Local schools get bump in state aid

LINCOLN — Public school districts across the state will benefit from a new state aid to education formula approved this year by the Nebraska Unicameral.

The package, LB583, makes adjustments to the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act formula for state aid to Nebraska’s public schools.

Under LB583, the state will pay public school districts $1,500 in foundation aid per student beginning with school fiscal year 2023-24.

State estimates show the Hartington-Newcastle School District would have received $112,593 under the old state aid formula. The new formula will add another $918,671 in state aid to the district.

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge will see an even bigger boost. LCC would have received an estimated $89,793 under the old formula. The new formula adds another $935,195 in state aid to the school’s coffers.

Cedar County’s two other public schools will also see a bump in state aid, but not nearly as big a bump.

Randolph was to receive an estimated $42,290 in state aid and will now receive $562,296. The old formula would have given Wynot Public Schools $1.4 million. The new formula gives Wynot an additional $96,206.

The bill also requires the state Department of Education to reimburse each school district 80 percent of the total allowable excess costs for all special education programs and support services in the following school year.

In total, the state will direct approximately $300 million per year in additional funding to K-12 public schools under LB583.

This funding will be sustained through investments by the newly created Education Future Fund formulated under LB818, which received $1 billion from the General Fund this year and is expected to receive at least $250 million each year thereafter.

Dist. 40 Sen. Barry DeKay said schools will receive both the estimated certified State Aid prior to the passage of LB583 and the estimated combined increase in state aid to area schools.

“The area will see more than double the amount of state aid granted to our area’s public school districts,” DeKay said.

The purpose of this legislation, Gov. Jim Pillen said upon signing it, is to increase the state’s investment in education and reduce schools’ reliance on property taxes.

According to an analysis by the Open Sky Institute, under the old state aid formula, about 59 percent of K-12 education funding in Nebraska was derived from property taxes and other local sources, compared to the U.S. average of about 46 percent.

DeKay said the new law is a great asset to rural Nebraskans.