{"id":2021240,"date":"2023-09-04T08:03:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T12:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/school-choice-foes-turn-to-ballot-referendums-as-states-expand-voucher-programs\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T08:05:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T12:05:54","slug":"school-choice-foes-turn-to-ballot-referendums-as-states-expand-voucher-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/school-choice-foes-turn-to-ballot-referendums-as-states-expand-voucher-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"School choice foes turn to ballot referendums as states expand voucher programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fschool-choice-foes-turn-to-ballot-referendums-as-states-expand-voucher-programs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2021240&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Voters\u200b in Nebraska Seek to Repeal School Choice\u2064 Program<\/h2>\n<p>Voters in Nebraska are likely\u2063 to weigh in on the state&#8217;s \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/every-state-that-passed-or-expanded-school-choice-in-2023\/\" title=\"2023: More states embrace school choice.\">school\u200c choice program<\/a> after a group submitted \u2062more\u2064 than\u200b 100,000\u2064 signatures\u200c last week, seeking to force \u200da ballot referendum.<\/p>\n<p>The effort aims to repeal a state law passed this \u2062year that established\u2063 a \u2062$25 million tax credit program for donors who \u2063give \u200bmoney to a scholarship fund that can be used for private school tuition.<\/p>\n<h3>Opponents Resort to Ballot\u200d Referendums<\/h3>\n<p>In the wake of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/school-choice-foes-turn-to-ballot-referendums-as-states-expand-voucher-programs\/\" title=\"Opponents of school choice resort to ballot referendums as states broaden voucher programs.\">school choice legislation wave \u2062dating back<\/a> to last year, opponents of such programs, often with the backing of teachers\u2064 unions, have resorted\u200c to trying\u2064 to force ballot\u2062 referendums as\u2062 a \u200dmeans to repeal \u2064programs passed by state legislatures.<\/p>\n<p>Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for \u200bChildren,\u200b criticized the unions for &#8220;trap[ping] kids in their \u2063failing \u200cgovernment \u2064schools\u2062 at all costs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If these power-hungry unions used half as much energy improving their schools as they do \u2062fighting against parental rights in education, they wouldn&#8217;t have\u2064 to\u2063 worry\u2062 so much\u200b about\u200c competition,&#8221; DeAngelis \u2064told the Washington Examiner. &#8220;In the end, the parents will win the war these unions waged on their children, and that&#8217;s\u200d because parents care about their kids more than \u2062anyone \u200delse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Sweeping Changes \u200din State Legislatures<\/h3>\n<p>Indeed, school choice has\u200b swept through state legislatures in numerous states, as Republican-controlled states have passed universal school choice programs. In \u20622022, Arizona became\u2063 the largest state to have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heritage-foundation-rates-florida-and-arizona-as-top-states-for-education-freedom\/\" title=\"Heritage Foundation rates Florida and Arizona as top states for education freedom\">universal school choice program<\/a>\u2064 and served as the crowning achievement for\u200b outgoing Republican Gov.\u2062 Doug Ducey&#8217;s two \u2063terms in office.<\/p>\n<p>Following the 2022 elections, several states enacted broad \u2063expansions of school choice, \u200cbeginning \u2064with Iowa but\u2063 later followed by Florida, Arkansas,\u200c Oklahoma, Utah, \u200cIndiana, Ohio, and Nebraska. The tidal wave \u2063of legislative victories for school choice has led to a record level of\u2064 eligibility \u200dfor such programs as the 2023-24 \u2064school year \u2062begins.<\/p>\n<h3>Efforts to Force Ballot Referendums<\/h3>\n<p>Amid the increase in school \u2063choice\u200c program\u200d eligibility, efforts to force ballot referendums \u2062have cropped up with mixed results.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Arizona made national \u200bheadlines for drastically expanding the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-legislature-sends-universal-school-choice-bill-to-desantiss-desk\/\" title=\"Florida legislature sends universal school choice bill to DeSantis's desk\">existing school choice program<\/a> so that all students, regardless of\u200c income, were eligible for the program.\u2064 An attempt to force a statewide referendum to challenge the school choice legislation failed to gain enough traction as organizers failed to collect the requisite number of signatures needed to force\u2062 a statewide vote. A similar bid failed in Arkansas \u2064earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>But in\u2063 Nebraska, the group Save\u200b Our Schools \u200bseems to have had more \u200bsuccess. On Wednesday, the organization submitted\u200b more than 100,000 signatures to the Nebraska secretary of state \u2062with an eye toward qualifying\u200d the issue for the 2024 ballot. The\u200b group needed to \u2064collect 60,000 valid signatures to force the referendum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve \u200ctraveled all\u200c across our state these past 90 days\u2062 and\u200d I am heartened by the support I\u2019ve seen from Nebraskans for their public schools,\u201d Jenni Benson, the president\u200b of the \u2064Nebraska State Education Association, said in \u2063a statement. \u201cNebraskans from all walks of life, \u200band all areas \u2014\u200b rural, urban, small towns and everywhere\u2062 in-between \u2014 have been\u2064 overwhelmingly supportive of the petition effort to put the repeal of LB753 \u2062to a vote. Nebraskans want to keep their public schools strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the signatures must be\u2064 verified, Tim Royers, who submitted the signatures last\u200c week, said that\u200b the\u2063 group was\u200b confident they had \u2062qualified the issue on the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019ve checked\u2062 every signature,&#8221; Royers said, according to 6 News. &#8220;So when I tell you\u2064 this is getting on \u200cthe\u200c ballot, it\u2019s 100% certain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE\u200b TO \u2064READ MORE\u200b FROM THE\u200d WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) vowed to protect the program, saying he had &#8220;confidence in education, \u200dboth public and private.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will\u2062 continue \u200dto make\u200b sure each student in\u2063 Nebraska \u2063has the educational freedom to choose where they want to attend school,&#8221; Pillen said. &#8220;We will never \u200bgive up on our kids.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Voters in Nebraska are likely to weigh in on the state&#8217;s school choice program after a group submitted more than 100,000 signatures last week, seeking to force a ballot referendum. The effort seeks to repeal a state law passed this year that established a $25 million tax credit program for donors who give money to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2021241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}