001October 3rd state board meeting will now come to order. Good morning and welcome to the October 3rd, 2025 State Board of Education meeting. Board members, please engage your microphones before speaking and turn them off when you are finished speaking. Please note that board members may be using their cell phones and laptop computers to access the agenda and information related to this meeting. Live streaming is available through the state board of education website. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Christian Christensen >> here. >> Maggie Douglas >> here. >> Lisa Shonhoff >> here. >> Liz Rener >> here. >> Kirk Penner. Sher Jones >> here. >> Elizabeth Tegmmeer >> here. >> Deborah Ner. Commissioner Maher >> here. >> Six present, two absent. >> Quorum is established. Please rise and join me in the pledge of
002allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Information regarding the open meetings act is posted as you enter the room from the main entrance doors. The Open Meetings Act is also posted on the State Board of Education's website. Agenda item 2.1. Sherry, would you please read the resolution? >> Yes, I am honored to do so. Whereas dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in reading. Whereas dyslexia is most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing, the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language, which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, spell, and often the ability to learn a second language. Whereas dyslexia is the most common
003learning disability and affects 80 to 90% of all individuals with a learning disability. Whereas dyslexia is persistent and highly prevalent affecting as many as one out of every five individuals. Whereas great progress has been made in understanding dyslexia on a scientific level including the epidemiological, cognitive and neurobiological basis of dyslexia. Whereas the achievement gap between typical readers and dyslexic readers emerges as early as first grade. And whereas early screening for and early diagnosis of dyslexia are critical for ensuring that individuals with dyslexia receive targeted evidence-based intervention that leads to fluent reading, the promotion of self-awareness and self-empowerment, the well-being of the student, and the provision of necessary accommodations that ensure success in school and in life. Whereas Nebraska has taken steps to improve outcomes for students with dyslexia through the implementation of the Nebraska Reading
004Improvement Act, passage of the Nebraska Literacy Plan, and receipt of the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant. Now, therefore be it resolved. The State Board of Education recognizes October as Dyslexia Awareness Month. Resolved. The state board calls on other policy makers, districts, schools, community providers, and parents, and education decision makers to partner together to support students with dyslexia. Resolved, the state board calls upon the NDE to provide and promote best practices and resources to parents, families, and educators in support of all Nebraska children. signed on behalf of the Nebraska State Board of Education this 3rd day of October, 2025. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? >> I move to adopt the resolution. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the resolution to recognize October as dyslexia awareness month. Is there any discussion on
005the motion? The motion is to adopt the resolution to recognize October as dyslexia awareness month. Would the recording secretary please call the role? >> Rener, >> yes. >> Douglas, >> yes. >> Christensen, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Teagmier, >> yes. Penner Neri, >> yes. >> Shonhoff, >> yes. >> Seven yes, one absent. >> The affirmative has it and the resolution is adopted. The next item of business is the commissioner's report. Commissioner Maher, please provide your report. >> Good morning. Thank you. There are no items that have been identified to be removed from the consent agenda. If board members wish to remove any items from the consent agenda, please fill out the form at this time. Just a reminder, any items removed from the consent agenda will be taken up under additional business. So,
006good morning. It's great to be in Fremont um for our October state board meeting and I want to give a big shout out and thank you to Superintendent Brad Dah and the whole Fremont team for sharing this incredible space with us and also for the hospitality shown to us and the tour that we had yesterday of the new CTE facility. Um truly truly outstanding and um really appreciated. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say how awesome it is to be in Dodge County and truly how awesome it is to be this close to Hooper. All right, that's the only point of personal privilege I'll take there. Um, hello and thanks to all of you who are joining us here today and uh who are joining us online. I've got a few key updates
007for all of you and and the report today will be maybe just a tad longer than it usually is. But first, I want to address the government shutdown. Um earlier this week, I sent a message to our staff and to our public and our non-public schools to share the information we have so that any questions folks have um might might be answered uh in that information. Remember that around 70% of our staff are federally funded. So you can imagine that this kind of news can lead to confusion or could be concerning to some. We assured our staff that we do not anticipate any direct impact on the employment of Nebraska Department of Education employees. But we do anticipate that we can expect slower than normal responses uh from certain areas within the US government. Education,
008labor, and agriculture would be examples of where we could see that um slowdown in in response time, particularly in the areas that manage discretionary programs, which may have no staff available during a shutdown period. Um, as you all likely know at this point, uh, a lot will be determined on how long the shutdown actually is. Um, we've also communicated with our schools that there should be limited, if any, impact on accessing critical grants like IDA, Title One, or Perkins grants. the state can continue to draw down from the federal government financial sites and we will have no issues on federal grants um where that award has already occurred or which and that's almost all of our federal grants at this point. So, we're watching closely some potential issues for nutrition services, which flow through the
009Department of Agriculture, for DDS, which flows through the Social Security Administration, and some early childhood grants that come through DHS. For school nutrition, we anticipate schools will be okay until a future federal reimbursement occurs. Um some early childhood centers may have some cash flow issues starting in November as these funds are paid a month in a rears and DDS awards are usually provided the first of the month. So the state may have to front some costs there for any incurred needs. We're working closely with state officials at the department of administrative service. You may hear us frequently refer to them as DAS to monitor that situation and with federal partners to communicate any interruptions that our schools or our clients may encounter. The next topic is Blue Ribbon Schools. The US Department of Education historically
010has honored schools through the national blue ribbon schools program and that program has been uh discontinued uh fairly recently. Um, and we've had several Nebraska schools that had already been notified of their eligibility and had applied and several schools that would have met the standards based on last year's benchmarks. Um, we plan to honor those schools and we'll be sharing more news on just how we will honor those schools uh next week. Uh third, my superintendent's advisory council um has met. Several of our senior leaders from our staff traveled to Hershey where we held our first superintendent's advisory council meeting of the new school year. We welcomed a few new members to that group. We discussed AI and cyber security. We discussed alternative teacher pathways and we gave a quick update on our strategic plan
011and asked for follow-up feedback. We shared a few of the highlights from the school financing review commission as well. I continue to find these meetings invaluable and I'm continuously impressed by the talent of our superintendent and the quality of feedback that they provide. Similarly, we'll host our first non-public advisory council meeting on October 23rd, so just a few weeks from now, where we plan to discuss um very similar topics with that particular group. My next topic is a a topic that um is really taking on some steam, and I wanted to let the the board and and those listening know about uh this group. uh of uh preschool through uh age 20 folks who are talking about uh many many things but really talking about how do we align systems in the state of Nebraska.
012Uh we're still mulling over a name. When we have that name I'll let you know and I'm sure it will be riveting. I heard one chuckle. Thank you for that. Um uh we have uh the the members of the group currently are uh President Jeff Gold from the University of Nebraska system, Chancellor Paul Turman from the Nebraska State College system, Michael Bombgartner from CCPE, Paul Illich from Southeast Community College, Commissioner Katie Thur Thurber from the Department of Labor, and then we've get we get support for our group from a former speaker of the house of the legislature Greg Adams and Ken Bird who's a former superintendent and educational advocate. We're uh from a big picture, we're committed to strengthening Nebraska's invaluable educational systems from early learning to postsecary institutions and workforce programs with a renewed
013commitment to align systems and strengthen outcomes across the full learner journey in Nebraska. Uh during this initiative, we want to examine Nebraska's existing educational assets and we want to work together to identify and have identified the following three priorities for this group to work on. Um priority number one is attainment and that is to achieve the state's 70% post-secondary credential goal by aligning supports of all of the programs that I've mentioned already. A second priority is workforce readiness. We want to ensure that all learners, regardless of background or geography, develop the employability and life skills required for workforce success. And then the final priority that we've established is efficiency and accountability to promote a system that is effective for learners and efficient for taxpayers with shared data, coordinated services, and a commitment to return on
014investment. Lofty goals. Um but but it's a good group and I would tell you I'm really pleased with what we have going uh thus far. Uh finally with the P20 initiative um I hope you've can been keeping track of the uh school financing finally my final project after the P20 topic is that of the school financing review commission. Hopefully you've been keeping track of what we've been doing at this point. We've laid a strong foundation for our policies and governance and now it's time to actually get some work done. Uh we'll have another meeting on October 31st and during this time we have a series of activities in the in the works to get great feedback in anticipation of the required report that will um that is due from the commission in early December. And
015I would tell you that the department of ed will be primarily responsible for generating that report. We've had a lot of people who have um really worked hard to get us where we are. Uh but two I would like to shout out um at this meeting. One is Dr. in terms of planning and preparation and also putting together policies and procedures. Uh I'm really glad he likes that stuff because it's been essential for us. Um and also to um Bryce Wilson who has been uh giving us invaluable information on history and modeling and and topics of where we might go in the near future with the financing commission. So, we've got a long way to go. And as I said, really, I think the work starts at the next meeting where we break into groups
016and actually come up with some potential um topics to give to the legislature for them to mle over and ultimately make decisions on. While we don't have a board meeting uh in November, I anticipate being in communication with you all as important dates come across our plates and to specifically iron out issues and opportunities we have to finalize our strategic plan for your consideration. It is still my hope that we've got a new plan ready to go by January 1. Um I I think we can get there. I know we have a lot of work to do yet, but hopefully hopefully that's still a goal for all of you as well. And as always, I want to thank you for your service to our state and for the preparation for this meeting. We're looking forward
017to continuing doing the good work that we've done for students and for clients in our state. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Commissioner. There is no president's report this month. We now move to our public comment period. This period may be available to any person who wishes to address the board on any matter appearing on the agenda. Up to 90 minutes will be allowed for the public comment period. A majority of members present voting may take action to extend the total amount of time allowed for the public comment period. A majority of members present voting may also take action to allow or terminate public comment at any time during a meeting. If you are not signed in and wish to speak, please sign in at this time. Those wishing to speak must be signed
018in at the table outside the meeting room. Each individual speaking to the board will be required to complete a sign-in card for identification of oneself. Individuals are required to include on the sign-in card their name, address, and name of any organization represented. Individuals may be prohibited to speak in public comment if the sign-in card does not include the required information. Persons speaking to the board during public comment should state their name, city, and state at the beginning of their allotted time and may submit printed materials for the board, but may not use any other form of media. Anyone refusing to be identified will be prohibited from speaking. Each person may address the board for up to five minutes. A majority of board members present in voting may take action to reduce or extend the amount
019of individual time allotted to all the speakers. If at any time a person appearing before the board exceeds the time limitations set forth in this policy or on the agenda or becomes abusive or threatening in language or behavior, it shall be the responsibility of the president to refuse permission to continue to address the board. We have six public comment cards submitted. Uh Vice President Neri will announce the names of the speakers. >> Good morning. Our first speaker is Dan Hayes. if you'd like to come forward. And Avery Hog, you'll be in line next. And Jenna after that. Thank you. >> Good morning. And um thank you. Uh my name is Dan Hayes. I'm the director of theater at Midland University. So just a few blocks away. And I um was really excited that you're going
020to be here. So welcome to Fremont. Um I'm just going to make a very brief statement. Uh, I have been working on uh re-examining theater education um and the certification here in Nebraska for more than a year and I've spoken in front of this board already. But this morning, this is a great opportunity. I brought um four of my students today so you could hear directly from the students about their passion about teaching theater. um they are very very different um from different parts of the United States and in different parts of their academic journey, but I think they're all very common in their passion for wanting to be a school teacher and wanting to teach theater. Um, I would like to say thank you for your attention to my students and um, a special
021a personal thank you for all of your work on behalf of the students in education in Nebraska. Um, I was a public school teacher for many many years and um, education of public education is one of my um, biggest goals as well as the arts. So, um I I do want you to know as soon as the meetings are over, we are probably all going to take off because I need to get them back to their classes and I have to teach. So, thank you for listening to us and um I I wish you a good day. >> Thank you, Dan. Avery, you're up next. Then, Jenna, then Elliot. Good morning. I am Avery Hogue. I am a freshman currently pursuing a secondary English degree at Midland University. Um, I am actively seeking 30 credits
022in theater classes in the hopes that I will gain a valuable endorsement that will enhance my ability to be a teacher and director of the arts. I am speaking on the theater endorsement for education students. Aside from English, theater is one of my biggest passions. Um, I've been encouraged my entire life to pursue theater by my mother, Carrie Hogue. She is the current director of the high school theater department at Elmwood Murdoch, which is a small class E2 school in rural Nebraska. Um, my mother is not a theater director full-time. She is the special education teacher and coordinator for the elementary portion of our school district. Yet, she has found a way to make high school students a priority by giving them a theater department. My mother was not given the opportunity for this endorsement
023or education when she was pursuing her m multiple degrees. However, she ensures me that she would have if it had been available to her. Um, even if it becomes available now, she ensures me that she would further her education to receive it as a 48-year-old woman. I've had long discussions with my mother about whether or not I should pursue a theater endorsement. This endorsement has not been set in stone. So, that leaves a level of insecurity and me and my peers for the credits we are currently working towards. Uh, my mom and other school educators across the state have a need for this endorsement. And my mother is one of the most intelligent people I know when it comes to theater. She has plenty of background in and is capable of teaching it to the
024best of her ability. However, she would benefit as an educator from the additional knowledge and qualifications it would provide. As of right now, if my mom were to decide that she wanted to move up and work as a theater director or educator in a larger class school district, she would be placed below competitors applying for the position because she doesn't have the educational qualifications. This endorsement would give her a more well-rounded knowledge of the art, providing her with better support for her students as well as support for her future if she ever decides that theater, which isn't an offered class at most sub in most small schools, is something that she wants to teach. Education requires well-rounded teachers, and that should not be foreign to any of us here. 30 credits of a theater class
025would of theater classes would make for better theater teachers for our state. It would make teachers more qualified to teach a subject with immeasurable value and vast historical complexity at any class or any level. High school theater students from class A to D deserve theater deserve teachers with the knowledge necessary to build strong skills in the areas of history, communication and culture all which theater provides in multitudes. Theater is important. One of the many benefits of theater creates well spoken individuals like the students and faculty that are here to speak today. and we are mere representatives of hundreds of other students who would pursue or would have pursued this endorsement if it were available to them. I hope that you consider what I said and you consider the teachers who have just begun their journey,
026teachers who are already working and even those who are ending their career. Give us new opportunities. Give your students, your children, better educators. Thank you. >> Thank you. Jenna Pod, would you like to come forward? And uh you'll be followed by Elliot Breman. Hello, I'm Jenna P. I'm a senior English education major with a theater endorsement here at Midland University. I have been involved and have had a very major passion for both speech and theater arts throughout all of my secondary schooling. Um, and I've carried this love into my college career. As a future educator, I want to continue both of these passions by sharing my love of these activities with my future students. During all this time, I've also had a very strong passion for English language arts. I've known for a very long
027time that I specifically want to teach both lingu English language arts and theater and also coach speech on top of that. While this is exactly while I have what I need with the theater endorsement, there are some friends that I have that would specifically only want to teach theater. And for me also wanting to go into speech, I don't have what I need for that, unfortunately. However, some of my friends who really want to teach theater don't have the opportunities that they need because there's not a full theater theater education degree for them to go into. Overall, if there's anything that I want you to take away from what I have to say today, I want you to remember that there are many different people who want to pursue many different pathways in this. There
028are the people like me who want to pursue English language arts and theater. So they would need the endorsements rather than the full theater education degree. And there's people like my friends who want to pursue only teaching theater who would need the full theater education degree. So please keep in mind that both the endorsement and the full degree would be very valuable for many future educators out there. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jenna. Uh Elliot Bramond will be followed by Alexis. Hi, my name's Elliot. Um, I grew up in Northfor, Nebraska. Um, but I'm now getting my master's degree at Midland University. Um, I'm our theater department graduate assistant. Uh, I actually came to Midland and I got my arts management degree. That was my undergrad. Um, but my true passion is to teach theater.
029Uh, I can't get that at Midland. I can't get that at any college in Nebraska because we don't have a education degree in theater. And so I've been auditing a lot of our classes actually um just to get that knowledge to teach theater. Um and I want I am one of those students that Jen was talking about. I don't want to teach anything else. I want to just teach theater. And I've done a lot of research on schools that have don't have the teachers to teach the theater classes. Um, so that could be me eventually someday. Uh, we offer things such as education in music, math, science, but we don't offer that in theater. Um, and I would say theater is just as academically rigorous as those other subjects. So, I'd like you to keep
030that in mind. Um, a lot of our sorry, a lot of our students um, in Nebraska are leaving because we don't have this degree. they're going to states like Iowa, Missouri, uh what else did I write down? Kansas, Colorado, because we don't have this degree. So, just trying to keep our students here in Nebraska so that we can have those teachers eventually someday is something that I think is very important, I guess. And then, um what else do I have to say? I am here because I don't just want a job. I want to create opportunities for the next generation of Nebraska students. I do not want to live in a state that follows an education. I want to live in a state that leads in it. Our students deserve the chance to learn theater
031from teachers who are fully trained, fully supported, and fully recognized. Please help us make this possible. Thank you. >> Thank you. Alexis, would you like to come forward? And then Rusty after that. >> Hello. Hello, I'd first like to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and share my passion for arts education. My name is Alexis Tavla and I'm a non-traditional student in my second semester of my junior year at Midland University. I am studying secondary English education with a theater endorsement. What drew me to Midland University was their exceptional education department in their renowned theater program. I come from a long line of female educators and I've always known I wanted to be a teacher. I knew I had found a college that would work for me when I discovered that
032I could study both English and theater education at Midland. I came from a performing arts company called the Young Americans. This group has provided Midland with many exceptional arts students who have flourished on Midland stages. Many of the actors I met through this company wanted to study at Midland and traveled to Nebraska, but decided to go elsewhere due to Midland's lack of a full theater education major. Midland University is a unique college with 11% of its students being transfer students and 47% of its student body being from out of state. Comparing this to different Nebraska universities like UNO, their outofstate students only make up roughly 23% of their student population. If Midland became the only university in the state to provide a theater education major, we would not only be appealing to the Nebraska State
033residents who are currently attending school in different states to receive their desired degree, but also to students from out of state due to Midland's impeccable efforts at promoting our programs all across the nation and abroad, making Midland the perfect place for this major. This major would make Midland a destination school for students across the nation who are passionate future theater educators. It is impossible to know how many students Midland has missed out on due to our lack of theater education degree. But I can tell you that I personally know five students and I am just one person. With Midland's high percentage of students who travel from out of state or transfer to our college, they do not take the decision of attending Midland lightly. That means that their degree and experience at Midland must be
034exactly what they are looking for to train them in their future future career. For me, Midland was the perfect fit with a second secondary English education major with the theater endorsement. For others, like my classmate Elliot, he is looking for a full theater education major. Allowing both the endorsement and the major to coexist allows for expansion of our programs rather than restrictions. It promotes theater specialists and multi-talented educators. School districts are struggling to fill arts education positions, especially in theater. While we see the student interest in theater departments flourishing, Midland has the potential of becoming a leadinga example for the rest of Nebraska, setting the standard for theater education and filling the critical gap in our state's educational landscape. Thank you. >> Thank you. Rusty, if you would like to come forward. >> Good morning
035from Wayne, America. Uh my name is Rusty Ruth. I am the director of theater at Wayne State College and um I want to thank Dan Hayes for extending this invitation today for us to also speak on the importance of uh theater subject endorsement. In my time at Wayne State College, I've had the the pleasure of being able to see our program uh version from having only a few people as theater education majors to now routinely bringing three to five cohorts a year and that's with only offering a supplemental education degree in theater arts. Recently, I had asked our current and former students whether or not they would have been agreeable to be in a full subject endorsement for theater and 90% of those students have indicated that's the path they would have wanted to take.
036I'm proud to say at our school that we go a little bit above and beyond the minimal thresholds for the supplemental education degree for theater. And many of our students would take extra electives because they were that passionate and wanted to make sure that they were getting enough education to be able to better serve the students. I can also speak on firsthand experience on meeting with prospective students whether that's on campus visiting their schools or seeing them at festivals like the Nebraska Thespians Conference. those students who I would talk to who are interested in pursuing theater education along with subjects such as history, music, art, etc. um would end up telling me they were looking at schools like Northwest Missouri State, Kansas State, South Dakota State, and the University of Northern Iowa. and because they
037would go to those schools more often than not because those states recognize a full theater subject endor uh [clears throat] um subject endorsement. So I'd hate to lose our students or our best and our brightest on that phase of life. Also it pre helps um our current policies also restrict people from being able to come back. I understand that when students after they get their degree there's the strong calling for home. We all have it. We want to be in our communities. We want to be with our family, our friends, and those traditions that we grew up with. Since our state does not recognize a subject endorsement, it's harder to bring those students back in. Um, so, and I'm speaking as a as a as a boy from Deadwood, South Dakota, who loves being transplanted.
038So, I hope you don't take that against me, but I couldn't think of anywhere better to raise a family than Nebraska. And if I'm thinking of that as someone who's just recently transplanted in the last seven years, I can imagine that's what our students who leave the state to get a degree and want to come back also feel. Thank you for this time and uh we really hope that you consider the theater subject endorsement. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> That include that concludes our public comment. Submitted written public comments are attached in the electronic meeting agenda for the board and the public to review. Is there a motion to adop adopt the consent agenda? I move to adopt the consent agenda. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the consent agenda.
039Per board policy. There is no discussion on the motion to adopt the consent agenda. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Shonhof, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Christensen, >> yes. >> Rener, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Douglas, >> yes. >> Penner, Tegmire, >> yes. >> Seven, yes. One absent. The affirmative has it and the consent agenda is adopted. The next item of business are the reports from the standing committee. I will report on behalf of the executive committee meeting. The executive committee reports on its October 2nd, 2025 meeting. Members present were chair Elizabeth Tigm, Vice Chair Deb Ner, Sher Jones, and Liz Rener. The committee reviewed two discussion items. First, NDE staff provided the committee with an update on the strategic planning process and shared an initial text draft of
040the plan. Then, the committee reviewed potential board bylaw and policy revisions as recommended by NDE staff. The committee also reviewed two information items. First, the committee reviewed revised information regarding a prop proposed process for improvement grants. Finally, the committee reviewed the recommendation of a reappointment to the state committee for the reorganization of school districts. This item appeared on the consent agenda for approval. This concludes the executive committee report. Elizabeth Tegmire, chair, are there any questions on the executive committee report? Item 7.1.8, strategic plan. Board members, are there any questions or discussion on this item? Kristen? Yeah. Um, could I just hear from the exec committee what the discussion was like yesterday about the strategic plan? >> Liz, you want to? >> Uh, yeah. I think it was a really productive conversation. Um most of the
041feedback as I recall was about additions to um to incorporate uh student subgroups in some of our goal um or metric documenting in the strategic plan just to be sure that we're representing um you know closing the achievement gap, addressing um all varieties of students that would benefit benefit from student achievement goals and other items. Um, and right now that's the main thing that I remember from it. I don't know anyone else. >> Anyone else from exec you want to? >> Sure. And those subgroups, uh, uh, one of the ways we, uh, might be able to look at them, uh, is use the federally required subgroup descriptions or look at, uh, povert, you know, students at a certain poverty level. But we wanted more than just the overall um you know average of all the
042students because we really wanted to look at how the vulnerable students were uh progressing. And the other piece uh and we also asked for well the next level of detail that we get will be indicators. Uh and we asked for uh goals that uh could be met like uh every year or two uh you know as this because this is you know uh going out to 2030 but we want uh they're going to be [clears throat] giving us the indicators uh by year as the next level of detail that we'll receive. And the executive committee is planning to do one more committee meeting um before our December so that hopefully we can iron things out and have the proposed strategic plan ready um when we come in December. We still want to stick to that
043timeline as best we can. So So that's kind of our goal is to do one more um committee meeting in the middle of our break. Any other questions? All right. Item 7.1B. This is the board bylaw and policy revisions. Are there any questions or discussion on this item? I would state that these are just very very minor revisions with um the links are in spark. Okay. Item 7.2. Chair Kristen Christensen will report on behalf of the budget and finance committee meeting. >> The budget and finance committee reports that at its Thursday se uh October 4th meeting, October 2nd meeting, members present were Kristen Christensen, Maggie Douglas, Kirk Penner, and Lisa Shonhoff. The committee reviewed three action items. The first item reviewed was the submission of the 202526 deficit budget request. The committee recommends approval of
044this item. The second action item reviewed was a potential contract for a program quality anchor for results matter and step up to quality. The committee had no recommendation on this item. The last item reviewed was for a contract for early childhood integrated data system. The committee recommends approval of this item. The committee then reviewed one discussion item for board member travel expenses, noting no concerns. Last, the committee reviewed four information items, including an update on the comprehensive literacy state development grant expenditures, a proposed contract for a veterans education management system application and database, and a proposed contract for federal IDA and early childhood data application development and a contract for the 21st century community learning centers statewide evaluation. This concludes the budget and finance committee report. Kristen Christensen, chair. Are there any questions on the
045budget and finance committee report? Kristen, I had one. Can you tell me again what that first it was the I think it was an information item on a grant that you reviewed. Was it this? >> Yeah, the CLSD expenditure update. >> Okay. So, that's the literacy run. I know that we have another one that's technology and it's very similar letters. >> Oh yes. Yeah. No, this was the we just get a standing update every month on the CLSD expenditures. So that was just our regular >> That's what I thought it was but then >> the alphabet soup. Yes. Okay. Any other questions? >> Are there any questions on the reports in item 7.2? Is there a motion on item 7.2B? >> Yes. I move to authorize the commissioner to submit the 202526 deficit budget request.
046>> Second. It is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to submit the 2025 through 26 deficit budget request. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to authorize the commissioner to submit the 202526 deficit budget request. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Douglas, >> yes. >> Shonhoff, >> yes. >> Rener, >> yes. >> Christensen, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. Penner, >> Tegmire, >> yes. >> Seven yes, one absent. >> The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to submit the deficit budget request is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2 C? >> Yes. I move to approve a contract for a program quality anchor for results matter and step up to quality. >> Second. is moved and seconded to approve a
047contract for a program quality anchor for results matter and step up to quality. Is there any discussion on the motion? Do you have something your lights on? >> Oh, sorry. Okay. The motion is to approve a contract for a program quality anchor for results matter and step up to quality with the recording. Secretary, please call the role. >> Rener, >> yes. >> Douglas, >> yes. >> Christensen, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Tagmier, >> yes. >> Penner, Ner, >> yes. >> Shonhoff, >> yes. >> Seven, yes. One absent. >> The affirmative has it. And the motion to approve a contract for a program quality anchor for results matter and step up to quality is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2D? I move to authorize the commissioner to contract for services for the
048early childhood integrated data systems or EKIDS. >> Second. It is moved and seconded to contract for services for the early childhood integrated data systems. Is there any discussion on the motion, Lisa? >> Yes. Um, this is one that I would like to have Lane come on up if you'd be willing. Um, I just had a couple questions about it. >> Lane Carr, could you come to the front? >> Lisa said, would it be okay if I did a little preamble before Lane comes up? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I'm I'm glad you have questions on this. I think this is an easily understood, misunderstood program and one that we're collaborating with DHS on and one that we've had uh conversations with uh Director Corsy from DHHS on. So I uh look forward to explaining a little
049more what what this is. Lane, I'll turn it over to you. >> Good morning. I'm Lane Carr. I'm the administrator for the Office of Policy at the Department. Lisa, do you have some questions? >> I do. Um, okay. So, first off, um, I'll just kind of go through my questions and then let you um, answer them all at the same time. Um, the first thing I did was I looked into the to LR 205 and what I saw was that it died in committee. You have told me that that's not actually the case. So, I'm not sure why that was um in the legislative document that I read. Um then the second question that I had as I started doing some research and looked at how other states were using this. Um and so I
050wanted to just get things cleared up for how Nebraska is going to use it as compared to other states. Um it had said that they are were collecting data on family income. um gender and um ESL status, language status. Um there was a whole long long list of data that's being collected and then um in states across the nation, they're sharing it with government agencies and it's very um it's in multiple documents. It's in documents by this um Institute of Education Sciences. Um what is early childhood integrated data system? There's just as I I was up doing this like I think at 11 p.m. last night and it just kind of raised some red flags for me. So, I wanted you to kind of clarify all the data that we're collecting because this is zero
051to five year olds, which is also one of my big concerns is sometimes I wonder if we're putting convenience over what's really best for kids in the long run. And is it to get them prepared for school and to become readers? And is it necessary to do that? So, these are just all the things that I fell asleep last night with swirling around in my head. Yeah. >> So, Lane, do you >> do you have the questions that you need to answer? >> I think so. >> Okay. >> Two questions there is. So, first on the LR205, if you're unfamiliar, LR205 is as we speak about in the rationale document is from Senator Strowman and it is a legislative resolution to study have an interim study on the EKID system. Um and none of the
052education committee hearings have been scheduled yet. So I would say that the died in committee is maybe not the best way that we could classify where that uh resolution is right now. So, we anticipate there being discussions in the fall around e-kids. And I think that um this conversation and that we're having today on this and the years of conversations that we've had on e-ids will inform that legislative resolution um should it be scheduled this fall. So, that's number one. The second thing, the second question that I heard is around the data collection. And so I want to make sure to be clear that this is not about collecting any new data. This is data that is already being collected by a myriad of agencies around the around the state already. So if I were
053to classify the purpose and the intention and the importance of an ekid system, it's about efficiency and effectiveness of early childhood programs. So, I know we've always had conversations with you about um early childhood and you the the efficacy of those programs. Lisa, you mentioned how it connects to literacy, how it prepares students for kindergarten. Does it prepare students for kindergarten? And that's really what we want to understand and the value of an e-ids system in general. So, not new data. It's data that's being collected. I am looking at this chart here of all of the the different partners that are in the early childhood ecosystem. We have DHS with licensed child care centers. A big portion of this conversation and where that income data comes in is around child care subsidies which is managed
054by DHS. Some Medicaid funding, SNAP and WIC funding is also used. So that's income based and that's why families would have uh that data reported on our side and in collaboration with DHS we have special education IDEIDA part C so students with disabilities who are in the early childhood space we have head start um and then there's state prek programs that are run at a school as well so we have all of these different figures that are playing in the early childhood space and the intention of an eid system is to bring all of that data that's there together so we can understand what is working in the early childhood space and what is not. Does that answer your question? >> Yes. So are you saying that it the data is only being shared with
055DHS or are there other state agencies that it's being shared with? So right now it would be DHS and the NDE partnering together to take a look at these and make policy decisions and inform policy decisions. There's a um an opportunity for us to then bring those data to you all and other policy makers like state legislators, the governor, etc. to be able to say here's what we're seeing from this ekid system and what we recommend as far as any changes we would make in the early childhood space. But we are very um I know there was a discussion last month about uh data security and infrastructure and all of that and we're this is really important that we're tight with this with this data as well. So the same sort of safeguards that are
056around um K12 data would be present in this in in this as well. [clears throat] >> Any other questions? one madam. >> So lane would DHHS have authority to share with other agencies or are they in the same mindset as NDE is with just keeping it in the agency? >> Yeah, definitely in the same mindset. I don't want to speak for DHS, but one of the pieces, one of the real important parts of this conversation is the creation of data sharing agreements that pass through their legal teams and our legal teams to make sure that we're meeting all of those requirements. Um, and a very clear intention of what these data would be used for or could be used for and how they will or will not be shared. So, we anticipate that they're going
057to be as um uh tight with the regulations around this as we are. >> Any further questions or comments? Lisa, just to reiterate and clarify, so November, just a month away, is when they're going to be doing the interim study. >> They have not been scheduled. They're scheduled by the chair of the education committee. And so we're we've been hearing we've been told that November and December is when we can anticipate conversations about scheduling. Yeah. >> Okay. The motion is to contract for services for the early childhood integrated data systems. Would the recording secretary please call the role? >> Christensen. >> Yes. >> Neri, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. Rener, >> yes. >> Douglas, >> yes. >> Shonhoff, >> no. >> Tegmire, >> yes. >> Penner, six, yes, one no, one absent. >> The
058affirmative has it and the motion to contract for services for the early childhood integrated data systems is adopted. Item 7.3. Chair Lisa Shanhoff will report on behalf of the planning and evaluation committee meeting. The planning and evaluation committee reports on the committee meeting on October 2nd, 2025. The members present were Lisa Shonhoff, Sher Jones, Deborah Ner, and Kristen Christensen. The committee discussed one action item related to subject area exams and passing scores for temporary certificates. The committee recommends board approval on this item. The committee reviewedformational items related to the community achievement plan progress report and timeline, the assessment and reporting plan and assessment technical report and the K6 geography and civic standards. NDE staff will bring these items to a future meeting for discussion and subsequent approval where appropriate. The committee also reviewed a consent
059agenda item related to the appointment of individuals to fill vacancies on the special education advisory council. This concludes the planning and evaluation report. I'm Lisa Shonhoff, chair. >> Are there any questions on the planning and evaluation committee report? Is there a motion on item 7.3.8? >> I move to approve subject area examinations and passing scores for temporary certificates. >> Second. >> It is moved and seconded to approve subject area examinations and passing scores for temporary certificates. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve subject area examinations and passing scores for temporary certificates. Would the recording secretary please call the role? >> Jones, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Rener, >> yes. >> Douglas, >> yes. >> Penner Christensen, >> yes. Shonhof, >> yes. >> Tegmire, >> yes. >> Seven, yes,
060one absent. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve subject area examinations and passing scores for temporary certificates is adopted. Item 7.4. Chair Maggie Douglas will report on behalf of the rules and regulations committee meeting. The rules and regulations committee reports on the October 2nd, 2025 meeting of the committee. Members present were chair Maggie Douglas, Vice Chair Liz Rener, Elizabeth Tegmer, and Kirk Penner. Committee members reviewed the report on rules and committee report. NDE staff provided information on rule 13 regulations and procedures for exempting schools for which parents elect not to meet legal requirements for school approval and accreditation. Committee members discussed the changes and recommended adding a specific time frame for enrollment. Committee members recommended proceeding with a hearing. NDE staff provided information on revisions to rule 51 special education program standards due
061to findings received from the federal office of special education programs. NDE staff provided information with regard to the educator preparation program pathways and the conversations around LR144 that could lead to revisions in rule 20 educator preparation programs, rule 21 certification, and rule 24 endorsement. This concludes the rules and regulations committee report. Are there any questions on the rules and regulations committee report? Liz, >> um I don't have a question. I just wanted to add a little comment. >> Absolutely. >> Um I just wanted to add to the report that um how productive our conversation was on rule 13. Um, I brought some concerns and uh I know I wasn't alone in some of my concerns um about some disappointment that um this rule was basically being kind of stripped down to um the bone because
062of LB 1027. and what this does for the NDE and our role um to support and lead homeschooling parents and decision makers. Um, and I was really heartened by the fact that our committee members and our staff really had uh went and did a deep dive and I think we all learned a lot and uh and also came to a place where we were able to add something meaningful um in terms of the the rule uh and clarifying things for new homeschool parents. But um I'm really hoping that we the door isn't closed for NDE to be able to work with homeschool families and parents um in the future despite what this what this rule is kind of amounting to. But anyway, I mostly just wanted to thank my fellow board members and the staff
063for entertaining the conversation the way that we did. So, thank you, Liz. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of the fun things about our committees is we can have a really good time and Yeah, we do. We do [laughter] have a good time. All right. Let's see. So, there's no more questions. So, that leads us to items 9.1 and 9.2. The next items on the agenda are information items and written reports for the board. Agenda item 10, good of the order. This section of the agenda is intended for board members to offer informal observations of the work of the state board. Board members may make brief announcements about attendance at future events for the purpose of informing other board members. No business or motions or suggested actions of the board may be offered at this
064point in the agenda. nor should board members engage in substantive discussion about other agenda items or introduce new agenda items. If anyone has anything Sherry, >> just one thing, I um look forward to attending the Excel and Ed conference in November. I gained um some very helpful information the last time I attend and I thank the taxpayers for allowing me to to providing the funds for me to attend that conference. Thank you. Thank you to those who attended in person and who tuned in to the broadcast. The next meetings of the state board of education are scheduled for December 4th and 5th in Lincoln, Nebraska. The October 3rd, 2025 state board meeting is adjourned.