School bond elections proved successful in 2025

More than half of Nebraska's 28 school bond elections in 2025 were approved by voters, according to data from the Nebraska Secretary of State.

Tri County Public Schools saw both results in the two bond elections they held in 2025. The first attempt in May failed with 500 voting against it and 464 voting for it. The second attempt in December passed with a narrow margin — 491 for and 463 against.

The nearly $27 million bond includes safety upgrades at entrances, additions to career and technical education spaces, new preschool classrooms, upgraded music classrooms, ADA updates and a new gym.

Superintendent Brian Rottinghaus, who is in his first year of leading the district, said district leaders put a concentrated effort into ensuring voters knew what was going into the bond through social media, open houses and public information meetings.

“It was a rewarding experience,” he said. “It reinforced the notion that the people in the community supported the efforts that the board had put into this, and that the changes that were made between the spring and the fall were seen as worthwhile changes, and that we had communicated our expectations and our reasons for the bond effectively.”

In August, three rural schools held special elections for bonds, and all three failed. McCook Public Schools asked for $42 million in property tax levies to address “significant structural issues that cannot be adequately addressed by remodeling,” upgrade technical education spaces and improved safety measures.

In an interview following the election, McCook Superintendent Grant Norgaard said the building won’t fall over anytime soon following the failed bond, but some of their facilities need repairs.

“All buildings have a limited lifespan, so at some point, something's going to need to be done,” Norgaard said. “In the meantime, we're going to just invest in the facilities that we have and making the best learning environments we can for kids.”

Safety and security upgrades were popular for school bonds in 2025. Other school districts that were hoping for safety improvements in their bonds included Pierce County School District, Millard Public Schools and Logan View Public Schools.

Nicole Hardwick, who wrote her doctoral dissertation on school bond elections, said in an email the passing rate for school bonds fluctuated over the years. However, her data showed from 2018 to 2022, bonds had a better chance of passing. In 2019, 90% of the 10 school bond elections succeeded. In 2023, that trend changed to voters approving about 30% out of 23 elections.

The Secretary of State’s office tracks school bonds that are voted on in special elections. Hardwick said she keeps an eye on school board meeting minutes, newspaper clippings and county websites for her research. She also stays in touch with the Nebraska Council of School Administrators, an organization that tries to keep track of school bond elections.

While the two Tri County special elections in 2025 were Rottinghaus’ first experience with school bonds, he’s familiar with some of the process from previous roles in other school districts. He said he thinks certain legislative rules may have an impact on if a bond passes or not. For example, he brought up that in even-numbered years, special elections can only be held in certain months.

“It works contrary to the free market,” he said. “If you have more districts trying to hit the same window, so there's periods of when the market is not being utilized, and then periods of market saturation. As a result, maybe it drives up prices rather than [having] maybe the intended result.”

Rottinghaus said rural schools may find it more challenging to get school bonds passed because the agricultural economy is not as strong. He gave credit to the Tri County Public Schools Board of Education members who are all connected to agriculture and supported the bond.

“It was really just kind of a visionary attempt by them to see that this is something that is good for our communities, good for our kids, good for our school systems – [despite] of if they or their own kids would benefit from it,” Rottinghaus said. “That's very refreshing to have that attitude and really kind of inspirational, and I do think that probably played a role, ultimately, in the success of the bond.”