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Nebraska Farmers Union |
1305
Plum Street • Lincoln, NE 68502 Contact
John Hansen Office: 402-476-8815, Fax: 402-476-8859, Cell: 402-580-8815 |
For
Immediate Release
April
26, 2007
Statement
of John K. Hansen, President
Nebraska
Farmers Union
NEFU
STATEMENT ON LB658
Nebraska
Farmers Union is Nebraska’s second largest and second oldest general farm
organization. We have been serving
family farmers, ranchers, and members of the rural community since 1913. We take the long view. Our organization continues to encourage
rural residents to get informed on the challenges they face, and get
constructively engaged with their public officials.
Our
organization has helped build over 436 cooperatives. We teach the cooperative principles to our children at youth
camps. We understand that it is
important for rural people to learn how to work together to accomplish those
things for the public good that individuals working alone cannot
accomplish.
It
is extremely rare that Nebraska citizens feel so strongly about what their
Legislature has done that they use the referendum process to repeal a law
passed by the Legislature. In 1986, and again in 2006, Nebraska voters repealed
laws passed by the Legislature that replaced the decision making of local
school district residents on matters of school consolidation with top down,
state mandated forced consolidation.
LB662 was repealed in 1986 and in 2006, LB126 was repealed by a strong
56.34% to 43.66% margin. 91 out of 93
counties supported the repeal of LB126, and wanted local Class I and VI school
districts returned to their original status.
The
repeal of LB126 sent the Legislature a very loud and clear message to be more
mindful of what the folks back home think on the issue of local control and
forced consolidation.
Nebraska
Farmers Union strongly opposes Sen. Raikes’ LB658, currently on Select File and
scheduled for consideration next Tuesday morning. Instead of healing the wounds caused by the passage and
subsequent repeal of LB126, it once again turns a deaf ear to the will of the
voters, and makes an already bad situation much worse by creating a roadblock
instead of a roadmap to returning those local school districts that so desire,
back to their original status. The very
same local folks that used to make the decisions about their local district
before the passage of LB126 ought to be the folks that make the decision about
restoring their local districts or not after the repeal of LB126.
Last
year the Education Committee ignored the input of Nebraska voters. LB126 was overwhelmingly opposed during the
hearing process, but the Education Committee voted it out of Committee
anyway. The Legislature received
overwhelming public opposition to LB126 during three rounds of floor consideration,
but they passed it anyway. The
Legislature received overwhelming support to uphold Governor Heineman’s veto,
but the Legislature overrode his veto anyway.
This
year, the Education Committee received overwhelming support for Sen. Dierk’s
LB234, Sen. Hudkins LB30, and Sen. Flood’s LB357, all different methods to
restore local school districts. They ignored public opinion, and killed all
three bills, and then voted the bill that did not receive overwhelming support,
LB658 to the floor. The Legislature
voted LB658 to Select File despite the fact the folks most directly impacted by
LB126 and the rural organizations that represent them do not support
LB658. Is the Legislature learning from
the mistakes of history, or just repeating them? LB658 needs to be amended or rejected. In its present form, LB658
will kill, not cure Class I schools.