LINCOLN- State lawmakers have teed up another contentious debate over providing public funds for private, K-12 schooling. On a 6-3 vote, members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee advanced to floor debate a revised version of the Opportunity Scholarships Act that was passed last year.

That act faces nullification in a vote on the ballot in November, and supporters of the scholarships law made it clear that they want to avoid an expensive campaign to convince voters to retain last year’s act. “It’s pretty painful,” said Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, the sponsor of the bill introduced last year and this year’s LB1402, noting that supporters of the act spent more than $1 million in attempts to keep the issue off the ballot.

Elmwood Sen. Rob Clements, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said he voted to advance LB 1402 because he’s been a longtime supporter of school choice and because backers of the Opportunity Scholarships Act wanted to avoid a bruising campaign over the ballot initiative. He was joined in voting the bill out by Sens. Armendariz, Dover, Erdman, Lippincott and McDonnell.

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