, NCEEA v. Heineman, based on the education provisions in the state constitution. The Nebraska Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2007, holding that it involved only non-justiciable political questions.
For more detailed information, email Education Justice.
“Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction." Neb. Const. art. I, § 4. This is known as the “religious freedom clause.”
“The Legislature shall provide for the free instruction in the common schools of this state of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years.” Neb. Const. art. VII, § 1. This is known as the “free instruction clause.”
2006 amendments to the state constitution specify that state public school funds may be used to support early childhood education in addition to education beginning in kindergarten, and call for the creation of an early childhood education endowment fund to support and maintain "programs operated by or distributed through the common schools promoting development and learning for children from birth to kindergarten-entrance age." Neb. Const. art. VII, § 9.
In Nebraska Coalition for Educational Equity and Adequacy v. Heineman, the Nebraska Supreme Court concluded that constitutional history showed “that the framers of the 1875 constitution intentionally omitted any language from the free instruction clause that would have placed restrictions or qualitative standards on the Legislature's duties regarding education.” 731 N.W.2d 164, 180 (2007). The court interpreted “the paucity of standards in the free instruction clause as the framers' intent to commit the determination of adequate school funding solely to the Legislature's discretion, greater resources, and expertise.” Id.
The court further wrote that:
“the Legislature's general duty under the religious freedom clause to pass suitable laws to encourage schools does not alter our conclusion that the Nebraska Constitution lacks enforceable standards… we have not interpreted the religious freedom clause as imposing an affirmative duty on the Legislature to encourage schools beyond the establishment of school districts with authority to raise taxes. We do not question the importance of the Legislature's duty to encourage schools. But if we interpreted that duty to mean that the Legislature must ensure the “ quality” education the Coalition seeks, we would be ignoring the people's clear rejection of that standard in 1996. Nor do we believe that the Legislature's authority to provide state aid to school districts is subject to the judiciary's intervention.” Id. at 180.
The court therefore held: “The Nebraska Constitution commits the issue of providing free instruction to the Legislature and fails to provide judicially discernible and manageable standards for determining what level of public education the Legislature must provide.” Id. at 183.
Plaintiffs in Douglas County/OPS v. Heineman case sought additional state funding for preschool education under both an adequacy and equal protection theory. Plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew this case after the legislature enacted new legislation, which included integrating early childhood into the school funding formula and establishing early childhood centers in high-poverty areas. In the NCEEA case, plaintiffs sought state funding for preschool under an adequacy theory, but the Nebraska Supreme Court found that such a decision should be left to the legislature.
Pre-K
Nebraska has a competitive grant system, the Nebraska Childhood Education Grant Program, which funds pre-K programs through public schools and educational service units.
The Nebraska pre-K program is rated a 6 out of 10 on the established quality indicators but serves 27% of 4-year-olds and 11% of 3-year-olds.
The legislation implementing Nebraska’s preschool program recognizes that high quality early childhood education is a sound public investment of funds because such programs increase the likelihood that children who participate will enter school prepared to achieve high standards.
Most children in Nebraska’s pre-K program are ages 3 and 4, but children from birth up to kindergarten entrance age are eligible.
The Nebraska Department of Education administers the Early Childhood Education Grant Program. Grants are provided to public school districts and educational service units, which are encouraged to collaborate amongst themselves and with private providers, such as Head Start, Early Intervention and special education funding. The grant program funds both full-day and part-day programs, and must operate as least 12 instructional hourts per week.
The program must allocate at least 70% of its funds to serve children in 4 target populations: low-income status based on eligibility for the federal free or reduced lunch program; English language learners; those with parents under 18 or who did not finish high school; and those who were premature or low birth weight as infants.
The grant program is funded through appropriations of the state legislature. The Department of Education allocates grants to local school districts or educational service units, which may subcontract with non-public programs.
In their first year, grantees may use up to 50% of their grant amount for start-up costs. Each year, grantees receive funding for up to half the cost of a classroom and are required to match 100 percent of the continuing operating cost using local and/or federal sources, including parent fees based on a sliding scale.
According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Nebraska served 27% of all 4-year-olds and 11% of all 3-year-olds in its state preschool program in 2008-2009.
Quality Standards
Nebraska reached 6 out of the 10 NIEER benchmarks in 2009-2010.
The state requires teachers to have a Bachelor’s degree and certification or academic concentration in early childhood. Assistant teachers are required to have at least a Child Development Associate credential. The program has a limited class size and an acceptable student to teacher ratio.
The program does not require 15 hours of teacher in-service, lacks a screening/referral and support services program, does not provide at least one meal a day to students, and lacks a site visit program, failing these NIEER benchmarks.
Through an annual process, this initiative is evaluated on both process quality and program impact/child outcomes.
Grantees must participate in a program evaluation and quality assurance process and submit a periodic evaluation report to the Department of Education. In addition, the Department must submit a biannual evaluation of the grant program to the State Board and the Legislature.