The Education Terminator Tries to Kill a School Choice Program in Nebraska

Teachers unions won’t stop until any alternative to their education monopoly is killed

WSJ editorial. 

"Regarding school choice for children, teachers unions are best understood as Terminators, as in the movie series. They are relentless, and they won’t stop until any alternative to their education monopoly is killed. The latest example is Nebraska, where unions are pushing a ballot measure to repeal a modest K-12 scholarship program.

In April the state Legislature passed a $10 million a year scholarship program to help students who attend private school with education expenses. More than 5,000 students applied for the program in the roughly one month that applications were open, according to Jeremy Ekeler, executive director of Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska, the nonprofit that administers the scholarships.

Even this is too much competition for the union monopoly. The union-backed Support Our Schools Nebraska managed to put Referendum 435 on the ballot, and voters next week can choose to “repeal” or “retain” the program.

The group is trying to scare voters into believing the scholarships will drain money from public schools. That ignores the principle that parents should be able to send their tax dollars to the school they’d prefer. But it’s also silly given the small cost.

“K-12 schools received about $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds,” state Sen. Dave Murman noted in a statement this spring. Since 2023, “we have additionally appropriated over $1.6 billion for our public schools.” The $10 million program is about 0.2% of education funding.

Meanwhile, another state scholarship program is about to expire, thanks to a similar union attack. In 2023 lawmakers created a $25 million tax-credit scholarship, the state’s first for K-12 students. After Support Our Schools collected signatures to put a repeal measure on the November ballot, the Legislature passed the April bill to replace the tax credits with the smaller $10 million program.

The new law sunsets the tax-credit program at the end of this month, but the sunset provision isn’t on the ballot for repeal—meaning that if the new law is repealed, the tax-credit scholarships still expire.

About 1,500 students currently use the tax-credit program, and no doubt many would like to use the new scholarships. Mr. Ekeler testified in a public hearing last week that about half of these recipients have household income below 213% of the federal poverty level, the measure used to determine eligibility for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Some 40% are nonwhite and 11.5% have special needs. The average scholarship is $1,700.

For Sierra Shouse, a single mother in Nebraska, the scholarship program has “positively impacted my son’s education and character and his confidence” and “been a weight off of my shoulders,” she testified at the state Capitol. “I do not have the financial resources to be able to send my children to the school I think they deserve to be at.”

Sorry, Ms. Shouse. The union says your choice for your son must be terminated."