Polling shows 60% of Nebraskans oppose using state funds to support private schools

Almost 60% of Nebraska voters oppose sending taxpayer dollars to private schools, according to a poll from The Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling earlier this month.

On Nov. 5, voters will decide if a state-funded scholarship program for private schools continues.

Referendum Measure 435 asks voters about repealing or retaining a portion of LB1402 that allocated $10 million to the state treasurer for a scholarship program to qualifying non-public schools.

Anthony Schutz, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the results didn’t surprise him.

“I do think that the state is historically very fiscally conservative,” Schutz said. “The expenditure of funds on education for non-public schools does increase spending.”

Nebraska’s prohibition on appropriations to non-public schools has existed since the state’s founding. The wording in the constitution has changed once, in the 1970s. The original wording prohibited funds “in aid of” non-public schools. It was amended to replace “in aid of” with “to.”

This change came during discussions about public funds used for programs in private schools, like textbooks purchased in public schools being loaned to private schools. Schutz said the Nebraska Supreme Court now saw those as constitutional under the new wording, even if there’s no record of that being the intention.

LB753, passed in 2023, created a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for those donating to scholarships for private schools. That law was repealed under LB1402 earlier this year, which replaced it with an annual $10 million allocation to the state treasurer for a private school scholarship program for the next three years.

“Now, we have this bill that pushes state money from the general fund into the scholarship granting organizations, and it can only go to these non-public schools,” Schutz said. “There's actually a stronger argument now that that violates the state constitutional provision.”

There’s been no litigation about the constitutionality of either law yet. Schutz said this is likely due to how much time it would take, which would have pushed back the chance to get a referendum in front of voters this election.

Support Our Schools Nebraska led a petition to get the law on the ballot and turned in over 87,000 signatures. The Secretary of State verified over 68,000 signatures from at least 5% of voters in 60 counties.

Schutz said repealing the legislation through a referendum could be a stronger message than taking it to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

“One, they got the legislation struck down effectively by going to the people, so that's one success,” Schutz said. “They've also demonstrated a very strong popular objection to the legislature again trying to do that thing. They wouldn't get that political goodwill from litigation.”