Public school advocates in Nebraska have successfully gathered enough signatures to challenge a new law that allocates taxpayer money for private school tuition. The group, Support Our Schools, announced that they collected over 86,000 signatures from registered voters, surpassing the required 62,000 signatures to place the repeal on the ballot. Additionally, signatures were obtained from at least 5% of registered voters in 57 out of Nebraska's 93 counties, meeting the necessary threshold.
Nebraska Secretary of State confirmed the verification of just over 62,000 signatures and the fulfillment of the 5% requirement in 57 counties. This marks the second time that public school advocates have mobilized a signature campaign to challenge the use of public funds for private school tuition. The initial effort was made last year after the Nebraska Legislature, dominated by Republicans, passed a bill allowing the diversion of state income taxes to nonprofit organizations for private school scholarships.
Despite the success of last year's signature collection, lawmakers repealed the original law and replaced it with a new funding system earlier this year. The revised law now directly funds private school scholarships from state coffers, rendering the previous petition effort ineffective and prompting organizers to gather new signatures for the repeal.
Nebraska's adoption of the private school funding law aligns with other conservative Republican states like Arkansas, Iowa, and South Carolina, which have implemented various forms of private school choice programs. Both opponents and proponents of the Nebraska law anticipate legal challenges in the future.
As of now, county election officials are still in the process of verifying the collected signatures, and the repeal measure has not yet been officially certified for the ballot. If the signature count exceeds 110% of the required total, officials will cease verification and certify the measure. The deadline for certifying the November ballot is set for September 13.
