Watered-down version of Nebraska education package advances as clean-up bill
LINCOLN — An education bill that was once a vehicle for an education package advanced Thursday a lot leaner, as many of the proposals previously included failed to be attached as amendments to the bill.
Legislative Bill 306, which largely ended up clean-up language sought by State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil to address terms and provisions in state law relating to higher education, was brought back for debate after a previous attempt at the education package failed on the floor after lawmakers removed Central City's State Sen. Loren Lippincott's proposal allowing K-12 students to be excused during the school day for off-site religious instruction and coursework.
Lost in the shuffle again were three proposals that were once married — a measure that would have given Nebraska teachers more paid time off around significant life events, one offering student loan help for special education teachers and the release time proposal.
State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha's measure would have helped schools fund more long-term substitutes so teachers can take paid time off. She revised it to give teachers two weeks of paid leave instead of three. The proposal would have funded the leave by implementing a new payroll fee on teacher salaries. The fee would also would have helped pay for special education teacher recruitment and retention.
Her amendment, backed by the state teachers union, failed 17-25.
State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln offered an amendment that would have provided forgivable loans for special education teachers in the state. Dungan's proposal was combined into Spivey's amendment, as the Legislature's Education Committee had combined the two previously. It also failed 20-23.
Lippincott brought back his release time proposal after lawmakers pulled it from the education package. He withdrew the attempt after Spivey and Dungan's amendments failed. The latest version of Lippincott's proposal removed the private cause of action, the ability to sue if a school doesn't enforce the ability to leave for that purpose, which some Republicans had expressed concerns about.
'This is going to be a filibuster; we need 33 votes,' Lippincott said during Thursday's debate. 'I do not want my amendment to put the bill down.'
Some social conservatives in the Legislature had been trying to show a growing base of lawmakers willing to consider and advance bills with religious themes.
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