Legislation introduced in the Nebraska Legislature would create a universal education savings account (ESA) program with no funding or enrollment caps open to all Nebraska families beginning with the 2026–27 school year.
These accounts would cover tuition, fees, and curricula for eligible children at private and parochial schools, as well as textbooks, software, private tutoring services, and “any other academic or learning material approved by the State Board of Education.”
Nebraska had enacted the Nebraska Education Scholarships voucher program in 2024, but it was repealed by a voter referendum last November that was fueled by $5.3 million in spending by teachers unions. That program only had a $10 million budget cap, good enough to support only 1,164 scholarships, and did not provide families with the multiple funding uses that would be opened up to them with an ESA program.
Copious empirical research on school choice programs like ESAs makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances. Specifically, these programs improve academic performance and attainment while delivering a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools.
Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices. Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats. There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.
Not only are education choice programs like ESAs good policy, they are also broadly popular. EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker, last updated on February 12, shows 68 percent of all Nebraska adults and 70 percent of Nebraska parents with school-aged children are in favor of ESA programs.
Further, a universal ESA program is sorely needed in the Cornhusker State because the state’s public schools are habitually failing Nebraska’s children. In 2024, only 40 percent of Nebraska’s public school fourth-graders and 32 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” to grade level in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 28 percent of fourth-graders and 27 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Nebraska children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math by the time they are about to enter high school.
The goal of public education in Nebraska today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. Nebraska is very close to doing so, and there has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and more needed than right now.
Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377-4000.
