Bill could mean return of small schools in rural areas

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

It doesn’t re-create small schools, as voters on a 2006 initiative demanded, but the Legislature was offered a proposal Monday that would allow for smaller schools in rural areas of the state.

A bill (LB903) introduced by Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop would allow for the creation of elementary attendance regions and small schools. The buildings would be paid for by community members but owned and operated by existing K-12 districts.

The proposal grew out of a request by Gov. Dave Heineman at the end of the 2007 session to gather interested senators and come up with a solution to the small schools issue. At least nine senators, including Lathrop, Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff and Sen. Greg Adams of York, participated.

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The idea was to come up with a process to develop remote attendance centers so kids would not have to spend long hours on a school bus every week, Lathrop said.

The Legislature created a process last year, but some considered it too complicated. Heineman vetoed the bill and senators sustained his veto. And they were left to start over.

In 2005, a bill (LB126) dissolved elementary-only districts and required them to merge with nearby K-12 districts. Nebraska voters then repealed the bill in the fall of 2006.

This year’s bill aims to set up a simpler process for creating small elementary schools for remote attendance areas. The plan must include a map of the attendance area, a proposed site for the school, the cost and an estimate of whatever tax levy is necessary to fund the schoolhouse. It must also include a list of students who will attend the school, as attested to in writing by their parents.

The attendance area has to be at least 36 square miles, if in a city or village, or 100 square miles if outside one. The school can’t be closer than seven miles to an existing school in the K-12 district.

To get approval, at least 25 students must attend the school in a city or village or at least five in a school outside city or village limits.

Even though the community would have to pay for the building, the school would be owned and maintained by the K-12 district. Teachers and staff members would work for the K-12 district.

The bill calls for the plan to first be submitted to the K-12 district’s board, which would have 45 days to consider it. It could create the attendance region and appoint an initial council for it or require residents to circulate a petition in the region. If the petition contains signatures of at least 55 percent of registered voters and the plan is met, the school would be created.

If the petition has fewer than 55 percent of signatures but more than 50 percent, a vote on the question of creating a school would be taken at a special meeting of residents. A majority must agree on opening a school.

Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm was among those senators who met to come up with a solution, but says she doesn’t like the bill. She may support it anyway.

It would be more favorable for her area if the distance required between schools was fewer than seven miles. The number of square miles that have to be contained in the attendance region is also a problem, she said, because of the proximity of Raymond Central and Malcolm school districts.

“It doesn’t help my Class I school,” she said. “But it will help in the western part of the state.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.