The Appropriations Committee on Tuesday placed its amended version of LB 1014 on the first round of debate. The bill contains several provisions to allocate American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars throughout the state.
A provision that is not in the committee’s proposal but that is included in an amendment – AM 2495 – would create a pilot voucher program allowing public dollars to be used to help qualified parents pay for multiple education-related services including tutoring and private-school tuition.
The voucher program was included in the governor’s ARPA recommendations and was proposed as a bill in LB 1240. The Appropriations Committee left the program out of LB 1014 with the committee chairman noting that ARPA funds – which are one-time dollars – should not be used to fund pilot programs, as they often become ongoing state expenditures.
The measure calls for $60 million in ARPA dollars to create and fund the pilot project through FY26. The measure would need ongoing support from the state to continue after that. If this were to happen, the program would compete against funding for other priorities, including public K-12 education, annually.
Nebraska already ranks low – 49th – in its level of state support for K-12 education and diverting state dollars to support private schools would reduce revenue available to help increase state support of K-12 and, by extension, reduce our reliance on property taxes.
Bills in other states like Georgia and Arizona that allowed state dollars to go toward private schools were passed with relatively small fiscal impact but legislators grew the programs in subsequent years until these measures contributed to major budget and school funding problems.[1]
It is also questionable whether providing support for private school tuition meets federal ARPA requirements. To be eligible for ARPA funds, programs must provide assistance to individuals harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, programs must address the identified harm.[2] While tutoring and some other services that could be funded by the voucher may address the harm of learning loss among low-income families, private school tuition may not.
Debate on LB 1014 is expected to start this week. Nebraska Public Media will stream the debate live.