Statement by Mark McHargue, President, Regarding Legislature Failing to Advance School Funding Reform Bill, LB 454
LINCOLN, NEB. – “We are extremely disappointed in the Legislature’s failure to advance LB 454. Today’s action is a missed opportunity for the Legislature to start down the path of reforming how we fund schools in Nebraska. There’s a clear inequity in our current funding system when 159 of the 243 school districts in our state receive no state equalization aid. The fact that the state takes on the bulk of responsibility for funding education for some students, while doing little to nothing to support others is a failure of our state. This bill could have served as the foundation for a scalable approach to doing more to fulfill the state’s obligation to fund K-12 education across Nebraska to the benefit of all Nebraska students and taxpayers. I want to thank the 23 senators who supported LB 454, particularly Sen. Friesen and Sen. Briese, for their leadership on this bill. This issue isn’t going away. We will continue to work with the Legislature to find senators who are willing take on one of our state’s most pressing issues.”
The Nebraska Farm Bureau is a grassroots, state-wide organization dedicated to supporting farm and ranch families and working for the benefit of all Nebraskans through a wide variety of educational, service, and advocacy efforts. More than 58,000 families across Nebraska are Farm Bureau members, working together to achieve rural and urban prosperity as agriculture is a key fuel to Nebraska’s economy. For more information about Nebraska Farm Bureau and agriculture, visit www.nefb.org.
