Supporters of the effort to repeal the measure providing up to $10 million in state funding for private or parochial school scholarships say they gathered enough signatures to put the issue before voters in November.
Support Our Schools Nebraska says it turned in just over 86,600 signatures to the Secretary of State to place the LB1402 partial referendum on the general election ballot.
Nebraska Catholic Conference Director Tom Venzor said the referendum undermines the fundamental rights of parents, but noted the signatures gathered are 30,000 less than a similar effort last year on a similar measure, which he calls evidence opposition to school choice is rapidly declining.
The bill takes effect Thursday while election officials will have 40 days to verify signatures once they receive petition pages for their respective counties.
After completion of that process, the petition pages will be sent back to the Secretary of State’s office, which will total the number of valid signatures and determine if constitutional and statutory requirements were met.
