Nebraska advances school choice scholarship donation bill

A bill that would allow companies and individuals to donate a portion of owed state income taxes to a fund to cover scholarships for education expenses, including tuition, has advanced in Nebraska.

The measure, LB 753, advanced by a 33-11 vote, after four hours of debate that centered on the fiscal issues, said the Nebraska Examiner.

Businesses and individuals could donate up to $100,000 per year; estates and trusts could offer up to $1 million a year. The state would set aside $25 million a year to cover the donations for the next two years and approve an allocation of $100 million annually thereafter under the bill, reported Fox News.

The money set aside by the state would cover shortfalls in the general fund because of the donations.

“This bill allows children to find the best school that fits their needs, even if they can’t afford tuition,” said State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, who has worked to pass such a measure for seven years.

Opponents of the measure cited the state’s Blaine Amendment as a reason to oppose school choice in Nebraska under the bill.

The Blaine amendments were passed as a part of an anti-Catholic agenda pushed by Nativist or Know Nothing groups, after a federal measure trying to prohibit the funding of so-called sectarian schools failed in 1875.

Today, the amendments are considered bigoted and racist relics of the shameful and corrupt Reconstruction after the Civil War, which included the rise of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. 

Because the money used to pay for the scholarships would not come directly from the state’s general fund, Linehan believes that it circumvents the restrictions of the state’s Blaine Amendment, because technically the state doesn’t collect money that’s donated as a tax credit.

“It’s not an appropriation if we never collect the money,” Linehan said, according to the Nebraska Examiner.

The scholarship fund would be overseen by a group of nonprofits with a cap on administrative spending for the fund at 10%.

The Nebraska Examiner said the passage of the bill would mean that Nebraska is no longer the only state that does not provide some sort of school choice opportunity for its students.

The bill would primarily benefit low-income students in failing schools, such as those in Omaha.

Proponents cited the superior graduation rates of Catholic inner-city schools in Nebraska, which boast a 94% on-time graduation rate, despite the fact that almost all of the students come from low-income households that qualify for free school lunches.

By comparison, Omaha Public Schools has just a 78% on-time graduation rate.

The bill must now face a general vote for approval in the state Senate before it can head to the desk of Gov. Jim Pillen, who is expected to approve the measure.