The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education wrote the following in its 1997 document, Catholic Schools on the Threshold of the Third Millenium: “Young people of the third millennium must be a source of energy and leadership in our Church and our nation. Therefore, we must provide young people with an academically rigorous and doctrinally sound program of education and faith formation designed to strengthen their union with Christ and his Church.”
“By equipping our young people with a sound education, rooted in the Gospel message, the Person of Jesus Christ, and rich in the cherished traditions and liturgical practices of our faith, we ensure that they have the foundation to live morally and uprightly in our complex modern world. This unique Catholic identity makes our Catholic elementary and secondary schools “Schools for the human person” and allows them to fill a critical role in the future life of our Church, our country, and our world (No.9).
In the three dioceses of Nebraska, there are a total of 87 Catholic primary schools and 26 secondary schools that educate more than 27,000 students. As Governor Rickett’s proclamation for Catholic Schools Week stated, “Catholic Schools offer Nebraska parents a choice in education, and the competition, diversity and God-centered approach afforded by Catholic Schools enhance the quality of life in Nebraska.”
The Proclamation goes on to say that “Catholic Schools in Nebraska have continuously provided the highest caliber of academic and moral development to the students they serve for the mutual benefit of every citizen in our state.”
Unfortunately, as the Nebraska Catholic Conference pointed out in a 1997 statement on Catholic education, “Parents are not being treated fairly under the present educational finance system. All parents are subject to the State’s mandate to educate their children, but are provided free instruction only in government schools.
“This creates an economic burden on parents who choose to meet the State’s mandate by providing their children with education in non-government schools. The inequitable treatment of parents choosing non-government schools fails to recognize the cost savings they provide the State of Nebraska, and fails to promote their freedom in fulfilling their responsibility to provide the instruction they deem best for their children.
“Moreover, in those many instances where the parents are financially unable to assume the added financial burden, their choice is effectively denied. Accordingly, the present system needs to be modified in order to meet the above objectives and provide a fair and equitable system for the education of Nebraska children.
To remedy this injustice, the Nebraska Catholic Conference has been working for years to enact various forms of school choice legislation. Another attempt this year comes in the form of a scholarship tax credit bill (LB 26) entitled the Choice for the Advancement of Nebraska Children in Education (CHANCE) Act.
The CHANCE Act would provide a 60 percent tax credit to taxpayers (individuals and businesses) who fund scholarships for students to attend a private school. The donations would be made to non-profit organizations accredited by the state that dedicate at least 90 percent of their revenue to scholarship grants.
Students eligible to receive a scholarship would have to live in a household with income not more than two times the reduced-price meal cost of the federal school meal program (currently about $88,000 for a household of four). First-time applicants would also have to be transferring to a private school from any grade in a public school, be entering kindergarten or ninth grade of a private school, or be the sibling of a current scholarship recipient.
The Legislature’s Revenue Committee held a public hearing on Wednesday of this week. Our focus right now is on getting this bill advanced from the Committee to the full Legislature. Since Senators respond best to their own constituents, we particularly urge those whose senator is on this committee to urge him/her to vote to advance LB 26. The following senators are members of the Revenue Committee: Mike Gloor (Grand Island), Paul Schumacher (Columbus), Lydia Brasch (Bancroft), Al Davis (Hyannis), Burke Harr (Omaha), Jim Scheer (Norfolk), Jim Smith (Papillion), Kate Sullivan (Cedar Rapids).
More information about LB 26 is available on our website at www.necatholic.org. You can also use the Take Action page to contact the senators on the Revenue Committee.
