The petition drive to repeal LB 753, a newly-passed law giving tax credits for donations to groups providing scholarships to attend private and parochial schools, is holding its first event in Chadron today.
Long-time Chadron teacher Renee Noble says petitions available for signing or circulating are available at a booth in front of Big Bat’s Conoco.
The Nebraska State Education Association, the teachers union, is one of the groups behind Support Our Schools Nebraska, the coalition sponsoring the repeal referendum. Noble is an NSEA officer.
Petition circulators have until September to gather about 61,000 valid signatures of registered voters to put repeal on next year’s ballot. Gathering about 120,000 would put the new law, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, on hold until after the vote.
Signatures are also needed from at least 5% of the registered voters in 38 of Nebraska 93 counties, so Noble hopes residents from other area counties will sign petitions today or, even better, help her circulate petitions where they live.
Support Our Schools said on Tuesday that it already had about 10,000 signatures on petitions calling for the referendum vote.