Session Review: Education
Nebraska lawmakers passed bills this session to limit student cellphone use, increase parental access to certain educational materials and establish a school finance commission.
LB140, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Rita Sanders at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, requires school boards to adopt policies prohibiting student cellphone use during class time by the 2025–26 school year.
Under the bill, students may use electronic communication devices when:
• required by a student’s Individualized Education Program and 504 plan;
• authorized by a school board for educational purposes during instructional time;
• an emergency or perceived threat of danger exists;
• necessary to manage a student’s health care; and
• determined appropriate by the school board or otherwise allowed by an appropriate school employee.
The measure passed 48-1 and took effect immediately.
Committee package
Senators passed LB306, sponsored by the Education Committee, which authorizes the Nebraska State College System’s Board of Trustees to enter into long-term leases or financing agreements for funding or refinancing student housing and activity centers.
The measure raises the base threshold for capital construction projects to $5 million, covering new buildings, renovations and acquisitions funded with tax dollars. Capital expenditures for operations and maintenance will have a base threshold of $200,000, applicable within 10 years of the project’s completion or acquisition. Public funds may not be used beyond these limits for facilities not classified as capital construction projects.
Additionally, LB306 grants the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education authority to oversee the transition of data collection, grants, programs and related responsibilities from the U.S. Department of Education to Nebraska postsecondary governing boards or the commission itself.
The bill also clarifies that individuals who have obtained a GED or a high school diploma equivalent are eligible for the Door to College Scholarship, which provides financial assistance for undergraduate students in Nebraska who graduated from a youth rehabilitation and treatment center high school or an approved public, private or parochial high school after being discharged.
LB306 was amended to include provisions from three additional bills considered by the committee this session:
• LB378, introduced by Omaha Sen. Bob Andersen, which requires both public and private postsecondary institutions to report biannually on any funding received from foreign adversarial entities, including contracts, gifts and grants;
• LB497, sponsored by Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, which allows students enrolled in a private, denominational, parochial or nonaccredited school to participate in extracurricular activities in the closest district that offers the activity if the local district does not; and
• LB625, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Robert Dover, which requires the state Department of Administrative Services to create and maintain a public website outlining financial information about Nebraska school districts, including details on revenue sources and expenditures.
LB306 passed on a vote of 41-8 and took effect immediately.
Parental involvement
Lawmakers approved two measures this session expanding parental involvement in education.
LB428, introduced by Murman and approved 41-5, requires schools to give parents, guardians and educational decisionmakers 15 days’ notice before conducting a survey that collects sensitive information from students, such as details about sex, religion, politics or medical information.
The notice will include the purpose of the survey, with whom survey results might be shared and how student privacy will be protected. Under the bill, parents also may request to review a copy of a survey and choose to exempt their child from participating.
Additionally, LB428 prohibits the inclusion of sexual questions in surveys administered to students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Schools may continue conducting anonymous surveys on student vaping and drug use without following the additional steps outlined in the measure.
LB390, also sponsored by Murman and passed 34-14, requires school boards to adopt policies giving parents, guardians or educational decisionmakers access to school library information.
The policy must include creation of a catalog listing all available books in the district’s library, organized by each school building. The catalog must be accessible to parents, guardians and educational decisionmakers of students who attend the school district, who may request notification — through an application, website or email — when their student checks out a book from the school library. Such notification will include the book’s title, author and due date.
Other measures
LB303, introduced by Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, creates the School Finance Reform Commission to study Nebraska’s school funding formula under the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act.
The commission will provide advisory recommendations and submit annual reports regarding issues related to TEEOSA to the Clerk of the Legislature.
The 18-member committee will include 12 members appointed by the governor, including five at-large members, four superintendents or school board members and representatives of a class V school, a class IV school and postsecondary education with expertise in school finance.
The three nonvoting legislative members will include the chairperson or a designee of the Revenue and Education committees, with no more than two members from the same political party. The commission also will include the commissioner of education, the property tax administrator and a representative of the governor’s office.
LB303 also provides that expenditures to pay for employer contributions to the School Employees Retirement System — to the extent such expenditures exceed the amount that would have been made at a contribution rate of 7.35% — may be included in the general fund budget of expenditures.
For school fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27, the amount of such expenditures from school fiscal year 2024-25 may be carried over and included in the budget authority for the general fund budget of expenditures for those fiscal years.
The measure passed 48-0 and took effect immediately.
Lawmakers also approved LB143, sponsored by Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue and passed 47-0. The bill requires school districts to include in their preliminary and advanced enrollment policies children of military families who have an Individualized Family Service Plan, an Individualized Education Program or who receive special education services.
LB213, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Rick Holdcroft, was advanced to general file but not scheduled for debate.
The measure would require the State Board of Education to incorporate human embryology into Nebraska’s science standards and mandate instruction across all grade levels. The curriculum would focus on the Carnegie Stages of Human Embryonic Development and include high-definition, 4D visuals of fetal organ development.
A pending committee amendment would make use of the Carnegie stages optional and remove the visual component.
Sponsored by Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering, LB538 also was advanced to general file but not debated this session.
The measure would prohibit discrimination based on antisemitism in schools and postsecondary institutions. It also would require the state education commissioner to appoint a Title IV coordinator at the Nebraska Department of Education to monitor and investigate complaints of discrimination, antisemitism and harassment.
Finally, a proposal from Omaha Sen. Christy Armendariz to expand option enrollment policies remains in committee. Among other changes, LB557 would provide funding to students denied option enrollment and allow students to apply to transfer between school districts at any time and as often as they choose. Current law limits students to three transfers.
