❓WHAT HAPPENED: Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen (R) signed an executive order opting the state into a federal school choice tax credit program, allowing taxpayer dollars to fund private school tuition.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Governor Jim Pillen, Representatives Mike Flood (R-NE) and Adrian Smith (R-NE), and the Nebraska State Education Association.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Announced Monday at a Catholic school in Lincoln, Nebraska.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I am not opting this in, I am cannonballing it into the state of Nebraska.” – Gov. Pillen
🎯IMPACT: The measure allows families earning up to 300 percent of the area median income to receive scholarships.
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen (R) has signed an executive order to opt the state into a federal school choice tax credit program, a provision included in President Donald J. Trump’s tax and budget bill passed in July. The program allows individual taxpayers to direct up to $1,700 in federal income taxes owed to scholarship-granting organizations for K-12 private school expenses.
Announcing the decision at a Catholic school in Lincoln, Pillen declared, “I am not opting this in, I am cannonballing it into the state of Nebraska.” He was joined by Representatives Mike Flood (R-NE) and Adrian Smith (R-NE), who supported the federal budget bill and the private school scholarship initiative.
The move comes after years of contentious debate over school choice in Nebraska. A similar state-level proposal in 2023 allowed taxpayers to divert state income taxes to fund private school scholarships. That measure was repealed by voters, but a new law was passed to fund scholarships directly from state coffers. The federal program now bypasses state-level restrictions, enabling even high-income families to benefit.
Critics, such as Nebraska State Education Association President Tim Royers, argue the program undermines the will of voters. “Families making more than $200,000 a year are eligible to receive a voucher funded through these tax credits,” Royers said, adding that the decision disregards the recent voter rejection of state-level vouchers.
Pillen, however, countered that the federal program does not deplete public school funding. “We have to have great public schools, and we have to have great St. Teresa’s,” he stated. “And because of this legislation, both can win.”
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