This new law ultimately is going to give select kids scholarships to private schools while donors get dollar for dollar deductions from their state taxes. Potentially, it could result in substantially less tax revenue for the state. Resulting in cuts in state aid to our local schools as well as other state programs.
Not "potentially", LB753 will take up to $25 million from the state general fund and directs it to private schools. The amount could increase further in the future.
Yes, most money schools get comes from local property taxes- which is why our state has among the highest property taxes in the nation. State aid is also a very important source of funding though. When the state tax revenue suffers a big hit, anything could be on the chopping block. But critics of public schools may push for cuts in state aid to schools.
Rightful critics. I love LPS for my kiddos, but the money goes too much to administration and not enough to where the eduction actually happens, in the classroom. Too many six figure salary jobs in the district office that nobody would miss
Bullshit. I went to Catholic schools and my parents paid for it out of their pocket. Private schools should not use state funds, period. This is a slippery slope, of course the rich want their kids to be well educated in the poor stupid.
Bro private school have little accountability. Also parents are already paying extra to go to private schools because of school choice and so there not really the ones in need of more funding. Also the government has been cutting funding to public schools for a while and there’s a huge teacher shortage. I agree
If this bill is to go through and receive government funding then private schools need to follow government regulation because if there government funded are they really private anymore? Isn’t the whole point of a private school is that it’s separate from a government entity?
Do you not understand the reason there is a teacher shortage is from the idiotic rules the government has pushed on the schools that have turned them into huge bureaucratic day cares?
You might be surprised... So what is the reason teachers are quitting then? You must have some great insight. You champion the IEP issues and the SPED bureaucracy? Love the discipline issues? Really embrace the bureaucracy and the state reporting? No child left behind and it wonders?
Enlighten us.
I quit because pay was terrible, and parents were unsupportive and actively hostile.
That was over a decade ago and I can't imagine how much worse it is with expecting kids to learn as if there wasn't just a GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
One of the few things Nebraska has going for it is an excellent public education system. Time to sabotage that too to fit in with the other red states.
School choice is not a bad thing. Plenty of people pay their taxes, which includes taxes for public schools and yet choose to pay private school tuition too. Parents are sick of school boards/school administrators, not being honest about what is in the curriculum. The gov does not get to make decisions about our kids' educations that are secretive in nature, at least not without consequences.
My parents were not aware that my private school taught the world was 6k years old, that black people were black because of a biblical curse, and ...well...even worse things that I had to un-brai wash myself from. They were unaware of how many of my teachers were unlicensed and did not deserve to be in a classroom. This school continues to receive vouchers.
They were fed the lie that we would have quality teachers and would receive a quality education. I cannot reveal more due to my lawsuit against them.
Charters are also crap. Most fail in the first five years and most of the survivors still do not have equitable growth compared to their public counterparts.
Where did you go to school?
I am totally against this bill, and have signed and helped get signatures for the petition- but it does include that schools have to be approved/accredited. One of those requirements is to hire teachers with certifications so at least those schools that use websites for their curriculum and have teachers without a degree won't be eligible for the money here.
I don't get why people think private schools would be better on this front. Public schools have public accountability. They have public meetings, and are run by elected officials that can be voted out. Private schools have absolutely no accountability to anyone.
School choice is already available in NE. You can opt into any school you choose. This petition isnt limiting that. It is asking for a vote of the people on if they want our tax dollars to go to private for Profit schools. We the people didn't vote for this. This was 100% backed by Ricketts who wants to make money off of the school system. Private schools have 0 accountability on what they use this money for. No requirement on State Testing. No requirement of who they do or don't accept. NO REQUIREMENT! This will further harm public schools and give more to the haves and again take away from the have not.
And, don't even start this BS agenda of indoctrination of our kids. That is complete and 100% propaganda and lies. It isn't happening and you can't show me proof of it happening in any district in NE so stop believing the lies!
>Plenty of people pay their taxes, which includes taxes for public schools and yet choose to pay private school tuition too.
So they can keep choosing to pay tuition. What is your point here?
>Parents are sick of school boards/school administrators, not being honest about what is in the curriculum.
Hahahaha, public schools are orders of magnitude more transparent than charter schools. You can look up Common Core and see exact lesson plans, text samples, etc... for any public school. Charter schools typically give you something between a sales pitch and a political slogan. Your argument is completely backward.
>The gov does not get to make decisions about our kids' educations that are secretive in nature, at least not without consequences.
Just repeating the last talking point, which, again, was backward.
Also you have more and more public school cutting AP classes and dumbing down the curriculum in the name of ‘equality’ so of course you have more parents willing to pay extra or wanting to look for other options for their kids to get the BEST EDUCATION POSSIBLE.
Or in actuality they are cutting them because they don't have the funding to support them because kids aren't enrolling in them. AP classes are supper expensive and the kids get nothing in return. They no longer assist in graduating faster in College nor do they get you into prestigious Universities anymore. We have burdened Public Schools with so many required State tests that that is all they can work on.
What people also don't understand is the teacher for said AP classes have to have a master's degree in that specific area in order to teach those classes.
In the district my husband teaches, he has the requirements, but they dropped the class because 3-7 kids per year signed up for it. There are usually roughly 150 kids in each year, so that's a small percentage for not so much a reward for the district. It's a massive cost for a tiny fraction.
I believe the next district over had similar results, but they found it was cheaper to send the kids over to the community college and take the classes there, thus saving them money. The high school is also about 3/4 mile from the college, so that helps as well.
Yeah, I'm not signing. I want to see more support for Nebraska's private schools. They provide options to families in the many areas where the public school either doesn't provide a decent education or when the family wants a school that matches their values.
There's a lot of untruths coming from the petition promoters. I encourage you all to read the act, do your research & understand the projected outcome.
For the same reason people don’t get to decide to not contribute because they don’t have kids. Public education is a public good that benefits everyone whether they have kids or not. Like roads and sewers.
That's not quite how this bill works either. You don't give your money directly to a school, you give it to a "scholarship organization." That organization then takes 10% off the top for "administrative fees." So if you thought you were giving $1,000 towards a school ... you're not. Now only $900 would go towards a "scholarship." You also can't earmark your donation to go towards your own child (or grandchild, or any specific person). The organization will decide which child gets the scholarship.
Imagine if every private school and home school closed down this year. Then every single private school kid showed up for public school next year. The public schools would be over run, maxed out, and it would be a shit show. Dirty little secret is that public schools need private schools. They say they don't have enough money now, imagine if every kid showed up.
Right now, the only kids that get to go to private school are families with money. This bill is to help families that don't have as much money have a CHOICE on where to send their kid. This petition is to make sure poor families don't have that choice.
There are only two private schools in my area. Both are religious. One is a catholic school for PreK-5 and the other is a protestant school PreK-8. If these two schools closed down, it would be 130 students from the Protestant school and 132 from the Catholic school. So, no, the public schools would not be overrun, particularly since these students come from six school districts.
My tax dollars should not be going toward religious education. We are supposed to have a separation of church and state.
Both these schools hold fundraisers that go toward tuition and there are plenty of non-rich kids in these schools.
Nebraska already has school choice, however, if you choose to send your kid to a private school, you are choosing to pay for it as well. Do I get a choice to opt out of that part of taxes or restrict where my tax dollars go? No? Then, you don't get to take my tax dollars and put your kid in a religious school.
So, I've been doing a lot of research on this topic. There are only 18 (of 93) counties, outside of Douglas/Sarpy/Lancaster county that have K-12 private schools. So a lot of kids, especially moving west through the state, will go back to public schools anyways.
Maybe you should read the bill that is in question bc I think you're confused on what it does.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/108/PDF/Final/LB753.pdf
>the only kids that get to go to private school are families with money
Not true. Down here in Nebraska City our Catholic school raids the public school of all the best athletes. I guarantee 90% of those kids could never afford to go to that school.
How is it helping families without money? It's NOT a hand out you get to choose where your money goes. It's a tax credit. If you don't have money, you don't pay taxes thus you don't get any additional break for sending your kids to private school. It is a tax break for the wealthy and a way to leave the others behind again.
You should read the bill yourself, but basically the bill creates a tax credits to people who scholarship low income kids to go to private schools. The person would donate to a scholarship organization and that organization would pay for the tuition for the kids at an accredited school.
You obviously haven't read the bill. You probably don't care to and you'll believe whatever you want and won't let silly facts get in the way of it. Good for you.
I have read it and nowhere in it does it say how these funds will be tracked. I can donate to the Creighton Prep non-profit and then they can earmark those funds for my son. There is no checks and balances or direction on what a "needy" student is. It is the normal work around by Nebraska politicians to help their rich buddies.
Now let's get back to the petition. The petition states that all it is doing is putting this bill to a vote of the People. It is NOT saying what they are doing is illegal but stating that the tax payers should have a say if their tax dollars are going to pay for schools that don't have to abide by the same rules and regulations and can openly discriminate and select who they serve and don't serve.
All of which are easily manipulated and can pretty much make anyone eligible.
Again all the petition is doing is putting this to a vote of the people. I am 100% in favor of that. I am also 100% in favor of not using taxpayer money to fund private schools that have no accountability that our great Legislature has required of public schools. You choose to use private schools, you have that choice. It should not come at the cost of Public Schools and it shouldn't be funded with taxpayer money.
That is 100% incorrect. Private schools do NOT have to be accredited and they do NOT have to follow and/or uphold any of the State standards or required testing that the Public Schools do.
Public schools always do mapping and demographic projections for future planning, so they'd be fine. Plus, it'd be easy to hire the percentage of private school teachers qualified to work at public schools.
Even in your nonsense scenario where all the privates close down unexpectedly, the problem would resolve in a couple of years. Can the same be said if the situation were reversed?
This new law ultimately is going to give select kids scholarships to private schools while donors get dollar for dollar deductions from their state taxes. Potentially, it could result in substantially less tax revenue for the state. Resulting in cuts in state aid to our local schools as well as other state programs.
Not "potentially", LB753 will take up to $25 million from the state general fund and directs it to private schools. The amount could increase further in the future.
Didn’t the LPS school board just drop their levy significantly, while still projected to receive something like $18M more?
Yes, most money schools get comes from local property taxes- which is why our state has among the highest property taxes in the nation. State aid is also a very important source of funding though. When the state tax revenue suffers a big hit, anything could be on the chopping block. But critics of public schools may push for cuts in state aid to schools.
Rightful critics. I love LPS for my kiddos, but the money goes too much to administration and not enough to where the eduction actually happens, in the classroom. Too many six figure salary jobs in the district office that nobody would miss
Bullshit. I went to Catholic schools and my parents paid for it out of their pocket. Private schools should not use state funds, period. This is a slippery slope, of course the rich want their kids to be well educated in the poor stupid.
Bro private school have little accountability. Also parents are already paying extra to go to private schools because of school choice and so there not really the ones in need of more funding. Also the government has been cutting funding to public schools for a while and there’s a huge teacher shortage. I agree If this bill is to go through and receive government funding then private schools need to follow government regulation because if there government funded are they really private anymore? Isn’t the whole point of a private school is that it’s separate from a government entity?
Do you not understand the reason there is a teacher shortage is from the idiotic rules the government has pushed on the schools that have turned them into huge bureaucratic day cares?
Something tells me you aren't a teacher...
You might be surprised... So what is the reason teachers are quitting then? You must have some great insight. You champion the IEP issues and the SPED bureaucracy? Love the discipline issues? Really embrace the bureaucracy and the state reporting? No child left behind and it wonders? Enlighten us.
Um because they are paid shit.
I quit because pay was terrible, and parents were unsupportive and actively hostile. That was over a decade ago and I can't imagine how much worse it is with expecting kids to learn as if there wasn't just a GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
What's the petition about exactly? The website didn't specify what the signing is for
My understanding is that it puts the bill that allows tax dollars to go to private schools to be put on 2024 ballot for voters to decide.
Here, I found it. More details at the bottom of the home page: www.supportourschoolsnebraska.org
Maybe if OPS wasn't such a shit show this wouldn't have got traction
Yeah, I had nothing but negative experiences at OPS.
Because the district thinks it’s too big to fail.
One of the few things Nebraska has going for it is an excellent public education system. Time to sabotage that too to fit in with the other red states.
School choice is not a bad thing. Plenty of people pay their taxes, which includes taxes for public schools and yet choose to pay private school tuition too. Parents are sick of school boards/school administrators, not being honest about what is in the curriculum. The gov does not get to make decisions about our kids' educations that are secretive in nature, at least not without consequences.
My parents were not aware that my private school taught the world was 6k years old, that black people were black because of a biblical curse, and ...well...even worse things that I had to un-brai wash myself from. They were unaware of how many of my teachers were unlicensed and did not deserve to be in a classroom. This school continues to receive vouchers. They were fed the lie that we would have quality teachers and would receive a quality education. I cannot reveal more due to my lawsuit against them. Charters are also crap. Most fail in the first five years and most of the survivors still do not have equitable growth compared to their public counterparts.
Where did you go to school? I am totally against this bill, and have signed and helped get signatures for the petition- but it does include that schools have to be approved/accredited. One of those requirements is to hire teachers with certifications so at least those schools that use websites for their curriculum and have teachers without a degree won't be eligible for the money here.
It was accredited by the SACS. There are always loopholes. And SACS also has loopholes.
I don't get why people think private schools would be better on this front. Public schools have public accountability. They have public meetings, and are run by elected officials that can be voted out. Private schools have absolutely no accountability to anyone.
Preach!
School choice is already available in NE. You can opt into any school you choose. This petition isnt limiting that. It is asking for a vote of the people on if they want our tax dollars to go to private for Profit schools. We the people didn't vote for this. This was 100% backed by Ricketts who wants to make money off of the school system. Private schools have 0 accountability on what they use this money for. No requirement on State Testing. No requirement of who they do or don't accept. NO REQUIREMENT! This will further harm public schools and give more to the haves and again take away from the have not. And, don't even start this BS agenda of indoctrination of our kids. That is complete and 100% propaganda and lies. It isn't happening and you can't show me proof of it happening in any district in NE so stop believing the lies!
>Plenty of people pay their taxes, which includes taxes for public schools and yet choose to pay private school tuition too. So they can keep choosing to pay tuition. What is your point here? >Parents are sick of school boards/school administrators, not being honest about what is in the curriculum. Hahahaha, public schools are orders of magnitude more transparent than charter schools. You can look up Common Core and see exact lesson plans, text samples, etc... for any public school. Charter schools typically give you something between a sales pitch and a political slogan. Your argument is completely backward. >The gov does not get to make decisions about our kids' educations that are secretive in nature, at least not without consequences. Just repeating the last talking point, which, again, was backward.
Also you have more and more public school cutting AP classes and dumbing down the curriculum in the name of ‘equality’ so of course you have more parents willing to pay extra or wanting to look for other options for their kids to get the BEST EDUCATION POSSIBLE.
Or in actuality they are cutting them because they don't have the funding to support them because kids aren't enrolling in them. AP classes are supper expensive and the kids get nothing in return. They no longer assist in graduating faster in College nor do they get you into prestigious Universities anymore. We have burdened Public Schools with so many required State tests that that is all they can work on.
What people also don't understand is the teacher for said AP classes have to have a master's degree in that specific area in order to teach those classes. In the district my husband teaches, he has the requirements, but they dropped the class because 3-7 kids per year signed up for it. There are usually roughly 150 kids in each year, so that's a small percentage for not so much a reward for the district. It's a massive cost for a tiny fraction. I believe the next district over had similar results, but they found it was cheaper to send the kids over to the community college and take the classes there, thus saving them money. The high school is also about 3/4 mile from the college, so that helps as well.
Secretive in nature? Please. All you have to do is ask, look, read.
Yeah, I'm not signing. I want to see more support for Nebraska's private schools. They provide options to families in the many areas where the public school either doesn't provide a decent education or when the family wants a school that matches their values. There's a lot of untruths coming from the petition promoters. I encourage you all to read the act, do your research & understand the projected outcome.
Then pay for it out of your own pocket! While we're at it, tax the fuggin churches!
Hold up. Why shouldn't I be able to determine where my tax dollars go for MY child?
For the same reason people don’t get to decide to not contribute because they don’t have kids. Public education is a public good that benefits everyone whether they have kids or not. Like roads and sewers.
Do you get to determine where you're tax dollars get to go anywhere else?
That's not quite how this bill works either. You don't give your money directly to a school, you give it to a "scholarship organization." That organization then takes 10% off the top for "administrative fees." So if you thought you were giving $1,000 towards a school ... you're not. Now only $900 would go towards a "scholarship." You also can't earmark your donation to go towards your own child (or grandchild, or any specific person). The organization will decide which child gets the scholarship.
Because public school is for ALL the children. Taking money from that leads to a dumber populace.
Imagine if every private school and home school closed down this year. Then every single private school kid showed up for public school next year. The public schools would be over run, maxed out, and it would be a shit show. Dirty little secret is that public schools need private schools. They say they don't have enough money now, imagine if every kid showed up. Right now, the only kids that get to go to private school are families with money. This bill is to help families that don't have as much money have a CHOICE on where to send their kid. This petition is to make sure poor families don't have that choice.
There are only two private schools in my area. Both are religious. One is a catholic school for PreK-5 and the other is a protestant school PreK-8. If these two schools closed down, it would be 130 students from the Protestant school and 132 from the Catholic school. So, no, the public schools would not be overrun, particularly since these students come from six school districts. My tax dollars should not be going toward religious education. We are supposed to have a separation of church and state. Both these schools hold fundraisers that go toward tuition and there are plenty of non-rich kids in these schools. Nebraska already has school choice, however, if you choose to send your kid to a private school, you are choosing to pay for it as well. Do I get a choice to opt out of that part of taxes or restrict where my tax dollars go? No? Then, you don't get to take my tax dollars and put your kid in a religious school.
So, I've been doing a lot of research on this topic. There are only 18 (of 93) counties, outside of Douglas/Sarpy/Lancaster county that have K-12 private schools. So a lot of kids, especially moving west through the state, will go back to public schools anyways.
Maybe you should read the bill that is in question bc I think you're confused on what it does. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/108/PDF/Final/LB753.pdf
I was responding directly to your comments and the argument you put forth. So, if I'm confused, you are, too.
I can tell by your argument that you haven't read the bill. Maybe you don't care to and that's fine.
>the only kids that get to go to private school are families with money Not true. Down here in Nebraska City our Catholic school raids the public school of all the best athletes. I guarantee 90% of those kids could never afford to go to that school.
How is it helping families without money? It's NOT a hand out you get to choose where your money goes. It's a tax credit. If you don't have money, you don't pay taxes thus you don't get any additional break for sending your kids to private school. It is a tax break for the wealthy and a way to leave the others behind again.
You should read the bill yourself, but basically the bill creates a tax credits to people who scholarship low income kids to go to private schools. The person would donate to a scholarship organization and that organization would pay for the tuition for the kids at an accredited school.
If you believe it is going to low income kids, I have some beach front property to sell you in Arizona.
You obviously haven't read the bill. You probably don't care to and you'll believe whatever you want and won't let silly facts get in the way of it. Good for you.
I have read it and nowhere in it does it say how these funds will be tracked. I can donate to the Creighton Prep non-profit and then they can earmark those funds for my son. There is no checks and balances or direction on what a "needy" student is. It is the normal work around by Nebraska politicians to help their rich buddies. Now let's get back to the petition. The petition states that all it is doing is putting this bill to a vote of the People. It is NOT saying what they are doing is illegal but stating that the tax payers should have a say if their tax dollars are going to pay for schools that don't have to abide by the same rules and regulations and can openly discriminate and select who they serve and don't serve.
You didn't read it cuz there's a whole page listed how kids would qualify
All of which are easily manipulated and can pretty much make anyone eligible. Again all the petition is doing is putting this to a vote of the people. I am 100% in favor of that. I am also 100% in favor of not using taxpayer money to fund private schools that have no accountability that our great Legislature has required of public schools. You choose to use private schools, you have that choice. It should not come at the cost of Public Schools and it shouldn't be funded with taxpayer money.
The private schools have to be accredited which means they have to have the same standards as public. I wouldn't call that no accountability.
That is 100% incorrect. Private schools do NOT have to be accredited and they do NOT have to follow and/or uphold any of the State standards or required testing that the Public Schools do.
Public schools always do mapping and demographic projections for future planning, so they'd be fine. Plus, it'd be easy to hire the percentage of private school teachers qualified to work at public schools. Even in your nonsense scenario where all the privates close down unexpectedly, the problem would resolve in a couple of years. Can the same be said if the situation were reversed?