Every parent and child in Nebraska should have the right to pick a school they believe best suits their unique situation. The Opportunity Scholarships Act passed this last session in the Legislature provides this much needed choice for Nebraska’s children. This is long overdue in Nebraska as 48 states provide this choice for their parents and children.
Yet just as Nebraska is progressing forward with the times, a well-funded, out of state petition group has organized paid petitioners to seek the repeal of this bill and send us backwards. They claim that this bill will drain revenue from public education even as this session approved 305 million dollars in extra funding for our public schools. A one-billion-dollar Education Future Fund was also created in order to deal with any future funding issues. You can clearly see that the Legislature carefully planned for public education funding and increased it!
     In Nebraska we love our public schools and our schools, teachers and students are always on the honor roll when academic performance is considered. We can continue this great tradition AND move forward, allowing parents and the children to seek the education they believe is best tailored to them. In a liberty loving nation like the United States this should not be controversial. By declining to sign you will affirm the progress that Nebraska is making in our children’s education.
     However, even as the vast majority of our schools and school districts perform at a high level, sometimes our children can fall between the cracks or a school or school district can under perform. The Opportunity Scholarships Act allows parents and the children the choice to find another school; public or private. Priority is given to low-income families and this scholarship will cover all or most of their tuition at the school of their choice and allow them the academic freedom which should be assumed in this nation.
The petition drive is a solution looking for a problem. The Opportunity Scholarship Act is the solution parents and children have been seeking concerning freedom in K-12 education. So, this is what was done in the last Legislative Session, 1) Nebraska was brought up to date in education by implementing a foundational American concept, academic choice and freedom for parents and children and, 2) school funding was increased for the foreseeable future. For these reasons we respectfully ask you to, “Decline to sign”!