LB238 LB238
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 238
Introduced by Wayne, 13.
Read first time January 10, 2023
Committee: Education
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to schools; to amend sections 79-528 and
2 79-1003, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022; to change
3 reporting requirements; to define and redefine terms; to include
4 virtual school students in the calculation of aid under the Tax
5 Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act; to harmonize
6 provisions; and to repeal the original sections.
7 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
-1-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 Section 1. Section 79-528, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
2 2022, is amended to read:
3 79-528 (1)(a) On or before July 20 in all school districts, the
4 superintendent shall file with the State Department of Education a report
5 showing the number of children from five through eighteen years of age
6 belonging to the school district according to the census taken as
7 provided in sections 79-524 and 79-578.
8 (b) The board of any district neglecting to take and report the
9 enumeration shall be liable to the school district for all school money
10 which such district may lose by such neglect.
11 (2) On or before June 30 the superintendent of each school district
12 shall file with the Commissioner of Education a report described as an
13 end-of-the-school-year annual statistical summary showing (a) the number
14 of children attending school during the year under five years of age, (b)
15 the length of time the school has been taught during the year by a
16 qualified teacher, (c) the length of time taught by each substitute
17 teacher, (d) the number of classes a student is required to enroll in for
18 full-time enrollment in the district at each grade level for the school
19 year, (e) the definition of a class used by the district for the purpose
20 of determining full-time and part-time enrollment at each grade level for
21 the school year, (f) the number of classes completed by each virtual
22 school student as defined in section 79-1003 for the school year, and (g)
23 (d) such other information as the Commissioner of Education directs.
24 (3) On or before November 1 the superintendent of each school
25 district shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a report described
26 as the annual financial report showing (a) (i) the amount of money
27 received from all sources during the year and the amount of money
28 expended by the school district during the year, (b) (ii) the amount of
29 bonded indebtedness, (c) (iii) such other information as shall be
30 necessary to fulfill the requirements of the Tax Equity and Educational
31 Opportunities Support Act and section 79-1114, and (d) (iv) such other
-2-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 information as the Commissioner of Education directs.
2 (4)(a) On or before October 15 of each year, the superintendent of
3 each school district shall file with the commissioner the fall school
4 district membership report, which report shall include the number of
5 children from birth through twenty years of age enrolled in the district
6 on October 1 of a given school year. The report shall also include
7 enumerate (i) students by grade level, (ii) school district levies and
8 total assessed valuation for the current fiscal year, (iii) students
9 enrolled in the district as option students, (iv) resident students
10 enrolled in another district as option students, (v) students enrolled in
11 the district as open enrollment students, (vi) and resident students
12 enrolled in another district as open enrollment students, (vii) the
13 number of classes a student is required to enroll in for full-time
14 enrollment in the district at each grade level for such school year,
15 (viii) the definition of a class used by the district for the purpose of
16 determining full-time and part-time enrollment at each grade level for
17 such school year, (ix) the number of classes in which each virtual school
18 student as defined in section 79-1003 is enrolled on October 1 of such
19 school year, and (x) (iv) such other information as the Commissioner of
20 Education directs.
21 (b) On or before October 15 of each year prior to 2017, each
22 learning community coordinating council shall issue to the department a
23 report which enumerates the learning community levies pursuant to
24 subdivision (2)(b) of section 77-3442 and total assessed valuation for
25 the current fiscal year.
26 (b) (c) When any school district fails to submit its fall membership
27 report by November 1, the commissioner shall, after notice to the
28 district and an opportunity to be heard, direct that any state aid
29 granted pursuant to the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support
30 Act be withheld until such time as the report is received by the
31 department. In addition, the commissioner shall direct the county
-3-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 treasurer to withhold all school money belonging to the school district
2 until such time as the commissioner notifies the county treasurer of
3 receipt of such report. The county treasurer shall withhold such money.
4 Sec. 2. Section 79-1003, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
5 2022, is amended to read:
6 79-1003 For purposes of the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities
7 Support Act:
8 (1) Adjusted general fund operating expenditures means the
9 difference of the general fund operating expenditures increased by the
10 cost growth factor calculated pursuant to section 79-1007.10, minus the
11 transportation allowance, special receipts allowance, poverty allowance,
12 limited English proficiency allowance, distance education and
13 telecommunications allowance, elementary site allowance, summer school
14 allowance, community achievement plan allowance, and focus school and
15 program allowance;
16 (2) Adjusted valuation means the assessed valuation of taxable
17 property of each local system in the state, adjusted pursuant to the
18 adjustment factors described in section 79-1016. Adjusted valuation means
19 the adjusted valuation for the property tax year ending during the school
20 fiscal year immediately preceding the school fiscal year in which the aid
21 based upon that value is to be paid. For purposes of determining the
22 local effort rate yield pursuant to section 79-1015.01, adjusted
23 valuation does not include the value of any property which a court, by a
24 final judgment from which no appeal is taken, has declared to be
25 nontaxable or exempt from taxation;
26 (3) Allocated income tax funds means the amount of assistance paid
27 to a local system pursuant to section 79-1005.01;
28 (4) Average daily membership means, as provided in each school
29 district's annual statistical summary pursuant to section 79-528, the
30 average daily membership for grades kindergarten through twelve
31 attributable to the local system, including as provided in each
-4-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 district's annual statistical summary, and includes the proportionate
2 share of students enrolled in a public school instructional program on
3 less than a full-time basis;
4 (5) Base fiscal year means the first school fiscal year following
5 the school fiscal year in which the reorganization or unification
6 occurred;
7 (6) Board means the school board of each school district;
8 (7) Categorical funds means funds limited to a specific purpose by
9 federal or state law, including, but not limited to, Title I funds, Title
10 VI funds, federal career and technical education funds, federal school
11 lunch funds, Indian education funds, Head Start funds, and funds received
12 prior to July 1, 2022, from the Nebraska Education Improvement Fund;
13 (8) Consolidate means to voluntarily reduce the number of school
14 districts providing education to a grade group and does not include
15 dissolution pursuant to section 79-498;
16 (9) Converted contract means an expired contract that was in effect
17 for at least fifteen school years beginning prior to school year 2012-13
18 for the education of students in a nonresident district in exchange for
19 tuition from the resident district when the expiration of such contract
20 results in the nonresident district educating students, who would have
21 been covered by the contract if the contract were still in effect, as
22 option students pursuant to the enrollment option program established in
23 section 79-234;
24 (10) Converted contract option student means a student who will be
25 an option student pursuant to the enrollment option program established
26 in section 79-234 for the school fiscal year for which aid is being
27 calculated and who would have been covered by a converted contract if the
28 contract were still in effect and such school fiscal year is the first
29 school fiscal year for which such contract is not in effect;
30 (11) Department means the State Department of Education;
31 (12) District means any school district or unified system as defined
-5-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 in section 79-4,108;
2 (13) Ensuing school fiscal year means the school fiscal year
3 following the current school fiscal year;
4 (14) Equalization aid means the amount of assistance calculated to
5 be paid to a local system pursuant to section 79-1008.01;
6 (15) Fall membership means, the total membership in kindergarten
7 through grade twelve attributable to the local system as reported on the
8 fall school district membership reports for each district pursuant to
9 section 79-528, the total membership in kindergarten through grade twelve
10 attributable to the local system, including the proportionate share of
11 students enrolled in a public school instructional program on less than a
12 full-time basis;
13 (16) Fiscal year means the state fiscal year which is the period
14 from July 1 to the following June 30;
15 (17) Formula students means:
16 (a) For state aid certified pursuant to section 79-1022, the sum of
17 the product of fall membership from the school fiscal year immediately
18 preceding the school fiscal year in which the aid is to be paid
19 multiplied by the average ratio of average daily membership to fall
20 membership for the second school fiscal year immediately preceding the
21 school fiscal year in which the aid is to be paid and the prior two
22 school fiscal years plus sixty percent of the qualified early childhood
23 education fall membership plus tuitioned students from the school fiscal
24 year immediately preceding the school fiscal year in which aid is to be
25 paid minus the product of the number of students enrolled in kindergarten
26 that is not full-day kindergarten from the fall membership multiplied by
27 0.5; and
28 (b) For the final calculation of state aid pursuant to section
29 79-1065, the sum of average daily membership plus sixty percent of the
30 qualified early childhood education average daily membership plus
31 tuitioned students minus the product of the number of students enrolled
-6-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 in kindergarten that is not full-day kindergarten from the average daily
2 membership multiplied by 0.5 from the school fiscal year immediately
3 preceding the school fiscal year in which aid was paid;
4 (18) Free lunch and free milk calculated students means, using the
5 most recent data available on November 1 of the school fiscal year
6 immediately preceding the school fiscal year in which aid is to be paid,
7 (a) for schools that did not provide free meals to all students pursuant
8 to the community eligibility provision, students who individually
9 qualified for free lunches or free milk pursuant to the federal Richard
10 B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq., and the
11 federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq., as such acts
12 and sections existed on January 1, 2021, and rules and regulations
13 adopted thereunder, plus (b) for schools that provided free meals to all
14 students pursuant to the community eligibility provision, the greater of
15 the number of students in such school who individually qualified for free
16 lunch or free milk using the most recent school fiscal year for which the
17 school did not provide free meals to all students pursuant to the
18 community eligibility provision or one hundred ten percent of the product
19 of the students who qualified for free meals at such school pursuant to
20 the community eligibility provision multiplied by the identified student
21 percentage calculated pursuant to such federal provision, except that the
22 free lunch and free milk calculated students for any school pursuant to
23 subdivision (18)(b) of this section shall not exceed one hundred percent
24 of the students qualified for free meals at such school pursuant to the
25 community eligibility provision;
26 (19) Full-day kindergarten means kindergarten offered by a district
27 for at least one thousand thirty-two instructional hours;
28 (20) General fund budget of expenditures means the total budget of
29 disbursements and transfers for general fund purposes as certified in the
30 budget statement adopted pursuant to the Nebraska Budget Act, except that
31 for purposes of the limitation imposed in section 79-1023, the general
-7-
LB238 LB238
2023 2023
1 fund budget of expenditures does not include any special grant funds,
2 exclusive of local matching funds, received by a district;
3 (21) General fund expenditures means all expenditures from the
4 general fund;
5 (22) General fund operating expenditures means, for state aid
6 calculated for each school fiscal year, as reported on the annual
7 financial report for the second school fiscal year immediately preceding
8 the school fiscal year in which aid is to be paid, the total general fund
9 expenditures minus (a) the amount of all receipts to the general fund, to
10 the extent that such receipts are not included in local system formula
11 resources, from early childhood education tuition, summer school tuition,
12 educational entities as defined in section 79-1201.01 for providing
13 distance education courses through the Educational Service Unit
14 Coordinating Council to such educational entities, private foundations,
15 individuals, associations, charitable organizations, the textbook loan
16 program authorized by section 79-734, federal impact aid, and levy
17 override elections pursuant to section 77-3444, (b) the amount of
18 expenditures for categorical funds, tuition paid to other school
19 districts, tuition paid to postsecondary institutions for college credit,
20 transportation fees paid to other districts, adult education, community
21 services, redemption of the principal portion of general fund debt
22 service, retirement incentive plans authorized by section 79-855, and
23 staff