March 3, 2025
Sen. Dave Murman, Chairperson
Sen. Margo Juarez
Sen. Jana Hughes, Vice Chairperson
Sen. Dan Lonowski
Sen. Danielle Conrad
Sen. Glen Meyer
Sen. Megan Hunt
Sen. Rita Sanders
Chair Murman and members of the Education Committee:
The Lincoln Public Schools respectfully submits this letter of opposition to LB528. We assert that this bill would bypass the State Board of Education’s Constitutional authority in proposing to transfer away from the Nebraska Department of Education the responsibility and oversight for an “Innovative Learning Platform” and move it to the Department of Economic Development. We respectfully defer to the NDE’s oversight under the direction of our State Board in creating criteria within existing statute to determine qualifying standards for the platform. We further question how shifting the decision-making authority for this program from the Department of Education to another state agency most legitimately serves the educational interests of our schools and communities. We consistently find that the NDE, under the leadership of our Commissioner and State Board of Education, are routinely connected and engaged in ongoing conversations and decision making on education policy and programming to support the needs of students, schools, and educators in our state. For these aforementioned reasons, we oppose the advancement of LB528.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Skretta
Interim Superintendent
Lincoln Public Schools
402-440-9092
