Education on the ballot with veto referendum in Nebraska

Welcome to the Thursday, Sept. 12, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Education on the ballot with veto referendum in Nebraska
2. Incumbent Andrea Salinas (D) and Mike Erickson (R) are running in a rematch for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District
3. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso and Ballotpedia Staff Writer Ellen Morrissey join On the Ballot to discuss the presidential debate

Education on the ballot with veto referendum in Nebraska

Nebraska voters will decide on a veto referendum for a private education scholarship program on Nov. 5. Voters will decide whether to uphold or repeal provisions of Legislative Bill 1402 (LB 1402).

LB 1402 would authorize the state treasurer to administer an education scholarship program with a $10 million budget beginning in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The program would provide scholarships to eligible students, covering all or part of the cost of attending any accredited non-governmental private elementary or secondary school in the state. The law would prioritize students based on household income.

This proposed program is an example of Education Savings Accounts (ESA). These accounts allow families to receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized private savings accounts for use on approved educational expenses. ESA programs can be limited to a particular set of students, such as those with special needs or from low-income families, or open to all—or most—children in a state. Students are generally ineligible to access ESA funds if they are enrolled in a public school.

Between 2011 and 2024, 16 states enacted 18 ESA programs. The Nevada Legislature passed a bill establishing an ESA program in 2015 that would have covered nearly all students. But the state supreme court ruled in 2016 that the program’s funding mechanism was unconstitutional because it “[violated] the prohibition on use of public school funds for other purposes.”

In 2023, five states with Republican trifectas—Arkansas, Utah, Iowa, Montana, and South Carolina—created new ESA programs. Trifecta status reflects partisan control of state government at the time the ESA program was expanded or created.

In Nebraska, the veto referendum campaign, Support Our Schools Nebraska, is seeking to repeal LB 1402 and is supporting a “No” vote. Nebraska State Education Association President Jenni Benson, who is also the veto referendum campaign’s sponsor, said, “Since last summer we’ve collected more than 200,000 signatures from Nebraskans who believe voters should decide whether public funds should be used to pay for private schools. The incredibly short timeline was a huge challenge, but Nebraskans wanted to sign this petition – many were appalled that LB1402 was passed to block citizens from voting on the issue and to impose a costly new voucher scheme on taxpayers.”

State Sen. Dave Murman (R), who supports upholding LB 1402, said, “Others have argued LB 1402 defunds public schools. Those who make this claim either haven’t done the math or simply know they are lying. In the 2022-2023 year, K-12 schools received about $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds. Since my time as chair of the Education Committee, we have additionally appropriated over $1.6 billion for our public schools. Compare this spending with the $10 million cost of LB 1402, and we see that it is only about 0.2 percent, or two one-thousandths, of our total education funding. Compared to most school choice programs across the country, LB 1402 is amongst the humblest and most meager in the nation.”

This is the second veto referendum that Support Our Schools Nebraska submitted signatures for the November ballot. In 2023, the campaign qualified a referendum that would have repealed ​​Legislative Bill 753 (LB 753), which created a tax credit for qualifying taxpayers who contribute to organizations granting education scholarships for private schools. LB 1402 replaced LB 753, leaving the first veto referendum without legislation to repeal. On May 16, Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) announced that the referendum targeting LB 753 would not be on the 2024 ballot.

Voters in Colorado and Kentucky will also decide on school choice-related measures in November. According to University of Southern California Professor Guilbert Hentschke, school choice “has become a catch-all label describing many different programs that offer students and their families alternatives to publicly provided schools in which students are, for the most part, assigned based on the location of their residence.”

Colorado voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would say, “Each K-12 child has the right to school choice.” School choice would include neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, homeschools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education. Kentucky voters will decide on a constitutional amendment to allow the General Assembly to provide state funding to students outside of public schools.

Nebraska is one of 23 states that allow veto referendums. Between 1906 and 2023, 527 veto referendums appeared on the ballot in these states. Voters repealed 341 (64.7%) of the targeted laws and upheld 186 (35.3%).

Nebraska has had 17 veto referendums on the ballot since 1914. Voters repealed 11 of the targeted laws and upheld six. The last time Nebraskans decided on a veto referendum was in 2016, when they repealed a ban on the death penalty.

Nebraska voters will decide on four measures in November. Between 1985 and 2022, 106 ballot measures appeared on the Nebraska ballot, or about 2.9 annually. In those years, voters approved about 61.3% of measures and defeated about 38.7%.

Incumbent Andrea Salinas (D) and Mike Erickson (R) are running in a rematch for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District

Throughout the year, we’ll bring you coverage of the most compelling elections—the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.

Today, we’re looking at the general election for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District on Nov. 5.

Incumbent Andrea Salinas (D) and Mike Erickson (R) are running in a rematch of 2022, when Salinas defeated Erickson 50.1% to 47.7%. This was the 18th closest House race in 2022.

This is the second general election since the district was created after the 2020 census. At the time, it was the state’s first new district in 40 years.

A poll released on Aug. 22 showed Salinas and Erickson in a statistical tie, with Salinas leading Erickson 45% to 43%. The margin of error was ±4%.

Before Salinas was elected to Congress, she served in the state’s House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023 and was previously a legislative staffer. Salinas said she believes “in the American dream, that change can happen in a single generation; the idea that if you work hard, you can create opportunities and achieve a good life for you and your family.” According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Salinas raised $3.2 million and spent $1.1 million as of June 30.

Erickson is president of AFMS LLC, a supply chain and logistics consulting company. He said, “We deserve better policymakers, people who won’t unquestionably toe the partisan line because they were told to do so.” According to reports filed with the FEC, Erickson raised $294,000 and spent $63,000 as of June 30.

In November 2022, major party voter registration in the district consisted of 32% Democrats and 26% Republicans. In August 2024, those numbers were 31% Democrats and 25% Republicans.

Four independent election forecasters rate the general election as Lean or Likely Democratic. Oregon’s 6th Congressional District is one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting in 2024. Salinas is one of 31 Democratic incumbents that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is supporting through their Frontline program.

All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 211 majority with four vacancies. As of September 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso and Ballotpedia Staff Writer Ellen Morrissey join On the Ballot to discuss the presidential debate

On Wednesday’s two-part episode of On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso and Ballotpedia Staff Writer Ellen Morrissey join the podcast to discuss the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and former President Donald Trump (R).

Podcast Producer Frank Festa first speaks with Terruso about what was at stake for each candidate, messages conveyed on both a national and Pennsylvania-specific scale, and how the candidates’ performance could affect the race.

Festa then speaks to Morrissey about Ballotpedia’s coverage of presidential debates, how the terms of the debate factored into the candidates’ performance, and the probability of another debate before the election.

Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app to learn more about the presidential election! This episode is available now.