108B LB1403 LPS Testimony
Revenue Committee
Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, Chairperson
Sen. R. Brad von Gillern, Vice Chairperson
Sen. Joni Albrecht
Sen. Eliot Bostar
Sen. George Dungan
Sen. Kathleen Kauth
Sen. Fred Meyer
Sen. Dave Murman
Written summary of testimony provided during the hearing on LB1403.
LPS opposes LB1403 because it expands opportunity scholarships approved in LB 753 in 2023. This is a problem because, as LPS has previously testified, the Opportunity Scholarship Act that came into being with the passage of LB753 cannot reach its stated goal of “improving the quality of education available to all children” (77-7102(1)).
First, the Opportunity Scholarship Act does not include a method for measuring the achievement change, better or worse, of students using opportunity scholarships, and it doesn’t document how the money is used to identify effective practices, so it cannot demonstrate that it improves the quality of educational outcomes or practices.
Second, the law is not intended to help all children. According to the Opportunity Scholarship Act (77-7103(4)) other than for race, scholarship granting agencies and the schools that receive these scholarships can establish requirements in their enrollment practices to bar certain children from attending their schools, making it nearly impossible for this program to be available to all students.
An example of this can be found in the online handbook of a Nebraska parochial school. The handbook states that the school, “admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to all students. Consequently, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in the administration of our educational policies, admission policies, scholarships, loan programs, athletics, or other school- administered programs.”
By omission, the school retains the option of discriminating based on any student characteristic not included in the Non-Discrimination Policy. Since the Opportunity Scholarships Act cannot meet its stated goal through the absence of academic and financial accountability measures and the presence of discriminatory practices potentially barring some children from participating, we oppose the advancement of LB1403.
Top Scoring ACT Students
27 of 31 students
- Sophie Reimer, Brownell-Talbot, Omaha
- Jack Maloney, Creighton Preparatory, Omaha
- John Bonebrake, Creighton Preparatory, Omaha
- Ina Satpathy, Duchesne Academy, Omaha
- Safal Sapkota, Elkhorn North, Elkhorn
- Adam Svoboda, Elkhorn South, Elkhorn
- Louis Giacalone, Elkhorn South, Elkhorn
- Charleston Berryman, Elkhorn South, Elkhorn
- Leo Pechous, Elkhorn South, Elkhorn
- Mason Shields, Elkhorn South, Elkhorn
- Cade Rasmussen, Fremont Senior High, Fremont
- Xavier Thomas-Lewis, Kimball High, Kimball
- Jasmine Pham, Lincoln High, Lincoln
- Manishika Balamurugan, Lincoln High, Lincoln
- Sarah Larson, Lincoln East, Lincoln
- **Leo Turner, Lincoln Southeast High, Lincoln
- Cameron Coen, Lincoln Southwest, Lincoln
- Claire Kniss, Lincoln Southwest, Lincoln
- Abhirup Are, Millard North, Omaha
- Anish Sahoo, Millard North, Omaha
- Rohan Fichadia, Millard North, Omaha
- Matthew Zastrow, Millard North, Omaha
- Sarah Wood, Millard North, Omaha
- Shiv Lele, Millard North, Omaha
- Victor Chan, Millard North, Omaha
- Quentin Bauer, Millard South, Omaha
- **Noah Janke, Norfolk Sr. High, Norfolk
- Gwyneth Brown, Palmer High, Palmer
- Riley Ibero, Scottsbluff Sr. High, Scottsbluff
- Hadassah Davies, Westside High, Omaha
- Thomas Steele, Westside High, Omaha
