Latest news with #NebraskaDepartmentofEducation
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former educator announces bid to succeed Penner on Nebraska State Board of Ed
Angie Eberspacher of Beaver Crossing is the first announced 2026 candidate for the District 5 seat on the State Board of Education held by Kirk Penner of Aurora, who says he will not seek a second term on the board. (Candidate photo courtesy of Eberspacher campaign | Penner photo courtesy of the Nebraska Department of Education | School bus photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — A former educator announced a campaign Wednesday for the Nebraska State Board of Education to succeed Kirk Penner of Aurora, who helped conservative candidates organize and win more races for the board in recent years. Angie Eberspacher of Beaver City, a former member of Educational Service Unit 6, seeks to represent District 5 on the Board of Ed. While on the ESU board, Eberspacher said, she was a strong voice for fiscal responsibility and an advocate for students and teachers. She eventually served as chair. She said she is dedicated to ensuring a 'quality education' for all students. Eberspacher is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with dual degrees in elementary education and early childhood education. 'I'm committed to supporting today's students and helping ensure the next generation has every opportunity to succeed,' Eberspacher said in a statement. District 5 on the State Board consists of Butler, Clay, Fillmore, Franklin, Gage, Hamilton, Jefferson, Nuckolls, Pawnee, Polk, Richardson, Saline, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, Webster and York Counties, as well as portions of Lancaster County (south Lincoln and surrounding communities including Denton, Sprague, Hallam, Roca, Hickman, Firth, Bennet and Waverly). The eight members of the State Board of Education generally oversee the Nebraska Department of Education. Terms in office are for four years. Eberspacher said she plans to visit communities across her district to listen and focus on how to improve literacy and proficiency scores, recruit and retain quality teachers and strengthen academics. She said she also wants to be 'a voice for all parents' and promote spending restraint. In 2023, Eberspacher testified at the Nebraska Legislature in support of a handful of conservative-led proposals, including opening up teachers or librarians to possible criminal penalties for distributing 'obscenity,' prohibiting certain medical care for minors with gender dysphoria, outlawing drag shows for minors, creating a 'Parents' Bill of Rights' in education and allowing public dollars to follow students to private K-12 schools (the 'My Student, My Choice Act'). Eberspacher and her husband of 36 years, Curt, own a farming operation in rural Beaver Crossing. The family has three adult daughters, a son-in-law and a granddaughter. Penner on Wednesday confirmed to the Examiner that he is not seeking reelection. He has given his 'full endorsement' to Eberspacher and said her experience and dedication 'make her the right choice to continue advocating for students, parents and educators across the district.' The race is officially nonpartisan, but Penner and Eberspacher are both Republicans. She previously worked as a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Republican Party. Penner was appointed to the State Board in December 2021 and won election in 2022 with 55% of the vote. The State Board of Education is currently split 4-4 between Republicans and Democrats. The split has led some to advocate for giving the governor more control over the education bureaucracy. A January vote for board chair required 54 votes in January. 'I am excited to run for the Nebraska State Board of Education and hear from voters across District 5 about their vision for education in Nebraska,' Eberspacher said. 'I'm running to support Nebraska's students, teachers and parents, and to work toward a stronger education system for everyone.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to catalog Nebraska school ‘tools of mass surveillance' hits roadblock
State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln. Jan. 8, 2025 (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — A state lawmaker's attempt to publicly catalog 'tools of mass surveillance' in Nebraska public school districts is on pause, at least for now, as she finds an alternate path forward. Legislative Bill 31, from State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, would require all of Nebraska's 245 public school districts to publicly inventory and catalog student surveillance, monitoring and tracking technology tools used by or contracted for use in each district. The bill was debated Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 before not returning to the legislative agenda, at Conrad's request. Conrad has pledged to find a path forward for her bill with some bipartisan support, such as through a different bill or by working with the State Board of Education, the Nebraska Department of Education or specific school districts. The bill faced stiff opposition from some senators who feared the bill could require schools to disclose sensitive information or impose unfunded burdens to compile the necessary information. Conrad, a past executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, described the bill as a 'simple transparency measure' that wouldn't ban the technology she said was coming from 'big tech.' Instead, she argued that the bill could lead to cost savings over time, possibly leading to increased teacher salaries. Conrad repeatedly marked her bill as a 'true right-left coalition' that she, a pragmatic progressive, had built with students, parents and taxpayers. Some conservatives, in written comments for the bill, noted they've rarely been on the same side as the Lincoln Democrat but identified the bill as a top priority. Supportive testifiers at the hearing for the bill included Sue Greenwald of Kearney, a prominent conservative advocate for parents' rights bills. 'If they don't have information to know what tools of surveillance or data collection or survey are being utilized by their schools, they cannot insert and understand and be empowered to utilize that control,' Conrad said of families during debate. State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, chair of the Education Committee, which advanced LB 31 with no opposition, said he has put an extra emphasis on parental rights in his three years as chair. He said Conrad's bill advanced those efforts. 'Parents should, and deserve, to be put in the driver's seat of their child's education,' Murman said. 'Senator Conrad has brought a way to give parents some more information and transparency without putting too much of an additional burden on the work that our great schools have to do.' State Board of Education members Lisa Schonhoff of Bennington and Kirk Penner of Aurora have also voiced favor for LB 31. Schonhoff thanked Conrad for 'being on the side of parents.' 'This is a nonpartisan, common sense bill,' she wrote in a Feb. 25 post on X, formerly Twitter. Many senators who ultimately opposed the legislation said they agreed with Conrad's goal that schools should not be collecting data on students and selling it. However, State Sen. Brad von Gillern of the Elkhorn area noted the bill received opposition from major organizations, such as the Nebraska Council of School Administrators, Schools Taking Action for Nebraska Children's Education, Greater Nebraska Schools Association, Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association and the Nebraska State Education Association. 'I believe it's a wolf in sheep's clothing,' von Gillern said. 'It's a Trojan horse to carry things forward that we do not want to advance in our school systems.' LB 31 would require the State Board of Education to draft a model policy around the targeted technology, requiring school districts to disclose certain information about the tools. State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse offered an amendment to make the surveillance tool inventory voluntary and not require it to be posted online. He similarly pushed back on a finding in the bill stipulating that schools were using the 'tools of mass surveillance … under the guise of advancing security or efficiency goals.' 'I think it's offensive to suggest that the schools would be doing that under some type of guise,' Hallstrom said. 'They truly do have the best interest in the safety of the students at heart.' Von Gillern repeatedly asked whether the bill could require public disclosure of sensitive security details that someone plotting a 'nefarious act' could use. He said gathering data for the protection of students and staff is a 'worthwhile venture' but that Conrad's bill, portrayed as advancing that goal, could do 'exactly the opposite.' State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward said digital cameras, for example, can help when students offer differing stories after incidents. But she voiced similar concerns as von Gillern that disclosing specific technology vendor names and contact information could be dangerous. Conrad said the plain language of her bill would not require any publication of sensitive information but that she could clarify that intention if needed. Von Gillern said senators also need to consider what isn't in the bill but that many districts had voiced concerns about. 'If we do anything to deteriorate the security of our children in schools then shame on us,' von Gillern said. State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha said that suggesting Conrad's bill could reduce school safety was a 'ridiculous and absurd extrapolation to arrive at.' Hunt said if that was the true concern, she said von Gillern and others should maybe 'lift a finger' on gun safe storage or other safety regulations, or increase mental health support. 'All this does is put on the books that this is our expectation in Nebraska,' Hunt said. 'That our kids are not the product, that we're not selling our kids' information, and that we have transparency around the process.' State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said it shouldn't be 'too cumbersome' to tell parents whether their children's data is being sold. State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area said she agreed with the aim of the bill and supported it, but she also wanted some guardrails in place, such as possibly exempting physical security information. Lawmakers signaled they might be moving away from Conrad's goals after voting 27-16 against 'stylistic changes' in an amendment she offered, largely focused on small tweaks in the bill that opponents had pointed out. Kauth and Hughes were the only Republicans to support those changes. Lawmakers had not yet gotten to a vote on Hallstrom's amendment or LB 31 overall. Hughes said many school districts have technology vendors sign a student data privacy agreement explicitly saying what will happen with the data. She suggested making such agreements a requirement, to help in the case of data hacks or breaches. State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha agreed with Conrad about the ease of implementing the bill. He said, 'It's always too much work when you should just do the right thing.' 'This should be simple, unless there's like a million surveillance tools they're using, and student surveys they're using, or they, like, got some double oh seven, I Spy, MI6 type of stuff going on,' he said. State Sen. Bob Andersen, whose Sarpy County district includes Gretna Public Schools, read a letter from his superintendent questioning a lack of definitions in the bill, such as 'tracking system' or what tools are of 'legitimate use,' could lead to subjectivity in implementing the bill. Conrad repeatedly pushed back on her colleagues and told them to not use 'straw man' or 'red herring' arguments and not to get 'toiled up in personal battles or misinformation.' She told her colleagues that, if needed, she would step out of the way. 'Friends, if the problem is perhaps me or you don't like my politics, or you're upset about my work on other bills, I understand that, and I will work if need be to find a substitute sponsor for this legislation because I don't care to get the credit,' Conrad said. 'I care that this important issue moves forward.' The name and contact information for each private company, vendor or governmental entity providing such technology. The cost to purchase or maintain each surveillance, monitoring or tracking tool. A description of each tool, including privacy protection measures and data collection or sharing and usage activities. Whether a parent can opt their child out of being subjected to the tool. If and how the collected data will be shared with law enforcement or implicate punitive actions under the state's Student Discipline Act. How such tools ensure proper accommodation for students with disabilities or individualized education programs. How biometric or personally identifiable information is stored, shared or sold with the entity providing such tools. Clearly delineate what remedies are available to students and parents for possible privacy violations related to the tools, including the state's Consumer Protection Act and the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act (to possibly sue schools). SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School, ag advocates largely endorse Nebraska school finance reform proposal
State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, center, talks with State Sens. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha, left, and State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner at a legislative retreat in Kearney on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — Education advocacy organizations and the state's largest rural-focused organizations largely endorsed an 'incremental' proposal Monday to reform Nebraska's core school finance formula. Legislative Bill 303, from State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward and introduced at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, would bring down maximum school property tax rates by 3 cents, from $1.05 to $1.02. More state funds would be funneled toward the state's 245 school districts using the state aid formula, the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA) passed in 1990. TEEOSA includes many funds that amount to a district's 'equalization aid,' based on 'needs' minus 'resources.' For the 2024-25 school year, 75% of the state's school districts did not receive equalization aid. The Hughes effort continues a push by her and Pillen to increase the number of districts receiving equalization aid. The bill also would increase recently established 'foundation aid,' by 6%, to $1,590 from $1,500 roughly per each K-12 student. The state would invest nearly $120 million in new state funding over the next two years, which is included in Pillen's recommended budget as a strategic investment, in a year where the state must close a projected $432 million budget deficit. In addition, LB 303 would create a 15-member School Finance Reform Commission, consisting of superintendents, the state education commissioner, lawmakers and representatives from the Nebraska Department of Education. The goal of that group is to find longer-term solutions. 'This is a little bite at the apple, and I hope we keep making chunks at it as we go forward,' Hughes told the Education Committee, where she serves as vice chair. Hughes, a former school board member for Seward Public Schools, said school finance has been 'largely left on auto steer for decades.' She said she appreciated Pillen's willingness to start pulling some levers in the formula 'to steer us on a new course.' Hughes has dedicated her time in the Legislature to school finance reform. In her second year last summer, for Pillen's desired special session, she proposed a 10-year plan to lower maximum property tax rates. By the end of her 'Lower The Levy Cap' plan, the state would have taken on a majority of operational expenses for schools to reverse increasing reliance on property taxes. Pillen had a similar goal, but his summer plan sought to take on all operational expenses, eliminating the general fund property tax rate for schools, before lawmakers pivoted to Hughes' model, which fell short in the 17-day special session. The governor repeated his ambition Monday that the state should fund, but not run, local K-12 schools. He said the state must find a balance among federal, state and local funding. 'School districts often live under uncertain budget circumstances,' Pillen said. 'That's not the way to educate and have a focus on our kids.' Hughes received widespread support at the hearing, including from the: Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council (ESUCC). Greater Nebraska Schools Association (GNSA). Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB). Nebraska Council of School Administrators (NCSA). Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association (NRCSA). Nebraska State Educational Association (NSEA). Schools Taking Action for Nebraska Children's Education (STANCE). OpenSky Policy Institute. Nebraska Farm Bureau and the Ag Leaders Working Group with Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Corn Growers Association, Nebraska Pork Producers Association, Nebraska Sorghum Producers Association, Nebraska Soybean Association, Nebraska State Dairy Association, Nebraska Wheat Growers and Renewable Fuels Nebraska. Nebraska Farmers Union. Individual school districts: Lincoln Public Schools, Milford Public Schools, Millard Public Schools and Papillon-La Vista Community Schools. Shane Rhian, chief financial officer for Omaha Public Schools, was the lone opponent testifying against Hughes' bill. He argued the bill would hurt OPS's budget in the near future and amount to 'another erosion of local control.' Rhian said one variable that could impact OPS the most is the full district might no longer qualify for universal free lunch and breakfast soon, leading to a projected loss in $30 million in state aid, approximately 9 cents for property taxes. He suggested keeping the current $1.05 lid for property tax rates, keeping foundation aid at $1,500 (which was established in 2023) but reducing the assumed portion that districts could contribute in the TEEOSA formula. TEEOSA currently sets this 'local effort rate' as the hypothesized value that school districts could contribute as $1 per $100 of valuations in the district. This goes into the 'resources' side of the equation, essentially hurting school districts that have lower tax rates. Hughes' bill would drop this to 97 cents, in line with her 3-cent drop in the maximum tax lid. Rhian said it should be 96 cents, without reducing the top tax rate cap, which would put the state on the hook for more funding to schools. It would not lower how much schools can raise in property tax rates. 'We appreciate Senator Hughes and the governor for their commitment to funding public schools and stand ready to be a partner in lowering the property tax burden for our patrons,' Rhian said. OPS has taken the stance of opposing legislation that could cause the district, the largest in the state, to be more reliant on state funding, earning the ire of some past committee members. Andrew Rikli, superintendent of Papillion-La Vista Community Schools, the fourth largest district in the state, said dropping the maximum tax rate can provide substantive tax relief. He and Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs for Lincoln Public Schools, said they appreciated the bill represented an incremental step and that there would be a commission to help understand the complex formula. 'As much as we might want to make a major change, for those of us that work in school finance day to day, there's a lot of moving parts and you get really nervous about unintended consequences really quickly,' Standish said. Rikli said the commission over time can best monitor and respond to changes as needed, rather than perennial updates since the law's enactment in 1990. Tim Royers, president of the NSEA, representing 26,000 teachers statewide, recommended including school board members, chief financial officers or frontline educators and not just superintendents. He and Hughes noted the commission will need to fix the proposed group's membership so lawmakers are nonvoting members of the executive branch commission, as required under the constitutional separation of powers. Royers described LB 303 as 'the best school funding bill to come from the governor's office in at least a decade.' The NSEA generally stays neutral on TEEOSA-related bills, because of different district-level impacts, but NSEA supports the across-the-board increase in foundation aid. Pillen created that model to give all districts roughly $1,500 per student. LB 303 would increase that to $1,590 under Hughes bill, while bills from State Sens. Dave Murman of Glenvil and Wendy DeBoer of Omaha could lead to greater foundation aid overall, based on inflation or a district's specific needs. Colby Coash, on behalf of the school boards association, said his members appreciated the increased state investment in LB 303 for being an 'easily scalable bill.' 'But more than that, and in comparison to what we saw happen in the special session and previous sessions, we think this is a doable piece of legislation and it keeps local control central, which is really important to our members,' Coash said. Hughes said that if the state has additional funds, such as through a lower-than-projected deficit or increased revenue possibly through sales taxes, it would be used to lower valuations inside TEEOSA. This includes agricultural land, which has seen valuations skyrocket. State Sens. Tom Brandt of Plymouth and Myron Dorn of Adams, both farmers, partnered with Hughes on her bill. They identified about two dozen 'luxury' items and services, such as dating services or pet grooming, that are currently sales tax exempt that they say could be used to bring in new revenue for tax relief. Bruce Rieker, senior director of state legislative affairs for the Farm Bureau, cautioned the committee that members must not stop. He noted that in the next two years, property taxes would increase by approximately $600 million, meaning even with LB 303, that's an increase of $475 million statewide. Hughes said her long-term goal is moving school property tax rates statewide closer together. Over time, she said the state can focus more on student success and teacher or staff retention. 'It is a small step, but it is a step in the right direction,' Hughes said of her bill. 'If we can keep going down this path and whittling away this, I think we can get into a place where we're all in a better spot.' Dave Welsch, a farmer and current school board president for Milford Public Schools, with more than 33 years of school board experience, told the Education Committee he's worked intensively the past 10 years around the TEEOSA formula. He said the formula needs to be reviewed every year but encouraged a more comprehensive review and offered what he called 'The Simple Plan.' It seeks to repurpose the 'resources' side of TEEOSA and bring maximum property tax rates down to 45 cents. To do so, Welsch proposes repurposing the state's existing property tax relief programs and finding $240 million. 'LB 303 makes some steps in the right direction,' Welsch said. 'But if you don't have a target to aim at, you're going to miss it every time. Taking small steps, sometimes you get off track.' 2025.26 TEEOSA Model LB 303 SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School cellphone ban advances to full Nebraska Legislature, first of Pillen's 2025 priorities
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen testifies before the Legislature's Education Committee on a bill introduced at his request to ban student cellphone use during school days. Pillen holds his cellphone to emphasize his testimony. Feb. 4, 2025. (Courtesy Office of Gov. Jim Pillen) LINCOLN — The first of Gov. Jim Pillen's 2025 legislative priorities advanced Thursday to the full Nebraska Legislature: banning most student cellphones in public K-12 schools. The Legislature's Education Committee voted 7-0, with one member absent, to advance Legislative Bill 140 from State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, which was introduced at Pillen's request. As amended by the committee, the bill would ban student use of electronic communication devices, such as cellphones, on school grounds or while they are attending a 'school instructional function,' such as field trips. But it would leave school districts wide latitude of when and where they could authorize student cellphone use. Students, teachers endorse bill to ban cellphones during Nebraska school days Should the bill pass, all of Nebraska's 245 school districts would need to adopt device-related policies to conform to the law by the start of school this fall. The bill doesn't apply to private schools. Enforcement and possible disciplinary action for violating the policies, if any, would be up to individual school districts. Stakeholder participation would need to be included in drafting cellphone guidelines 'to ensure that such policies are responsive to the unique needs and desires of students, parents and educators in each community.' A survey of 218 superintendents in October and November, by the Nebraska Department of Education, indicated that 80% of responding districts had already implemented similar policies. LB 140, supported also by the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, would not prohibit such devices from being used: If needed as part of a student's special education plan. When authorized by a school district for educational purposes during instructional time. In cases of emergency or 'perceived threat of danger.' When necessary to monitor or manage a student's health care. When otherwise determined appropriate by the school board or otherwise allowed by an appropriate school employee. Some Education Committee members said they don't intend to prevent school districts from choosing to allow cellphones during lunch or passing periods, as many allow in existing policies. Pillen has said his goal is to prohibit cellphones during school hours 'from bell to bell.' He's also urged parents and grandparents to limit student cellphone use at night before bed. Sanders said she was excited that her bill advanced. State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, committee chair, told the Nebraska Examiner that while cellphones can be positive, children and adults can become almost addicted to or spend too much time on their devices. 'I think most parents will celebrate the fact that the screen time for their students in school, at least, will be limited,' Murman said. Laura Strimple, a spokesperson for Pillen, said in a statement to the Examiner that the governor knows senators will give the issues in the bill 'their utmost attention.' 'This is a bipartisan issue and a unified Education Committee proves that,' Strimple said in a statement. 'Guardrails are necessary to ensure that kids are free from distractions while attending school, and it's the responsibility of adults to make sure the harmful effects of cellphone use are minimized to the greatest degree possible,' the statement continued. 'Additionally, this legislation allows for Nebraska's talented teachers to get back to teaching and not policing cellphone use in the classroom.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
