Nebraska education board narrowly passes literacy and preschool grants

The State Board of Education narrowly approved grants Friday supporting literacy efforts in schools and the creation and expansions of preschools.

The Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant is a literacy grant from the federal Department of Education. Nebraska received the $55 million grant in 2024 for resources such as professional development and instructional materials. It’s meant to be used over a five-year period.

On a 4-3 vote, the board approved granting the third year of grants. There are 46 subgrantees listed, including school districts, educational service units that represent multiple districts and several other education organizations.

Elizabeth Tegtmeier, who represents the western half of Nebraska and voted against awarding the grants this time, said she was concerned that the money was not reaching every school district.

“I was told, that with our literacy project and our funding, that we would be having all 23,000 of our teachers trained in evidence-based reading instruction,” Tegtmeier said. “I believe that the current plan to use the funds is too narrow to accomplish that.”

Allyson DenBeste, academic officer and office administrator for the Nebraska Department of Education, said while there are only 46 grant recipients listed, several represent groups of school districts or early childhood centers.

She further explained that many districts chose to apply for the grants through educational service units, which are groups of school districts, because the application process and ongoing reporting for the grant was so rigorous.

“Many of our small districts chose to apply as a part of a consortium with their ESU as the fiscal agent and managing the application,” DenBeste said. “But I know of many, many instances, if not all of them, where every one of those districts was at the table as the application was being developed and they were analyzing data and determining where their needs were.”

Tegtmeier also questioned the sending of funds to three organizations, which she called private organizations — Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Institute and Educare. The Buffett Early Childhood Institute is a public organization part of the University of Nebraska and is a nonprofit, and Educare and the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation are also nonprofits.

DenBeste said the grant allowed for some nonpublic entities to apply in the early childhood area of the grant, although non-public K-12 schools could not apply. She said all grantees had to use funds for specific listed uses like professional development and purchasing high-quality resources.

The board also passed on a 4-3 vote grant money for new and expanded early childhood programs. State statute tasks the Nebraska Department of Education with implementing the grant program.

In the consent agenda, the board approved the continuation of around $2 million for this same grant program for nearly 30 schools. When it came to awarding about $1 million for new programs or ones looking to expand, members disagreed on whether or not to fund it.

There are eight districts that applied for grants to start a classroom or expand their program:

• Chase County Schools for two new classrooms serving 36 children
• Fullerton Public Schools for a new classroom serving 20 children
• Gering Public Schools to expand its program with one classroom for 20 children
• Minatare Public Schools to expand with one classroom for 20 children
• Nebraska City Public Schools to expand with two part-day classrooms for 36 children
• Ogallala Public Schools to expand with two classrooms for 30 children
• Summerland Public Schools to expand with two part-day classrooms for 20 children
• Wilber-Clatonia Public Schools to expand with two part-day classrooms for 30 children

Sherry Jones, Kirk Penner and Lisa Schonhoff voted against awarding the eight grants, and Tegtmeier, Maggie Douglas, Liz Renner and Kristen Christensen voted for them.

Schonhoff said she felt it was irresponsible to grow the program, especially as taxpayers are taking on more funding burdens. She also said there is a constitutional obligation to educate students from ages 5 to 21, but not for those in preschool or younger.

“By expanding high-cost programs for those under five, are we placing an unconstitutional extravagant burden on the backs of hardworking taxpayers?” Schonhoff said. “At a time when Nebraskans are demanding tax relief, we must prioritize our constitutional mandates over optional high-cost expansions.”

Schonhoff also questioned how beneficial preschool programs are as students grow older.

Jones added to that thought, saying she believed preschool was not a requirement for future success. She pointed out that NDE Commissioner Brian Maher did not go to preschool but is now commissioner.

“If parents want to send their children to preschool, I say go for it, but taxpayers should not be expected to foot the bill,” Jones said.

Renner, who voted in favor of the grant, said early childhood education goes farther than academic outcomes and includes helping workforce development and combating brain drain.

“If we want to attract people and retain people in our communities, we need to find ways to support their needs so they can go to school, so they can get jobs and build livelihoods,” Renner said.

She added that preschools help connect families to education.

“I also want to say that the high-quality early childhood education isn’t just about setting people up to be education commissioners,” Renner said. “It’s also about easing kids and their families into our school systems.”

Tegtmeier said state statute requires a report in odd-numbered years about the effectiveness of the program. While she ultimately chose to approve the grants for this year, she said she will be paying attention in January to how these early childhood programs impact students past third grade.

The board also named three high schools as priority schools — Omaha Northwest High School, Bayard Secondary School and Scribner-Snyder Secondary School. The schools will create a plan for improvement and check in with NDE and the board on that plan.

NDE must identify at least three schools for priority status, which means they are classified as “needs support to improve” on the rating system NDE uses for schools.

Schonhoff questioned the choice to pick three high schools and encouraged the board to think about focusing on elementary and middle schools in the future. She mentioned concerns with how many resources it would take to help high schoolers who may be at a third-grade reading level catch up.

She ultimately voted yes to designate the three schools, saying she would be watching what happens with the process.

There are now six priority schools. The elementary, middle and high schools for Isanti Community Schools have been priority schools.

The board also accepted the state audit of the Nebraska Department of Education with no discussion. The state auditor in his report questioned the department’s decision to make three school districts repay state aid and pointed out several other concerns with calculations.

The board's next regularly scheduled meeting is June 5.

This story was corrected to clarify that The Buffett Early Childhood Institute, Nebraska Children and Families Foundation and Educare are nonprofits.