Republican Lawmakers Plan Filibuster Against School Choice Scholarships

by John Gage

Two Republican state senators say they plan to filibuster a provision in the state’s budget to provide students near the poverty level with scholarships to private schools. State Sens. Tom Brandt and Merv Riepe said they will not vote to end debate and advance the budget in the Unicameral if their colleagues do not take out the $3.5 million set aside for the scholarships.

“The voters told us they did not want a voucher program and we need to honor that voice of the people,” Riepe told The Plains Sentinel. The Omaha state senator said his decision also stemmed from the need to fill the state’s budget hole.

“Everyone is keenly aware of our financial challenge in building a balanced budget,” he added.

Earlier this week, lawmakers voted to keep the scholarship provision in the budget after an amendment, introduced by Brandt, that attempted to strip it out failed 23-17. Brandt said he has always opposed school choice and believes the provision violates the First Amendment.

“I’ve always been opposed to this, and this is fundamental,” Brandt said Monday. The senator said he believed school choice programs, in general, violate the separation of church and state.

The cloture vote for the budget received thirty-five of the forty-nine senators. Unicameral rules require thirty-three votes to end a filibuster and allow an up or down vote on legislation. Brandt and Riepe both voted against the school choice provision but ultimately voted for cloture on the budget.

Six other Republicans joined the pair in opposing the school choice scholarships, including State Sens. Stan Clouse, Myron Dorn, Jana Hughes, Fred Meyer, Tanya Storer, and Dave Wordekemper.

Hughes said she has changed her mind on the scholarships following the 2024 statewide referendum that repealed similar legislation.

“The second house, the people overwhelmingly voted to say they did not want their money to go to these programs,” she said. “I will listen to Nebraskans and now not support this.”

Both Hughes and Riepe previously voted for similar scholarship measures in 2023 and 2024.

The 2024 referendum repeal came on the heels of a $7 million campaign by “Support our Schools Nebraska” and the state’s largest teachers’ union, the Nebraska State Education Association, to repeal the state’s scholarship program. Governor Jim Pillen, who supports the current scholarship measure, said the referendum passed because of “misinformation” from the NSEA and their allies.

Proponents of the scholarships pitched the measure as a “stopgap measure” for kids who had already received scholarships from the state before the original program ended and before a new federal program starts in 2027.

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth said putting in place a stopgap year was the best way of “winding down” the current program.

“We made promises to these kids when we gave the money away,” Kauth said.

The push to cut the $3.5 million out of the state budget comes as state senators are looking for ways to fill the session’s $646 million budget hole. Lawmakers signed off on cash transfers and cuts, which whittled the deficit down to $125 million, but members still cannot agree on how to close the rest of the hole.

John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.

(Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Legislature)