Nebraska

The Nebraska State Grange Executive Board met in July and one of the items on their agenda was discussion about the current petition drive being conducted by Nebraskans for Local Schools. That drive is comprised of two parts. The first is a referendum petition which seeks to prevent LB126 (small school consolidation) from taking effect until it can be voted on in November 2006. The second is an initiative petition, which seeks a constitutional amendment protecting any school district from merger, affiliation or closure unless approved by a majority of the voters in the affected district. That petition, if successful, would also be voted on in November 2006.

After considerable discussion and taking into account that the governor vetoed LB126, only to be overridden by the Legislature, and the recent developments with Omaha Public Schools making a hostile move to "take" Millard and Ralston schools, the Nebraska State Grange Executive Committee voted unanimously to endorse both petitions and to help where ever possible in gathering signatures. The decision fell to the Executive Committee since the delegates of the State Grange do not meet till mid-September. Time is short for the referendum petition. It must succeed by early September, when LB126 is scheduled to begin taking effect. The initiative petition has until the summer of 2006 to gather enough signatures to make it onto the ballot. The Grange plans to have petitions for both causes in their booth at the Nebraska State Fair later in August.

Date: 8/25/05