Nebraska voters rejected law spending public funds for private school tuition. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Nebraskans decided a couple weeks ago that public funds for education should fund public education … and only public education. You can skip the “well, duh.” Without two petition drives, a solid campaign and Nebraskans doing the right thing, the question in question — Legislative Bill 1402 — may very well have started using tax dollars for private school tuition next fall.
The decision to repeal LB 1402, which provided public money for private school scholarships, was fairly loud and quite clear. Nearly six in 10 Nebraskans who voted said no to the idea, originally pushed through the Legislature in a different form, then rewritten at the last minute in a fit of policymaking presto-chango. Nevertheless, in only 11 of the state’s 93 counties did LB 1402 get a passing grade.
The outcome was the right decision on an idea that was wrong from the beginning.
Those who sought petition signatures to get the measure on the ballot, knocked on doors to convince their neighbors, wrote checks to pay for the effort and generally campaigned to repeal LB 1402 are entitled to a little celebration. Well done.