LINCOLN- In an effort to retain teaching staff in Nebraska, the Nebraska Legislature's Education Committee voted to advance LB385 to the floor of the Legislature, a bill introduced by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan that would establish retainment grants for teachers who keep working in Nebraska. "There is no future for Nebraskans if we do not have teachers to teach the next generation of Nebraskans," Linehan said.

According to reports released by the Nebraska Department of Education, unfilled teaching jobs across the state increased by nearly 60% over the last school year, going from 482 vacancies to around 768 beginning in 2022. An amendment introduced by the committee would make the grants $2,500 per teacher, instead of the original $5,000, however. The proposed amendment would also extend the grant program to be available for teachers' second, fourth, and sixth years of teaching.

LB385 is similar to LB1218, which passed into law last year. However, whereas grants from LB1218 could only be utilized by teachers to reduce student debt, LB385 contains no such requirement. LB372, which would lower the number of credits that homeschool students must take at a public school, and LB632, which would prohibit the suspension of public school students before the second grade, were also advanced by the Education Committee on Friday.

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