The Racist NSEA Petition
What the Opportunity Scholarship Law (LB 753) is REALLY about
by Sue Greenwald, M.D.
On May 30, Governor Pillen signed into law an innovative bill that allows private donors to get tax credits for helping underprivileged kids attend the school of their choice.
It was a very popular bill and you can read it HERE.
The stated purpose of the bill is listed on page 1:
“It is in the best interests of the State of Nebraska and its citizens to encourage individuals and businesses to support organizations that financially assist parents and legal guardians who want to enroll their children in privately operated elementary and secondary schools, and such encouragement can be accomplished through the use of tax credits.”
The new law sets up a “Scholarship Granting Organization” with a ceiling of 25 million dollars to give “non-refundable” tax credits to Scholarship donor companies, organizations, estates or individuals. Donors don’t get a check from the state, they get a credit against the taxes they owe. Then there is this:
“ the applicant will limit scholarship amounts awarded to students in a manner that assures that the average of the scholarship amounts awarded per student does not exceed seventy-five percent of the statewide average general fund operating expenditures per formula student for the most recently available complete data year.”
In short: Private Donor pays the tuition for a student to attend a private school at 75% (on average) of the state’s per pupil cost. Private Donor receives a tax credit. Nebraska taxpayers save 25% of the cost of educating that pupil. Win-win-win.
Donors do not choose the recipients, the “Scholarship Granting Organization” does. A complicated priority system is spelled out to grant the scholarships to those in the greatest need. Donors do not choose the private school, the student and their family do.
Introduced by Senator Linehan, and having 31 co-sponsors, it was an easy bill to love. In our 49 member legislature, it was only one vote shy of a supermajority before it even left the gate. That is highly unusual. The final vote was:
Notice that Democrat Senators Wayne and McKinney have supported this bill from the beginning. They both are African American men, and represent the children in Nebraska most likely to benefit from this Scholarship Program. Those voting against the bill are all Democrats. Interestingly 5 Senators did not vote. That often happens during those times when Senators personally support a bill, but don’t want their constituents or donors to know it. The NSEA has deep pockets.
NSEA sees an existential threat- to the NSEA!
Prior to this year, Nebraska was one of only two states with zero options for school choice. No scholarships, no charter schools, no money-follows-the-student, nothing. By all measures, this 25 million dollar Opportunity Scholarship experiment is akin to dipping a toe into the school choice issue, but for the NSEA it is Defcon One.
Before the ink was even dry on the Governor’s signature, the NSEA had a professional looking website with a nifty new logo, T-shirts, and petitions coming right to your mailbox. Teachers statewide received this email from the NSEA on May 30, the same day as the bill signing:
Dear NSEA Colleague,
Today, the Governor signed a bill that would take public funds from Nebraska public schools and give it to private schools. LB753 will hurt Nebraska public schools by sending public tax dollars to private schools – dollars that would otherwise support your local public schools!
NSEA and other public school advocates will soon be gathering signatures on a Referendum Petition to allow Nebraska voters to REPEAL LB753. Public funds should not be given to private schools. We need to prioritize fully staffing and funding our public K-12 schools that serve nine out of ten kids in Nebraska - not diverting millions of dollars to a voucher-like tax scheme for private schools.
With your help, we can REPEAL LB753. To put the issue to voters, we will need to collect 90,000 total petition signatures.
Many hands make light work – so NSEA is asking every member to collect at least 10 signatures (or more!) from their friends and family on the petition to put the REPEAL of LB753 on the ballot.
We are asking you to collect signatures from people you know and who support our public schools:
We will mail you two petitions, a postage-paid return envelope, and instructions as soon as the petitions are approved by the Secretary of State – likely within the next 10 days.
Please start now by making a list of the friends and family you will ask to sign the petition.
You can visit www.supportourschoolsnebraska.org for more information, to sign up to help and, if you’d like, to donate to the cause.
Also, we are asking you to please follow and like Support Our Schools Nebraska on:
If you’d like, you can purchase a Support Our Schools Nebraska t-shirt online at: https://www.rayguncustom.com/collections/support-our-schools-nebraska We don’t make money on these shirts – they are sold at cost.
Watch your mailbox for your printed petitions, return envelope and instructions.
Working together as public education advocates and with our friends and family, we can repeal this harmful legislation and support our Nebraska public schools.
Sincerely,
Jenni Benson-President Trish Guinan-Executive Director
Teachers are expected to fall in line
Watch your mailboxes, teachers. You are getting petitions whether you want them or not. The arm twisting has been intense. Legislators have received complaints that teachers are being pressured to circulate the petition or risk losing their NSEA membership.
(Teachers- check out the AAE, Association of American Educators. Same liability protection-for less money and with less politics. 800-704-7799, www.aaenebraska.org )
What is so offensive to the NSEA about giving scholarships to low income families, with a significant number of those being Black and Hispanic? The answer is they stand to lose control and money. Don’t believe it? Read their website copied below:
WHY NEBRASKANS OPPOSE LB753:
The private school tax scheme in LB753 will hurt kids, Nebraska public schools, and taxpayers.
It would give tax credits to corporations and the wealthy while shifting the burden of funding essential public programs and services — like public education, health and safety — to less affluent taxpayers. Its dollar-for-dollar tax credit to individuals and businesses creates a significantly more lucrative incentive than the state offers for any other type of charitable giving, including churches, food banks and cancer research. The first-year cost is $25 million, growing to $100 million annually. Nebraska already ranks 49th in the nation in state aid to public schools. LB753 would make this even worse and put more pressure on property taxes.
LB753 does not help all children.
In Nebraska, 9 in 10 students attend our public schools. Voucher tax schemes like LB753 funnel money away from our already-underfunded public schools and children and give tax dollars to private schools, including those that discriminate against children and their families.
Lack of accountability.
Private schools that would receive funding under LB753 are not held to the same accountability and reporting requirements as public schools.
Private education should continue to be privately funded.
Taxpayer dollars should be invested in strengthening our public schools, which are open to all children, subject to state curriculum standards, and supported by the vast majority of Nebraskans in annual polls.
Fact Check
Let’s fact-check these statements:
Private Schools are not held to the same standards- mostly false
All private, parochial and public schools in Nebraska fall under the jurisdiction of Nebraska Dept of Education. While there are some differences in testing requirements, they must all meet the same standards.
Private Schools discriminate against children and their families- false
Name one example and then let’s talk.
Tax credits go to the wealthy- false
Tax credits go to donors. Some of them might be wealthy. Some might be altruistic. The law does not discriminate.
Tax credits are such a great deal that it will limit other charitable giving- false
There are limits on the credits. A total of 25 million per year for the entire state. If the donors are all wealthy as the NSEA wants us to believe, then there will be plenty of cash left for other priorities.
Opportunity scholarships will raise property taxes- false
As we have shown, the state taxpayers get a 25% bonus savings for every student that is moved from public to private school. The fact is private schools are, on average, much more efficient with their money than public schools.
Which brings us to the last point …
Public schools are underfunded—Don’t make us laugh.
In the very same bill as Opportunity Scholarships, the legislature voted to raise state aid to schools by 300 million dollars.
Define “Public Funds”
There is this whole “Public Funds” going to private entities canard. When do private funds become Public Funds? When they are confiscated via taxation. If a donation becomes a tax credit, it was never taxed, therefore it’s still private funds. Chicken and egg.
Put another way, have you ever heard of Social Security? Medicare? Food Stamps? Why, that would be Public Money going to private individuals, private medical clinics, and private grocers. Horrors!
Public tax dollars pay Public School Teachers. Public School Teachers pay dues to the NSEA. It’s a lot of money. The NSEA therefore uses Public Funds to get the candidates they want elected at the state level, which maintains their power and control. The NSEA has no issue with using public money for their private endeavors. It helps them pay for nifty logos on a new website, T-shirts, and a lot of postage for all of those petitions.
The NSEA dues partially go to the NEA. It’s a lot of money. The NEA does not mind using these Public Funds for their own purposes. The NEA supports Democrats. Their leaders support having critical race theory and LGBTQ+ ideology in every school. From influencewatch.org:
“The NEA is a major political player, with its associated political action committees contributing nearly $143.5 million to federal candidates and committees—97% of which supported Democrats and liberals—from 1990 through February 2019. 4 The NEA is also deeply entangled in state and local politics and is a major contributor to left-of-center nonprofit organizations.5 “
All of that dough is coming from the dues of teachers who are paid with Public Funds!
LB 753, The Opportunity Scholarship Act, is a feel-good law that allows a small number of deserving children, including “children-of-color” to have educational options. The NSEA is really stretching to come up with reasons for you to sign their petition to overturn the law. And they don’t want to admit they are the racists.
The author is a retired pediatrician and co-founder of Protect Nebraska Children Coalition.