June 2025 State Board of Education Meeting

001This the state board meeting will begin in 10 minutes. The state board meeting will begin in five minutes. No, no worries. The June 6 state board meeting will now come to order. Good morning and welcome to the June 6, 2025 State Board of Education meeting. Board members, please engage your microphones before speaking and turn them off when you're 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's website with the recording. Secretary, please call the role. Kristen Christensen here. Maggie Douglas here. Lisa Shonhoff here. Liz Rener here. Kirk Penner present. Sher Jones here. Elizabeth Tegmire here. Deborah Ner trying to turn on my mic. There we go. Here. Commissioner

002Maher here. All present. Quorum is established. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. NDE staff member David Jespersonson, please make your way to the front of the room for a brief introduction regarding the special presentation today. got the hardware with me today. Um, very nice award that we're going to be handing out today uh this morning. Uh, good morning. David Jesperson, administrator of the Office of Public Information and Communications here to

003talk to you today briefly about the Milin Educator Award. Uh, I am the the Nebraska Milin Coordinator for the Educator Award. The Milk and Educator Awards were created in 1987 and have rewarded and inspired excellence in the world of education by honoring top educators around the country with $25,000 unrestricted awards. Not an accolade for lifetime achievements, the Milkin Educator Award targets early to mid-career education professionals for their already impressive achievements and more significantly for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future. This year, a Neilie Oakdale Junior Senior High School Nebraska teacher was surprised with the Milkin Educator Award. Dexter Hansel teaches math and science at Neie Oakdale. He was chosen for his outstanding dedication to his students, colleagues, and community that plays a significant role in the academic, professional, and personal growth

004of those around him. Uh this award is not one that anyone can apply for and the uh chosen recipient of the award every year has no idea that they're even up for the award. Uh and we have a brief video we want to show you u from the day of the event and the surprise [Applause] notification. Over the past three years, your commitment to implementing new curriculums in reading, math, and science has truly reshaped the learning experience for all of the students that I see in front of me. When I was in school, I was lucky enough to have really excellent teachers who prepared me to take advantage of life's opportunities. I came here today to remind everyone that educators have the most important job in our country. And that's why a man named LOL

005Milin created an initiative 37 years ago to honor educators called the Milin Educator Award. A gigantic congratulations to Dexter Hanzel. There's a lot of educators out there. We need more people in the fields and it's it's a great career to have. There's some days that are tough, but overall it's it's a fulfilling job and it's a fulfilling career to be in. Hopefully, this experience today for everybody here inspires us all to do a little bit more than we thought we could. I'll bet it inspires a number of kids to become teachers. I bet it inspires every teacher here to be to do the best they possibly can every moment of the day. Our teachers in general just work every day. They just grind every day. And rarely do they get an opportunity to really celebrate

006each other, which is kind of what happened here today, yet really elevate one of their own. So, it was a it was a great day for education. He cares about all of his students and how like if they are struggling that he can help you break down stuff so you can understand it. And so part of the ceremony is today uh we are presenting Dexter with the educator award obelisk. Uh first time he's he gets to have that. Um, as I mentioned, this is a surprise award. I leaned over to Dexter as that video was playing. I said, "Man, you were cool as a cucumber." And he reminded me that he was sick as a dog is what it was. And I do remember that because again, this was a surprise presentation. I'm driving up

007to Neely and and the principal calls me and says, "I'm not sure he's going to make it." I told him anything he can do to come in because he was calling in sick today that he needs to come in. And so, we appreciate that he he showed up even when he's sick. And uh hopefully it made your day a little bit better that day. So here is Dexter Hanzel. So I'm Dexter Hansel. Um I teach math and science uh 712 at Neely Oakdale. I'm actually a math teacher. I went to Wayne State College for math education. I taught four years at Battle Creek preceding that. And then my wife who's with me today was a is a sixth grade teacher there. And so I made the change and took on science as a role there

008because that's what the job off or that's what the job opportunity was being in a smaller district that you have to be versatile, I guess. So trying to get closer to her and starting our life together. Um we have a 2-year-old son and we're expecting another one in October. And I just want to thank you guys for what you do for education cuz I I if you read their logo for the Milk and Educator Award, I didn't know much about it, but we got to go out to California. But the biggest thing that resonated with me is their logo, which is the future belongs to the educated. So that's the biggest thing I've been trying to uh push forward. I guess next year I'll be taking on the role of 712 principal and AD at

009that school as well. So, I'm trying to take on more responsibilities to support teachers and support our students to try to give them the best opportunity [Applause] possible. So, at this time, we usually open it up to to board members. So, congratulations and thank you for your service and your dedication to students and your willingness to continue to take on tasks to meet the needs of our schools. We appreciate that. Board members, anyone else? Sure. I do. Um, Dexter, I was honored to be there the day that you were presented that award. And I and he's from District 6, I might add. So, that was made me feel good for sure. Um, but I sense that you're a humble man who, and I sensed it that day, who does not like accolades and attention, and

010you'd rather be back in the kitchen instead of out in the limelight. But I think you're you're exactly the kind of um person that I'd love to see recognized, someone who is humble like you. So, and just remember, and I just know that you know that teaching is an honorable profession indeed. And so I'd encourage you just to carry on, keep doing what you're doing and inspiring others and um making a difference in kids' life. Congratulations. Thank you. Great. Oh, yes, please. Well, I want to thank you also for all you're doing for uh students that you teach um but also the profession. And I wondered if you could talk to a class of high school seniors or college freshmen, what would you say to I don't want to put you on the spot, but

011what could you say to encourage them to consider teaching? Um, so starting to move into this role, I started to realize because we started to hire this last semester. So like the teacher shortage, I mean, I think we got a push kids into finding that passion of service and not always looking at the dollar amount, but looking at what difference you can make and the impact that you can make on kids. I think that's a perfect answer. Thank you. Well, thank you so much. I hope you enjoy your time as the Milin educator, the Nebraska Milkin educator, and congratulations to you and your wife. Thank you. We are going to take a quick picture. So, if you can just come up to the front of the room and commission At this time, we're going to

012have an update on the Nebraska Teacher Apprenticeship Program. Dr. Maher, good morning. Thank you. As you all know, um, one of your key priorities has been addressing the educator workforce issues across the state. As we've engaged in public listening sessions for the strategic plan, the teacher shortage and retention, as just highlighted by our award winner, has also risen to the top of the issues. One of the top issues facing our state. One of the Department of Education's strategies for addressing this is through our teacher apprenticeship program, which has grown immensely and is innovative in that it blends state and federal dollars and relies upon partnerships to make it work. In fact, earlier this week, I had the opportunity to meet with Commissioner of Labor, new Commissioner of Labor, Katie Thurber, to hear her vision for

013apprenticeships and the workforce more broadly and share our desire for a continued partnership and work. And I am pleased to say that Commissioner Thurber was very receptive to that conversation. President Tegmire, you asked in April for some numbers. So, here's the impact to date in in the from the apprenticeship program impact. 12 of Nebraska's first teacher apprentices have already entered the classroom. So, we are seeing the fruit of the labor of this program. They are in the classroom as fully certified teachers. We had three initial pilot programs with 28 enrolled apprentices. In the next round, we have uh enrolled 95 apprentices and currently have 56 in this round of funding totaling 179 potential teachers, 101 of whom will have a special education endorsement. So definitely filling a need for teachers, but filling a specific and

014high high area need in special education. We have partnered with eight educator preparation programs over the last two years and they're working with 29 school systems from across the state including several non-public schools. We're delighted to have leaders in the apprenticeship realm here with us, Midland University and Westside Community Schools, one of our first pilot partnerships to share more about their success. And if I do say so myself, Midland has a history of turning out fantastic educators. Yes, that might be my alma [Music] mater. There we go. How's that? Okay. Good morning. Good morning, State Board of Education and Dr. Maher. Thank you for having us here uh this morning to talk about this exciting opportunity. Uh we'll kind of introduce ourselves here. So, I'm Andrea Haynes. If I can get this to work here,

015go to the next slide. It looks like it's a PDF. We may have to Oh, there we go. There we go. Thank you. Andrea Haynes, assistant superintendent for Westside Community Schools. And we have one of our apprentices that we brought with us this morning. Hi, I'm Sarah Dolman. Um I work Oakdale Elementary as an EA and I'm in the grow your own program. So excited to be here. Special education. Yes. Special education. Yes. Y. Good morning. I'm Nancy Christensen. I'm the dean of the Walker School of Education at Midland. And I'm Cammy Romanak Murphy and I am the associate dean of our graduate programs and strategic partnerships. And the strategic partnerships piece is how I fall into this picture as well. Getting to work with districts. So, we thought we would kick off by just

016uh talking a little bit about the why behind this programming. And so, um school districts across the state, including Westside, are dedicated and committed to building a strong and sustainable pipeline of high quality educators for our classrooms. Um and so, a grow program is right in line with that um for an EA or parenttoteer program. And so, our why uh for our superintendent, Dr. Lucas who leads our efforts and our school board. Um this is right in line with what we do every day to provide highquality educators in our classrooms. And on from the Midland perspective, very similar to Westside, um our why we've had grow your own programs for about 10 years, the last two rolling out the pilot with Westside. We are one of the original pilots, but really this is something that

017we've learned already and hope to continue to see is a wonderful program with a lot of stakeholders at the table from the state to educator prep programs to districts and apprentices themselves that can really move the needle like can really really move the needle in terms of some of the data um of solving the critical teacher shortage. But not just filling seats. Filling seats with exceptional educators that have fantastic programming and care deeply about the students that they serve while also removing some barriers to the field. We think a lot about removing barriers and upholding excellence. And this feels like a really good program with a lot of promise to meet both of those. I'd like to share with you, as you can see, there's many benefits of the apprenticeship. And I'm going to try

018really hard not to tell all the stories that go along with these. Um um the very first one that I want to highlight is you'll see a difference from the traditional student on a campus. Um where the EAS and the pairs in the apprenticeship have more on the job experience. They spend their day inside classrooms and in those schools and their classes um of their undergraduate work is during the evenings. So their uh boots on the ground. Another benefit is it definitely uh leverages that prior experience. The PAR educators sought this out. They apparently and we know they love working with children in the first place and they value education and so all of that work that they do um is brought to this apprenticeship as well. Real quickly, a third one is also that

019the candidates are committed. Um Sarah here um is amazing as well as all of the other EAS and PARs in our program. They are recognizing that not only am I a full-time undergraduate student, but I'm balancing my full-time job with my family and maybe a second job to to bring that income in until they have their teaching job secured. Um in addition to that, it maximizes the human capital. um those those people again are in our community inside our schools and we don't have to look far for someone who's dedicated and willing to step into this. It strengthens relationships within the district when it's a team. It's a family where we see wow we're supporting everyone at each level and that opportunity to grow is shared by all. There's strong relational skills that enhance student

020engagement and success and um reducing costs and increasing teacher red retention is a definite benefit of the apprenticeship. Um again, we don't have to look far for the dedicated individuals that are willing to step into that opportunity. Um you heard this um earlier this morning a couple times. The apprenticeship addresses the critical shortages in Nebraska. Elementary is their very first endorsement they'll receive in this 2-year program, but in addition to that, the highest shortage area is special education, and they're able to do that in that same two-year program. And if they choose to, they can also complete a second endorsement of English language learners or early childhood. There's a couple more. Um, not only is it benefiting the pairs and EAs in that area, but the the leaders are developed in that building as they

021step into the mentor role. And finally, my favorite that I get very emotional about, you will see lives changed. There are teachers that have held that dream but didn't have a door open um pro possibly because of financial barriers. So, it's lifechanging. Thanks, Nancy. Well done. So we have learned some lessons along the way. As Dr. Mahar alluded alluded to, we have our first apprentices that are in classrooms and that have graduated. And so we felt it was important within Westside to conduct an internal kind of program evaluation of uh our program strengths, weaknesses, opportunities to refine. And so these are just some of the lessons that we learned along the way. And I'll just highlight a couple of them. Um we want to build a sense of shared ownership with the individuals in this

022program with our community. Um we have one of our building leaders here. Quinn Maguire um is sitting here in the audience. Um she has been a strong um advocate of grow our own really having our principles and our community understand the importance of this. Um and we actually just held a signing day at Quinn at Mrs. Magguire's school for a couple of our graduates. Um and so that that's a lesson we've learned along the way is that there's a really strong need for shared ownership. Um over time we've learned the importance of providing orientation and guidance to the mentors. Um the importance of bringing them in and uh lifting them up, edifying the work they've done, helping them feel valued and connected to the grow our own program. Uh we also wrap around services for

023students. You want to talk a little bit about that one? Sure. Um we've learned that um sometimes the educational assistants or pairs are uh distanced from their high school um experience and sometimes what they've done so far in their colleges. And so we've learned to provide and we're really proud of the several uh supports that we've put into place to help them be successful. I should mention also the appreciation we have for the team at NDE um and the support that they've given us along the way. Um Dr. car um Brad Dirkson and the new team that is uh rolling this out and supporting districts and post-secary universities. We're very appreciative of that. Um throughout my journey as a principal and as a teacher, I've come to realize that also small gestures sometimes leave long

024lasting impacts. And so we have we were noticing that when you work all day as an EA in the classroom and you bring your lunch to school, you often don't bring your dinner too. And so that's what our students do though. They bring two meals a day every single day because they're going to class at night. Um not quite as much now with the apprenticeship. They're not spending as much time in class, but they still sometimes have that need. And so one of the lessons we learned along the way was just meeting some of those needs like um providing dinner for our apprentices. Um providing district support for them through visibility. um being at Midland at the um classes, going out and visiting them in their classrooms where they're working. Just increasing our visibility is

025another thing we've learned along the way really uh lifts up this program. Okay, I'll jump in here um and and share with you how we work hard to maintain an organized connection with our paras that are in the program. Um we're really proud that we have a full-time position and um just filling that place is Dr. Johanna Barnes who's in our audience as well today. And so that person is there um on site when the students gather for their courses um in close contact when they have questions. We have a program advisor specific to this pathway as well. And so the students I I believe are feeling really well supported and we have that communication line as a priority. I think the last one our superintendent Dr. Lucas will often often say how can we

026give our board and our team a sense of accomplishment for the work that's gone into this. Um, and so as an example, I mentioned earlier at the end of each cohort, um, Westside has embedded this signing day where all of our apprentices sit with their new principles and actually participate in what looks like an athletic traditional athletic signing day where they sign on, can't wait for yours, where they sign on with their new principal and their new team um, to join the teaching ranks and to feed our pipeline. And so that sense of accomplishment is something we've also learned is really important along the way. Oops. So, we've learned a lot through grow your own programs and specifically apprenticeship and we have a lot to learn. We'll continue to learn and grow and refine, but

027we have been thinking ahead to some future directions when we think about quality and sustainability as well. So, on the very left hand side of the screen, one statistic from the Midland perspective that we're really proud of is this 94%. 94% of our students who start this program, our grow your own programs finish the program and become fully certified teachers. And I think that that is really important to understand. I mean, the folks coming into the program are busy. They have a lot going on. They're working full-time. They have families, community engagements like we've talked about, and yet they come, they complete the coursework. It takes a lot of resilience and hard work and dedication because they care deeply for kids. 94% of those folks that embark on this journey come out with a degree

028and become fully certified teachers this far. We're going to be really curious to compare and contrast the specific apprenticeship model and how that compares to grow your own in different tracks, slightly different tracks. Secondly, you'll see that one of our priorities at Midland is to strengthen both urban and rural school districts. We're really grateful that there has been competitive grant funding available to apply for because through that funding, we're going to be able to produce over 90 fully certified teachers in critical shortage areas like special education, which is clearly a priority of this board, but also early childhood education and elementary education. And when you look at the teacher shortage surveys, we noticed in 2024 2025, a little discombobulated, but at the right bottom right hand side of the screen, there were 200 vacancies at

029the end of the year and over 650 spots that were filled with not fully qualified personnel. A disproportionate amount of that were rural districts with fewer than 500 students. And so it's been a priority of Midlands to partner with folks all across Nebraska and both urban and rural districts who often need it most for those students to offer these programs, removing the barrier of the financial burden that typically comes with fees and tuition. Although they commit a lot of their time, their energy, their passion, and their love for the field. At the very bottom left hand side of the screen, you will see a big lofty goal that I hope will also be in line with some of the priorities that I'm hearing here today. at Midland University. By 2030, we really hope to graduate

030800 PAR educators and apprentices into the field in critical high needs areas. We have to date graduated approximately 130 people and we've had the program for eight years, right? When you think about that and so that is not going to come easily, but it is realistic with grit, partnerships like we have with Westside and 20 other districts across Nebraska and funding. So when we look at the right hand side, we acknowledge that things to note, something that we're going to have to be relentless about is exploring different funding streams. Again, grateful for the opportunity to apply for some of these grants from federal and state monies already, but that there's there's got to be more to sustain. We can't slow down. Now with that comes the importance that we've talked about between multiple stakeholders including

031the state apprentices districts other EPS educator prep programs because without this effort this would have never happened. I don't think we've ever seen momentum like this before in a tangible way to hopefully move the needle and serving solving this problem to best ser serve our students. And lastly, as we conclude, something that we did notice is that we've got outstanding apprentices, para educators, and classified staff that would make exceptional teachers. But what we noticed from our last round of applications is that a lot of those outstanding folks don't yet meet the prerequisite requisite requirements to be considered for the program, which is a barrier because districts are saying, "What about her? What about him? We need them to teach. They know our kids. They're standing here in their district and they would be an exceptional

032teacher. what about them? And so what we did within a matter of months based on that and feedback from our partners is we launched a fully online three-year program designed for these folks that would make exceptional teachers that have little to no prerequisites at all. It's the first of its kind and there's not funding attached to it yet because of the time barriers or the time lines that go in with funding. So this is just to say we're exploring as many pathways as we can to sustain and grow and make sure that this isn't a moment in time. It's just the beginning of sustainable pathways that will solve this problem and serve our communities. And with that, we'll open up the floor if you are have any questions. Is that the appropriate time? Yes. Thank

033you. Thank you. It's so encouraging. I I to hear what's going on in the field and to see all of us. We're rowing in the same direction and and finding out too how we can help you. So, thank you. Board members, comments or questions? Lisa, I just want to make a comment about the fact that some of the best teachers I have seen have actually come from Midland. I had one of my um best student teachers from Midland and um I've also seen paras grow into teachers that have become some of the best teachers I've ever seen. So, thank you so much for all the work you're doing. You guys are really on the right track based on what I'm hearing. That's No. Any other questions? No. All right. Well, thank you for coming. We

034appreciate your time and your work and service to students and we'll be excited for you to graduate. Thank you. All right. Have a good day. The next item of business is the commissioner's report. Commissioner Maher, please provide your report. Thank you, President Tegmire. Um, I want to start by welcoming a graduate class from UNK who is here and led by Dr. Mike Thihon, the chair and assistant professor of ED AD at UNK. So, welcome. Um, and good morning to state board members and the and all of the public who is listening with us here today. Uh, first thing I would tell you is that there have been zero items that have been removed from consent. If you want an item removed from con from the consent agenda, you need to uh fill fill that out,

035fill the form out at this time. So, this is our first meeting since the end of the school year. And I want to start with a word of thanks for the incredible educators that we have across the state of Nebraska who maybe are getting time to take a deep breath at this point in the year. It was truly delightful to be in dozens of schools this year and visiting with both public and non-public school leaders and teachers across the state. I have a few updates I'd like to share and a presentation to outline some of the work of our agency addressing concerns that you have heard as a board in the past couple of months. To begin, the strategic planning process has been going quite smoothly. The Department of Education has completed the community the

036community feedback meeting stage where we've hosted 12 meetings for the public across the state and we've heard from in excess of 200 citizens to gather key input on education priorities and listen to what's important from local communities. And when I say we've been across the state, I would tell you we had meetings in Nebraska City, Omaha, Makook, Scotsluff, and a whole lot of points in between. So we have been across the state. In addition to the 12 public meetings, we had four meetings with high school students from various sites around the state to bring the student voice into the into our input. Um it was delightful to hear directly from students on what's important to them and the challenges and opportunities that they and their peers encounter on a daily basis. At least one member

037of the state board of education attended each meeting. This board made a made it clear to me when I was hired that we needed to really get a handle on the strategic plan. We are taking that to a a new level with the commitment from the department but really the commitment from the board. One of you attended every meeting and every member of this board of education attended a meeting during the process. So I I think it's important for our staff to recognize that you are not only walk or talking the talk but walking the walk. So thank you for your commitment to this process. As part of the strategic planning process, the Department of Education offices have been engaged in an analysis of perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats or as you've you've heard

038our SWAT analysis and and we are looking at that analysis and the education system more broadly as we move forward. Finally, the Department of Education has met with nine special committees or stakeholder groups representing higher education, special education, public and non-public schools, and much more. These groups have brought unique perspectives which will be invaluable for us as we begin the next phase of the strategic planning process. I would close the strategic planning portion of my comments by giving a special shout out to Jessica Jorski, Lane Carr, and Dr. Ryan for who have led this work for the Department of Education and have put in many, many, many miles. Um, so thank you specifically to those three. Also notable during this June meeting is the legislaturator's adjournment snee die on Monday of this week. We've appreciated

039a strong working relationship with the legislature and we look forward to digging into to legislative implementation this summer. Furthermore, we will continue to work engaging with legislative staff, legislators, and the governor's policy team as we begin thinking about next year. We provided a more comprehensive update to the executive committee yesterday, and we'll be back again at our August meeting to detail additional work and next steps. But I want to highlight one key piece of legislation and that is LB303 which establishes the school finance review commission. I will chair that commission and I am eager to work with 17 other members, the governor's office and others in the field to work collaborative collaboratively towards solutions. If you're not familiar with this group, it is comprised of educators, schoolboard members, legislators, and others appointed by the governor

040who will be tasked with examining the school finance system in Nebraska. I'll give you a little more detail on that. Specifically, the bill talks about evaluating the school funding formula, regular regularly reviewing the resources side of the formula, the needs side of the formula, and analyzing how to how a change would negatively impact any particular school district. and also analyzing the impact that any change in funding would have on e access to early childhood education, student attendance, literacy, graduation rates, collegegoing rate, and post-secary workforce participation. So, I think we're going to have to meet more than one time. Thanks. There are eight there are 18 members of this board as I mentioned earlier. Um the commissioner of education will chair that uh that committee. I look forward to that responsibility. And we'll have 17 others.

041The 17 others are the property tax administrator, one representative appointed by the governor um and then three members from the legislature and 12 other members to that group who will be chosen by the governor. we will meet quarterly and we will provide an annual report to the legislature. So, um it it will be a significant amount of work. I think it will be meaningful work and again I'm I'm glad the department of education will be um at the table as as we craft the way. Please know for sure that many people from the department will accompany me to those meetings. and I told Bryce Wilson he cannot get further than arms length away from me um and at those meetings. So um we'll begin the planning of meetings this summer and I look forward to

042sharing our ex expertise from the department um that will be important to this topic. I pledge to keep the board updated as we move forward. And finally, I'm thrilled for the next several months as we kick off what we call conference season. Next week, I'll welcome educators, higher education, and business partners to the Nebraska Career Education Conference in Carney. I'll see many of you in July at NDE Day and Administrator Days, where our theme for this year is literacy for success. We have dozens of fantastic learning and professional development opportunities in the works for the day and I'm really looking forward to that. We're grateful for the many partnerships necessary for putting on these highquality conferences and I want to give a shout out especially to our staff who make this happen every year. I'll

043close by by saying just a couple of words to tee up our next presentation. and that is over the last several months we've heard from several passionate constituents on the need to address theater and speech endorsements. And I'm pleased to introduce Brad Dirkson and ask Brad Dirkson to come forward from our accreditation and program approval um office to provide us some updates on that front. Brad Thank you, Commissioner. Brad Dirkson, administrator, Office of Accreditation, Certification, and Approval. Little background here with speech and theater. There were concerns expressed by some members of the public at the state board of education meetings earlier this year regarding pathways for potential speech and theater teachers. At that time, there were no direct pathways to uh only teach these content areas. Prospective speech or theater teachers were required to earn

044another subject or field endorsement and add speech or theater as a supplemental endorsement, or they were required to complete the English language arts ELA field endorsement. These routes require additional coursework in areas prospective speech and theater teachers may not be interested in teaching. If potential teachers want to pursue a program that only focuses on speech or theater education, they must go out of state to complete a program that is specific to speech or theater education. Additionally, if they return to Nebraska after completing an educator preparation program out of state, they are unable to become certified in Nebraska because speech and theater are supplemental endorsements. Supplemental endorsements can only be added to a certificate if there's another subject or field endorsement for which the candidate qualifies. A little historical background on the topic. In 2013, there

045were separate speech and theater subject endorsements, a speech and theater field endorsement and a speech and theater field endorsement. Teachers could also teach speech and theater with a language arts field endorsement. About this time period, there was a general movement away from specific subject endorsements or narrow content areas. This was in part due to new teachers ex exiting educator preparation programs with a limited scope of practice, thus being less employable, especially in smaller school systems that cannot sustain a full-time speech or theater teacher. For context, this is a time when we are not facing a severe educator shortage, as we've heard this morning and you're very well aware of. A revision in 2014 to rule 24 eliminated previously mentioned endorsements, the speech theater and speech and theater field um and created separate speech and theater

046supplemental endorsements in an English language arts field endorsement which allows teachers to teach speech and theater. The remaining this the this remains the current endorsement structure today and the concerns amongst some stakeholders that have been presenting them in the last few months. This leads us to the question of what is the department doing to address the concerns around speech and theater endorsements. Department staff during the January 2025 board meeting in response to public comment reached out to Midland University to inform them of the ability to apply for a special endorsement authorization, an option available currently in rule 20. Midland University submitted their application for a theater endorsement. The commissioner appointed a team to review the application and the team recommended provisional approval. The commissioner provisionally approved the theater endorsement program and notified Midland University of

047the decision. This allows Midland University to establish a theater program on a provisional basis. Additionally, educator certification endorsements areas in Nebraska are reviewed periodically. The Nebraska Council on Teacher Education, NCTE, is an advisory board to the Nebraska State Board of Education has a process related to endorsement revisions in their organizational policies. An NCT ad hoc committee was formed to review ELA or English language arts endorsement areas. Because speech and theater or areas within the ELA endorsement, the speech and theater supplemental endorsements were reviewed as well. The ad hoc committee has made recommendations regarding revisions to the endorsements which include establishing separate speech and theater subject endorsements and a speech and theater field endorsement. The recommendations have been forwarded to the NCT executive committee and may be considered by the NCTTE full council. NCTTE may vote

048to make a recommendation to the state board regarding these endorsements at their June 13th NCTTE meeting next Friday. This recommendation may lead to a public input draft of revisions to rule 24 for consideration by the board that could include new speech and theater endorsements. The the English language arts endorsement will continue to qualify educators to teach speech and theater. In summary, the department has heard the concerns and we're actively engaged in the formal process to thoughtfully consider revisions to regulations which includes engaging a wide group of stakeholders. Recommendations regarding endorsement revisions will be coming soon to the board for consideration. Thank you, Brad. Any questions from board members? Yeah, thank you for your efforts to address the concerns that we've been brought. So, we appreciate it. Commissioner Maher, would you like to I think I

049should just say that concludes my report. We we thought it did. There is no president's report. How I I have had a request to have a brief break at this time. So, we will reconvene at 9:50. That gives 7 minutes for a brief break. That was nice. They weren't out there, but the staff person's bringing me some greeters. Oh, good. Okay, good. Sorry about that. Okay, we will the meeting will resume if board members can return to their seats. That is so weird. I know. I had them when I left. They used to have a party. I don't know if they're doing it anymore. Okay, the meeting will resume and now we will move to our public comment period. This period may be available to any person who wishes to address the board on any

050matter appearing on the agenda. Up to 90 minutes will be allowed for the public comment period. A majority of members present in voting may take action to extend the total amount of time allowed for the public comment period. A majority of members present in 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 in at the table outside of 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

051if 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 members present in voting may take action to reduce or extend the amount of individual time allotted to all speakers. If at any time persons appearing before the board exceed the time limitations set forth in this policy or on the agenda or become abusive or threatening in language or behavior, it shall be the responsibility of the president to refuse permission to continue to address the

052board. We have 10 public comment cards submitted. Vice President Neri will announce the names of the first speakers. [Music] There we go. All right. Welcome everybody. I'm going to ask our first speaker, Ralph Tate, to come forward. Here. Okay. It's my turn. Also, this is one of the benefits of being older. Good morning. My name is Ralph Tate. My family and I have lived in Pilion for the last 22 years with two of our four children having graduated from Pilion South. We as members of Husker Nation love competition, don't we? We love to see the Huskers win national championships, an accomplishment the football team has achieved five times so far between 1970 and 1997. Competition occurs in various settings. On an international math exam called the program for international student assessment given to 620,000 15year-old

053students in 81 countries, America's students scores dropped from 847 out of a,000 in 2018 to 465 in 2022, placing their children 26th in the world for math achievement. American student performance was comparable to students from Vietnam and Turkey, but woefully behind the top performers from Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. How do we expect to compete internationally when our students do no better than 26th out of 81 countries? It's not only the students who suffer the consequences of our refusal to compete. We suffer economically and culturally with the consequences of poorly educated citizens. With 40% of Nebraska's public school students not performing at grade level in math and English and metropolitan schools are even worse, as you know, while over 60% of our property taxes go to fund public schools, one has to wonder why

054taxpayers don't get a refund for failure to deliver. Ironically, 88% of our students, 88% of our seniors graduate. How that works, I don't understand. And maybe one of you can help me. If money spent actually correlated to academic achievement, we would be doing well at $15,000 per student. But it doesn't. By comparison, 2024 tuition for UNL was only $10,400. We have thrown money at the problem long enough to realize a different approach is needed. Albert Einstein observed that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting results differently. It is time to humbly recognize that parents and guardians are those best qualified to decide how and where to educate their children and to allow the funds for education to follow the student. The results of competition have historically favored choice over coercion.

055Whether it be public, private, parochial, or homeschooling, financially supporting parents and guardians in their choice will result in improved academic performance and success on the part of our children. Those who think nothing of coercing the 60% of the taxpayers in my district who do not have ch school-aged children to pay 60% of their property taxes to cover failing public education somehow don't think it's fair to offer any significant financial assistance to those taxpaying parents who are not satisfied with available public school offering when they choose to educate their children elsewhere. I think that that's a travesty. Consider that 10% of our school age children in the state are not in public school and receive minimum state aid. We spent $5 billion last year to educate the other 90%. Simple math says that 10% of $5

056billion is 500 million. And yet the education power brokers or the teachers union couldn't tolerate a meager $10 million budget which was oh by the way 210 of 1% of the budget to assist low-income parents to help break the poverty cycle with better education options. If, as the public school arguments claim, school choice would be detrimental, then public schools have nothing to fear, as parents and guardians will naturally select the best option for their children. The arguments against school choice have focused on the impact to public education as an institution and not on the quality education children receive. The excuses made to overturn the small school choice program bely the fear that if it were actually allowed people would see for themselves what a significant opportunity it offers. It also has the potential as we

057were talk is listening this morning to alleviate the teacher shortage in public education. Recently state education state legislature decided to offer more gambling options in the state because the claim was adjoining states were drawing those dollars away from Nebraska. Why do we not see the same school choice programs? Iowa, Nebraska, I'm sorry, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, Wyoming, and Missouri all offer school tax credits as well as lower taxes overall. Do we not actually think that parents are not considering these options when they contemplate where they should live and raise their family? We stand to lose far more due to public poor education than any amount of money spent on gambling. The beginning years of Nebraska football when they were called the bug eaters included playing teams like the YMCA and Lincoln High School. They wouldn't

058be considered national champions if those were the teams they still have played. It's time for Nebraska to compete academically as well as a athletically. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Tate. We appreciate it. You are welcome. Uh next speaker is Becky Stair. I hope I pronounced that correctly. And just uh as you come up uh we'd be grateful if you'd share what city you live in. Um absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. My name is Becky Stair. I am currently an educator, high school educator at York, Nebraska. I've been teaching for 19 years. I'm here to speak to you today and it was so I would say overjoyed by having the update on having highly qualified educators in speech and theater to be a topic to be addressed today. So I'm here to speak

059to that as well. I am and have a bachelor's of arts in language arts from the University of Nebraska. I have won 15 NSAA state championships in speech and theater in our state. And joining me today are three fantastic soon to be seniors that have thrived because of arts education in the state of Nebraska. I have lived my life by improving it through arts education. It has been a part of my teaching philosophy as well as what's driven me to become the most advanced educator possible. I currently have a masterers of theater in in theater from Regent University. When I looked for a degree in 2017 in the state of Nebraska, it did not exist. And so I went out of our state to find that degree option. and thus coming back in 2019 when

060dual credit was supposed to be in content areas in 2019 to teach dual credit at York in that area. So when Nebraska adopted the policy that dual credit teachers were required to have advanced education degrees in their respective content areas, many of my peers returned to school at that time. But unfortunately I had to go out of my state to find that degree. So I turned to the internet regent was what I found and it was listed as one of the top 10 online universities in the country. Thus at a private school my tuition was higher and that was kind of what I had to work with. So I earned my master's degree in 2025. Luckily I'm going back to school. So, the career readiness and dual credit education grant program has allowed for many

061of my peers currently to kind of look back and become more advanced in these degree options. And education looks different in Nebraska, which is exciting. And to that, I am motivated to return to school and unk is offering an online program for communications, which I have started to pursue. Thus, today I stand before you to argue that there is a truth that we need to push for arts education and having highly qualified educators as a part of Nebraska in the arts. So, foundationally, the well-developed, empathetic, and innovative, critically thinking citizens are those that practice in the arts. It nurtures the human spirit, challenges societal boundaries, and prepares students for more than just careers. It prepares them for life. So a 2019 report from the World Economic Forum identified creativity as one of the top three

062skills needed for the future workforce. Why? Because automation can replace repetition. But it cannot replicate the unique spark of human imagination. Students who study the arts are not just memorizing facts. They are solving problems, innovating and learning how to see the world differently. STEM has moved to steam with its invo, you know, putting the arts within that qualifier. And especially at the college level where students are shaping their world views, arts are not just entertainment. They are a mirror to society and a megaphone for change. Academic arts programs provide a space for students to wrestle with identity, history, injustice, and belonging. And an increasingly divided world which we have currently we need more spaces to allow that to happen. In the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that one trillion annually are because of arts

063related fields such as graphic design, fashion, film, music and theater. So let me be clear advocating for the academic arts education is not just about extras. It is about demanding students have the access to fulfill the full spectrum of human learning and potential. If we believe that arts education is meant to provide citizens we can lead, think, feel, and innovate, then we must keep the arts at the table, not as an afterthought, but as a pillar. Because without the arts, we lose more than programs. We lose perspective, we lose possibility, and we lose part of our humanity. So, let's fight for the artist in every student. Let us demand that our colleges teach them not only how to make a living, but how to make a life. And as a farm girl from Hershey, Nebraska,

064who probably wasn't even thinking about going to college until she saw what arts can do for herself, I am so excited that we're moving to have that foundation here in Nebraska. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm going to ask uh the next three speakers to come forward. Uh Maggie, Emily, and Ava. And I'll let you introduce your full names and where you live. Thank you. My name is Maggie McCarthy and I live in York, Nebraska. My name is Ava Goodwin and I live in York, Nebraska. My name is Emily Odapal and I live in York, Nebraska. So, we just wanted to come and talk to you guys today about obviously theater and the arts. Um I think it's really important to have a teacher that is so highly educated. Um, being under Becky Stair

065has been a blessing. Uh, being able to come into her classroom and come into her arts and see her flourish and want to make every student feel welcome is a feeling like no other. Uh, there's not another teacher in our school that will tell you that every single kid belongs in their program other than Becky Stair. Becky Stair will take any student who walks through her doors and say, "I want you to find your home here. I want you to find somebody else who's just like you." Uh without Becky, I think a lot of students at our school wouldn't be able to flourish and feel like they have a home. And I think that's really important in high school because it's a big changing. Uh you know, all of us would say from what we

066walked in freshman year to what we're going to be now as seniors is a lot different. And I think Becky Stair has been the biggest help to all of us for that. Hi. I'm going to talk a little bit about what Maggie said, but also going on into college because we're all seniors. We're thinking about that. What are we going to do? And that's amazing because with Becky Stair, she's a big handholder, but also letting you, you know, figure out things for yourself. So for me, I want to go into musical theater. I want to be on stage. I want to make that happen like she has really influencing others. And she's amazing at holding your hand and saying, "Hey, here's what we're going to do. We're going to make this happen for you cuz

067I know it's important for you." So she's telling me all the audition process, going through all the things, and that's really important to know, okay? you know, she's been through this. She knows how to do it. So, I think it's just really important to have that fine arts because I wouldn't have the confidence I have today. And apparently, it's made an impact because that's what I want to do in life. So, I think it's very important to have that security of okay, I think I found out who I am because of this event. So, I'm kind of going to piggyback off of Ava as well. Just being in the arts has made me gain so much confidence. If I would have told myself that little freshman Emily would be speaking in front of the board

068of education today, I would have laughed because there was no way I would have been able to do that. But having a highly qualified educator like Becky Stair has truly changed my life because I was that shy kid. I didn't have a ton of friends. I was very to myself and she really helps everyone become who they're meant to be. And without her, I wouldn't be here. So, it is very important to us and to the state of Nebraska to have highly qualified and highly educated fine arts teachers because without them all those kids would just be lost and with them they're found. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. Uh, next speaker is Michelle Jud. Good morning. Uh, my name is Michelle Jud. I'm from Omaha and I'm here today to

069speak on behalf of the Rainbow Parents of Nebraska. Rainbow Parents of Nebraska were both shocked and saddened by the statements made by Governor Pillan's press conference on Wednesday morning. Even though bathrooms and locker rooms are no longer part of LB89, the governor called for vigilante enforcement by saying, quote, "Most of the young boys and men in Nebraska know right from wrong, and they'll take care of whoever tries to go into the locker room." unquote. This drew laughs from those in the audience at the press conference. If people didn't already feel emboldened enough by our current national administration, then our governor essentially just gave permission for the people of this state to take things into their own hands. This is extremely scary not only for transgender or gender non-conforming people, but it should scare cisgender people

070as well. This gives license to anyone to enter any bathroom or locker room anytime they see fit to quote unquote take care of things. Regard pardon me, regardless of whether or not the governor tries to walk back his statement, it won't matter. The damage has already been done. Words matter. And unfortunately, the leader of our state said the quiet part out loud when he called for this type of behavior. Schools across our state will be left to deal with the collateral damage of these statements. We expect there will be a rise in bullying and of people attempting to police bathrooms and locker rooms without any legal authority to do so. We urge all schools and school districts in Nebraska to prepare for this inevitability and have a strong disciplinary response in place for those individuals

071who attempt to take matters into their own hands. We again want to reiterate that LB89 has no effect on bathrooms or locker rooms and we expect schools to stand against the damage that Governor Pillan's rhetoric will cause. In regard to LB89, we urge the state board of education to provide guidance to the school districts to help lessen the harmful impact of this discriminatory bill. If you watch the hearing or any of the debates on this bill, then you are aware of the chaos this legislation is about to cause. Students will be outed against their will when they have only ever been known by their current identity. Students or parents will use this law in a retaliatory manner because their team is losing or they just don't like another player. This will harm both trans and

072cisgender students, either of which could be on the receiving end of these accusations. What will happen when a trans boy is suddenly forced to play on a girl's team? How will the parents of the girls react to having a boy on their daughter's team? We've seen countless examples of how irrational parents become when it comes to sports. Will they attempt to take matters into their own hands? I felt that it was especially important to come speak today and highlight the challenges that we faced in the coming school year because of bad governance, some foolish words spoken by our state officials. I wanted to bring awareness to the comments made by the governor so that schools can prepare for the backlash. I also wanted to implore you to help guide the school districts of our state

073to make a terrible law less harmful to students and to protect all Nebraska students from repercussions of this law. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Thank you. May I ask a clarifying question? I was doing paperwork and missed the first part. What was the actual statement that you're referring to? The statement that the governor made the governor made. Yes. The statement that the governor made, the quote from the video of his press conference was, "Most of the young boys and men in Nebraska know right from wrong and they'll take care of whoever tries to go into the locker room." Thank you. Yeah. Our next speaker is Karen Wagner. Good morning. My name is Kay Wagner. I live in Douglas County, Nebraska. I am here to speak to the viewers, the voters,

074the parents, the teachers, the students, the Nebraskans who care about the future of Nebraska schools. Kirk Penner, so you aren't running again in 2026. You're not stepping aside, though, are you? We know you have ambitions for higher office in Nebraska. So, what's it going to be, Kirk? You going to run for legislature against Senator Jana Hughes? You going to even go higher? My guess is you have the audacity to try and have Excuse me. This needs to be in regard to the items that are on the agenda. Oh, okay. I'm so sorry about that. That's what I read before public comment began. Okay. So, um I don't know that my testimony is in regard to anything on the agenda. Um do you would you allow me to continue or do you want to silence me?

075Our policy, our board policy I just asked a question. Can I continue or do you want to stop? If you're going to continue to be abusive and threatening to board members, then I'm going to have to ask you to stop. Okay. So, it it's your assumption you So, you are on the record right now. President Ted Meyer saying that I'm being abusive and threatening. Is that what you're saying? I'm just asking you to speak to the board and not to No, but isn't that Did you just say that? Did you just call me abusive and threatening? I need your comment. The board has a policy. This isn't just me. I know it's hard for you to answer this question, isn't it? Did you just tell? Yes, you have. So, we're going to have to cut

076your comments at this time. Okay. I appreciate you. Thank you. So, I can no longer continue. Unless you want to change what you're saying. The comments need to be addressed to the full board and not one particular board member. Okay. So, well, I I wasn't able to continue, but thank you for for putting that on the record. I appreciate it. I I wasn't allowed to get past my first paragraph. I still have three minutes remaining, but you've called me threatening, so I will respectfully just sit down now. Is that is that what you'd like? That is correct. Okay, great. Thank you. So, next speaker, please. Can you read the policy so we have clarification on that? Like what are the specific words? And I know I'm not questioning I at all. I just we have

077new board members and uh Thank you. I just think it would be helpful. [Music] And where is the policy listed? Uh so we can I mean if anyone wants to look it up. I I'm currently looking it up. Yeah. It's going to just take a minute. Sorry, scrolling through all of it. Hang on just a minute. Sorry, it's 45 pages. So, hang on. Okay. It was it was in the section that I read, but here's it right in the board policy. If at any time person Can you state page and where it is in the policy so everyone can look it up if they want? Yes. Board operating policy 1.06 public participation at board meetings. Okay. Thank you. If at any time persons appearing before the board exceed the time limitations set forth in this

078policy or on the agenda or become abusive or threatening in language or behavior, it shall be the responsibility of the president to refuse permission to continue to address the board. Okay. And I Go ahead. Go ahead. No. Well, I I guess I wanted clarification uh because I didn't know if there was a new policy since uh that's always been in place and I've listened to hours and hours of what I thought was inappropriate comment. But I heard you make the statement that someone can only comment about something on the agenda, which and that's in the policy as well. Can you find that too? Thank you. Yes, it says and this was added at the last revision. If if I may, can I have the opportunity please to address the board? Is that okay? No, sorry,

079Karen. I just I just wondered because the speaker prior to me didn't speak on anything that was on the agenda. I just wanted to make that point. I'm okay with not speaking any further. I was actually not going to be more respectful towards Mr. Penner. In fact, I would have been a lot less disrespectful. So, you were probably right to stop me. But if your policy is that you have to speak on the agenda items, then the speaker before me didn't either. So, I'm not sure if you're choosing, picking and choosing or, you know, that's fine. I just wanted to go on the record and say that. Okay. Okay. At this time, I'm going to ask that the conversation be kept between board members. The board policy states and and I'll read it again to

080you. [Music] Um, this period may be available to any person who wishes to address the board on any matter on the agenda. I do know Devon, I'll just say this that in the past I do think that people have um members of the public have come um and singled out board members and the last time that happened I didn't stop it and I should have and so so that's why I'm stopping it now is because I don't think that that is the purpose of public comment and it's not fair to the people who serve at this table to be singled out and so um I know that prior to my um that you sat through a lot and I don't think board members should have to to do that. So if so if somebody wants

081to address the board as a whole that's acceptable and that seems to me that that's what the policy states and that the responsibility for identifying that does unfortunately fall on the president. But I also feel a responsibility to each and every one of our board members here. Um, so personal attacks are not fair to servants. Well, I appreciate you're saying that and I agree 100%. I don't think personal attacks I think but it was the part about the scope of what they're talking about because if it isn't on the agenda today but will be in the future or has been in the past I assume that's within the scope of what you know and and if we're talking about a board member in something they've done outside this room I think that's certainly not appropriate

082but if we talk about board members within this room and in action then that seems like uh that's an approp appropriate discussion as long as it's done in an appropriate manner. Uh at least that's my interpretation and maybe that needs further discussion. But uh yeah, that's my thoughts and uh we can have that conversation now or later if you want. Um we're going to have a brief recess. Okay. Okay. All right. Uh, we're going to move on. Our next speaker is Carolyn EP. If you could please come forward. Thank you. There we go. Okay. My name is Caroline EP from Gilner, Nebraska. In the last five years, I have had the privilege to learn more about our history through Constitution Alive, a video series by Rick Green and David Barton. I did not realize how

083shortch changed I had been by not knowing what our founding fathers thought and shared amongst themselves where they gained wisdom for the building of our nation particularly the constitution. Quotes like this from James Wilson signer of the constitution have been a part of this journey. Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends and mutual assistance. Indeed, these two sciences run flow into each other. I realize that society or should I say the sphere of societal influence has walked away from God. But that should never dictate the truth about our past. In my travels, I experienced Chuck Slovakia. What? Pause the time, please. Um, members of the public need to respect the speaker. Thank you.

084In my travels, I experienced Chuckos Slovakia before the wall came down. When driving into that country was like going from color to black and white TV. And in China, when everyone dressed the same in loose, drab gray navy clothing. The slums in India are still etched in my mind as if yesterday. Absolutely unthinkable. No other nation on earth is like our country and we owe students the reason why. A study done by Donald Lutz from the University of Houston discovered from approximately 15,000 documents through a quantitative analysis that among the references in political writings between 1760 and 1805. Montescu was cited 8.3%. Blackstone 7.9% lock 2.9% with the Bible being the number one cited source at 34%. No other nation has based their constitution squarely on biblical principles acknowledging that our rights come from God

085and not government. No other nation has kept a constitution as long as we have. Plus, no other nation on earth has had people flooding their borders because of freedom and prosperity. I want to share a few profound quotes from early leaders. Noah Webster stated, "All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." Governor Morris, signer of the Constitution, proclaimed, "Religion is the only solid basis of good morals. Therefore, education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man toward God. The Nebraska Constitution still upholds his statement, but unfortunately is not carried out by our educators. You have you have one minute. You have one minute. Okay. Was I already over my time? I'm

086sorry. Um John J. original Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court appointed by George Washington said, "Every member of the state ought diligently to read and study the Constitution of his country." I'll skip down. As social studies standards are once again considered for the state of Nebraska, let's bless our students with knowledge of our rich heritage set forth by the founding fathers. I would encourage straight quotes by those men who risk their lives, fame, and fortune to give us this country. As diluted milk is distasteful, so is diluted history. Thank you. Thank you very much. May I ask sorry, may I ask a question? Can you two share what you agreed on because this goes against what you just said. Can I Deb's gonna speak? Yeah. First of all, I just want to make it

087clear that when I spoke up and asked for policy clarification, it does not mean I condone what was happening. And I'm sorry that that was an attack on you. And uh I what we talked about was that and we're in agreement and it fits with the policy that um for someone to come in and talk about something that a board member has voted on and they disagree with, that's very appropriate. or to thank a board member for supporting something, those kind of comments, it's appropriate to call out a board member. But if it's related to something that takes place outside this room and is not about our agenda, and when we define agenda, we mean something that has been on our agenda and that we voted on or something that's on the agenda today or

088something that uh will be on our agenda because it's in the scope of our work. So things that happen in the legislature that have nothing to do with anything we've done are uh not in any way uh uh appropriate comment here and it will be stopped. Does that provide the clarification that everybody wanted? So just the agenda means any agenda we've ever had or will have or are having and abuse is defined per the uh president's decision of what abuse what constitutes abuse. That is what the it is the yeah that's what the board operating policy says is that it's responsibility of the president. So, um, take it seriously that, you know, we've had in the past, um, people who have sat at this table and are currently sitting here who have been rad over

089the coals in unconscionable ways. And um so yes, the agenda items meaning within the scope of this board's work and what we do is is what is appropriate to address the board on. I appreciate the clarification. I just wanted to make sure we were extra clear in our clarification. Right. And sometimes I will say Liz, it's it's sometimes it seems like it takes a minute to with the public comment to see the correlation and so and sometimes it doesn't take very long to see that it's pro probably not within the scope of our work. Okay. And in fairness to the speaker today that was stopped uh she didn't know uh you know and uh that certainly was the mode of operation for many years and so uh but we did change it in the policy

090and uh to have more productive public comment time. So okay thank you both. Uh okay I'm moving on to our next uh public comment person Dr. Summer Stevens. Good morning. It's good to see some of you that I've uh met before and others new on the board. Thanks for having me today. I am Summer Stevens. I am from Grand Island, Nebraska. I'm currently the associate superintendent for Grand Island Public Schools where I serve the needs of all of our learners and families uh in that role. And I also serve as the chief of secondary education. Part of my work includes being involved with many uh community partners as well. I serve on a number of boards in our community such as the Children's Advocacy Center where we take in and support children who have been

091abused or harmed, Central Nebraska Council on Alcoholism and Addictions, the United Way, and I also serve on the Don University School Counseling Advisory Council. Today you have on the agenda a few items that uh are for consideration for contract including the project aware evaluation the safe to help uh report system and even our work with the uh school lunch program. So we're grateful to see that because we must Maslo before we bloom. And this phrase highlights the importance of meeting basic human needs, including addressing those basic needs, creating and sustaining a supportive environment, and prioritizing the well-being before focusing on and sustaining the level of academic and cognitive learning that we all want to ensure that our kids in Nebraska have. Essentially, it suggests that students cannot fully engage in deep learning if their fundamental

092needs for survival, safety, love, belonging, and esteem are not met. So, that's why mental health in schools and any and all of its programs, grant opportunities, funding uh is fundamental. Grand Island Public Schools has long understood this importance of the approach and has worked for almost 20 years to ensure that um the funds from gen our general fund has supported the use of school social workers, counselors, school psychologists and the programming of our multi-tered system of supports including in our tier one the curriculum focusing on humans development in social awareness, relationship building, decisionmaking, self-awareness and self-management and executive functioning. We also have trained our staff on awareness and strategies for the development and support of kids and families as well as the work uh of self-care for themselves. We know we've went through some arduous

093times here in the last five to six years u in in the United States related to the impact that co had on our on our families. So when we think about that, we have um really also connected with our community care partners and providers and welcome into our schools on a daily basis those providers to support our students. This work uh in the past and the work that we're doing is just part of the complex system of school. This is just in my world, you know, that's the world I work in every day. But it it feels like a really small part of all that we do um when we're working to serve kids and support our learners. So, when we think about what our staff needs to be able to continue to do this

094work, uh nobody nobody went to school probably that's in that's in a position right now to be able to provide the kind of support that I think a lot of our kids probably most of our kids need. I think about myself and some of my peers. I'm pretty sure there were people that were depressed. suicidal uh came from very concerning abusive homes, bad relationships, alcoholism and abuse. Um but I also think about the support that we got at school and I don't think that came from school. Uh you know, but I don't know that it came from the community either. I think people just secretly like hold up and didn't talk about things. But now we know that people talk about things because it's okay to talk about the needs that you have. Uh and

095we want to continue to support that. So, several months ago, uh, we submitted a grant that was an opportunity from the Department of Education, the Innovate Grant, that was going to be able to help us continue our wonderful, um, support of our staff that we have and we're fortunate to have in Grand Island to continue that work with youth mental health first aid, uh, to be able to become trainers that would not only support sustaining our ongoing staff need to know more about what is going on with youth, be able to report appropriately, um, and those kind of things. And I know that the board put that grant um award on hold, but we also have even in our in our um audience today folks who have been losing funds from the cuts, the severe

096cuts at the federal level related to mental health. So I ask you all to continue to figure out ways to support mental health um education for our staff so that we can ensure that kids in our systems bloom. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. Our next speaker is Mary Beth Hein. Good morning. Um, good morning. Um, I'm coming to talk to you Mary Beth He Omaha, Nebraska. I'm coming to talk to you today about agenda item 7.3B, the Asanti Elementary School priority school status. And I happened to attend the committee yesterday where this was discussed and I I do appreciate the board members because unfortunately the representatives from the Asanti school districts were not required to show and they did not show. So all the questions that the board members had prepared were

097unable to be answered and that personally was very troubling to me. Um, that no-show had allowed a lot of questions to be asked basically to no one but people here who I assume I don't know were representatives of the state board, the state board of education or department of education. um this um pretty much left me questioning how we could even have this agenda item and I think it did the board members as well. So I really today look forward to seeing which way the coin tossed, you know, are you going to continue supporting the Asanti school district or not? Um because as the meeting left, that's where I was left thinking. And when you look at the Asante school district, they have been on this priority list for extra funding, extra help for 6

098to 8 years. At what point do you decide that what is currently happening is not working and there are no next steps according to what I understood at the meeting yesterday. So my question is, sadly in the state of Nebraska, there are no choice options. The Asante School District is it for these students that live in Knox County, Nebraska. They're under compulsory education in what appears to be a dysfunctional school district with no other options. And that should be troubling to all Nebraskans. To add to this lament for my particular taxpaying budget, I uh recently saw the auditor of the state of Nebraska had a report out about numerous errors, 31 pages of them or um basically errors that should not have been taken and allotted to about $51,000 per child to the Asante school

099district. The average school district child in Nebraska receives 16,000. Now, at what point does the state come in and ask for action? Do you just let these children flounder with no alternatives? And again, there are no choice options here. other surrounding states, as was stated earlier, um have these options. Not Nebraska, not these small rural school districts that have no options. So, I guess I look forward to your discussion on this school district and how you're going to solve this because in my little toolbox, I don't see any answers. and I'm hoping some people much wiser than me um have them. And thank you again for the comment by Dr. Mayer about the strategic planning because I think had there been strategic planning, the Asante school district situation never would have happened in such a

100short time frame. having a committee meeting yesterday, ending the meeting not knowing how the coin would toss and then further discussion happening in professional and education committee yesterday afternoon which the public isn't um privy to and then coming to more this morning to discuss because it's hard to discuss something which you don't have any answers to or know how the board will vote. Thank you again for your effort and your patience and your time. Thank you very much. And Sheila has handouts that Andrea is passing around. You know, I'm a teacher, so of course I have handouts. Um, my name is Sheila Turbvis. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska. I am an educator of 40 years, 33 with the Omaha public schools and the past seven in a private school. So I am one of those teachers

101who's on the front lines of education. I am also a volunteer with Mom's Demand Action for Gunsense in America. I'm here today on Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is why I'm wearing orange, to express my deep concern and disappointment over this board's recent decision to reject nearly 200,000 and approved mental health training grants for teachers and Nebraska schools. Seven school districts in ESUs, including Grand Island, who is just here, Omaha, Pilion, La Vista, Wakefield, and others were awarded these grants and funds through a competitive process. The Nebraska legislature approved the funding. The money was available. There was no budgetary reason to deny it. And yet, four members of this board, I won't say your names, voted against awarding this grant. And to date, no clear or consistent explanation has been provided to the districts or

102the public. That silence speaks volumes and leaves schools and teachers feeling dismissed and disrespected. Let me be clear, teachers are often the first to notice when a student is struggling. Training educators to recognize signs of emotional distress and appro provide appropriate support is critical. It's a critical and proven step toward preventing school violence, including shootings. These grants were designed specifically for that purpose, to equip teachers with the skills, knowledge, and resources to connect students with help before it's too late. Districts like Grand Island stood to receive over $75,000 in funding. OPS, ESU13, and others plan to launch mean meaningful timely training programs. By voting down these grants, the board has turned away resources that could save lives and deescalate crisis in the classroom. On a day when our nation pauses to reflect on the toll

103of gun violence, and I've attached a copy of gun violence in Nebraska and what we can do to stop it, I urge this board to reconsider its decision. At the very least, the public and the affected school districts deserve a transparent explanation. Our students and educators are on the front line. They deserve better and they deserve our full support. As a teacher, I've seen how powerful it can be when we're equipped to notice the early signs that a student is struggling. Mental health training for educators gives us the tools to recognize students in crisis and to respond with support, not punishment. According to the US Secret Service, in nearly every case of school violence, the student showed concerning behavior in advance. And in 93% of the cases, they told somebody. That means we have the

104opportunities to step in. I included the references for that, too. Giving educators the tools to recognize and respond to students in distress is not just about mental wellness. It's about safety, belonging, and ultimately prevention. In my role as a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, we often say gun violence is preventable, and that includes school shootings. Prevention starts when noticing when a student is in crisis and getting them help early. That's why training teachers to recognize these signs is vital. Um, I have some other stuff in there, but basically it's in your handouts. In essence, training teachers on mental health advocacy is a critical investment in the holistic well-being and academic success of students while also supporting the vital role that educators play in their lives. As a teacher, I've seen firsthand how early intervention and

105trusted adult relationships can change a student's path. We saw that right here with this these ladies talking about their theater experience. Mental health supports in schools is not only about wellness, it's about safety. And as a volunteer with Mom's Demand Action, I know that when we support kids early, we help prevent tragedies before they start. So, please reconsider that decision. Thank you very much. Thank you, Sheila. And that concludes our public comment. There is no written comment this month. I have had a request for a break. So, we will take a break and the board will resume at 11:00. I mean, yeah. Okay. All right. I see that all board members have resumed their seats. So, we will end recess and begin the board meeting. The next item of business is the consent agenda. Is

106there a motion to adopt the consent agenda? I don't have one. Can you say it? I motion to adopt the consent agenda. It has been moved and seconded to adopt the consent agenda. Per board policy. There is no discussion on the motion to adopt the consent agenda. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Shhof present. Yes. Ner, yes. Christensen, yes. Rener, yes. Jones, yes. Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Tagm, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the consent agenda is adopted. Next item of business are the reports of the standing committees. I will report on behalf of The executive committee reports on its June 5th, 2025 meeting. Members present were chair Elizabeth Tegmier, vice chair Deb Ner, Sher Jones, and Liz Rener. The committee had two action items. First, the committee reviewed proposed revisions

107to title 93, administrative code, chapters 1-16, Nebraska Department of Education Personnel Rules, and received a brief report from NDE staff. The committee recommends the board approve the proposed revisions to title 93. Second, the committee reviewed the proposed addendum to the employment agreement between the commissioner and the state board of education. The committee recommends the board adopt the proposed employment agreement between the commissioner and the state board of education. The committee had one discussion item. The committee reviewed the status of education related bills and a summary of NDE's position which were taken at the directive of the education committee during our most recent legislative session. Two bills were enacted that the NDE was a proponent. LB 140, school policy regarding electronic communication devices or cell phones as we know them and LB296 NDE education records system

108and registars to award credit for courses for students under juvenile court. The commissioner has already reported to you about LB303 within his report. The committee reviewed information items. The committee received an update on the status of the strategic planning process, including the completion of the citizen and student focus groups, a summation of multiple SWAT analysis. And for those of you who don't live in Alphabet Soup World, SWAT is the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And then we also heard a report on the next steps. Then the committee received notice for the appointment of a member to the state committee for the reorganization of school districts. Finally, the committee discussed the process and next steps for the review of the board bylaws and policy revisions. This concludes the executive committee report. Chair Elizabeth Tigm, are there

109any questions on the executive committee report? Okay. Is there a motion on agenda item 7.1.8? I move to adopt the proposed revisions to Title 93. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed revisions to Title 93. Is there any discussion on the motion? Never mind. This is the right one. Okay, seeing none, would the recording secretary please call the role? Douglas, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Rener, yes. Christensen, yes. Ner, yes. Jones, yes. Penner, yes. Tegmire, yes. Eight. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed revisions to title 93 is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.1B? I move that this board adopt the proposed addendum to the employment agreement between Commissioner Maher and the state board of education which provides for a 3.25% increase in salary effective July 1st,

1102025. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the addendum to the employment agreement between Commissioner Maher and the state board of education which provides for a 3.25% increase in salary effective July 1st, 2025. Is there any discussion on this motion or any questions? Uh I know that having uh this is where we talk about his evaluation or no or is that later? I think this is it right? I don't it's on the agenda. You can do it now. Not agenda. So, I just want to say that um having gone through the review process for our commissioner and heard the comments or read the comments from all of the board members, uh I am thrilled that uh there is a tremendous support for somebody that I consider one of the most amazing leaders I've ever

111worked with. And we appreciate your leadership because it's not easy. it. I mean, it's never been an easy job, but it's really not easy today. And to make eight people, you know, on a board all uh trust in you and to have all the superintendent who support you, uh we we um really are grateful to have your leadership of the education sector in Nebraska at this time. So, that's it. Yes, Lisa, I could not agree more. You just nailed it. Good job. Yeah. And so, um, and and it doesn't say in this motion, um, but the contract for those who aren't executive on the executive committee. Um, Commissioner Maher's salary increase is in line with what all the other staff received as a salary increase. Um but we also did choose to extend his contract

112through um the through June 30th of 2027 as a show of confidence in his leadership of the department and the positive changes that we have seen um him do in the last two years. So just for those who aren't there in the exec and just a reminder of what that document looks like. So thank you also to all the board members for getting that in. Um that performance evaluation is an important part of of his job per evaluating him and just I think too that confidence that show of confidence that we have in him. Any further comments or questions? Okay. The motion is to adopt the proposed addendum to the employment agreement between the commissioner and the state board of education which provides for a 3.25 inc% increase in salary effective July 1st, 2025. Would

113the recording secretary please call the role? Yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, yes. Tegmire, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it in the motion to adopt the proposed addendum to the employment agreement between Commissioner Maher and the state board of education, which provides for a 3.25% increase in salary effective July 1st, 2020 is adopted. Agenda item 7.1 C. Um, review the 2025 proposed state legislation. Board members, are there any questions or discussion on this item? I would say fortunately it was a not a lot of education bills this time. So that's that's nice. Well, maybe President Tmar, just to let the public know that there were four bills, education related bills that were passed this enacted this legislative session. Yes. And so, we're grateful to not have to comb

114through a lot more right now as we're still adjusting from the previous legislative session and and adjusting our policies per those changes. And maybe my may I add something else and maybe for constituency to know that the executive committee meets via Zoom every week during the LC initial part of the legislative session to give um to kind of guide NDE and Dr. from mahar on how we believe the stance that needs to be taken which could be a proponent neutral or an opposition and then we also give um recommendations whether there should be a written letter no comment um in person or what that might look like. So that's our activity that you may not be aware of during the legislative session. Thank you. Thank you Sherry. Okay, any other comments or questions? Great. All

115right. So, Chair Kristen Christensen will report on behalf of the budget and finance committee meeting. The budget and finance committee reports that at its Thursday, June 5th meeting, members present were Kristen Christensen, Maggie Douglas, Lisa Shonhoff, and Kirk Penner. The committee reviewed 11 action items. The first two items reviewed were for peak special education grants and 21st century learning grants for afterchool programs. The committee recommended approval of both items. The next item reviewed was a contract with the ESUCC for the menstrual product pilot program. The committee has no recommendation. The committee then reviewed a contract for an educator educator lensure system and supported approving this item. The next item reviewed was five new and expansion of early childhood grants. The committee has no recommendation for this item. The committee was in support of approving the

116remaining six action items that included revision grants, the 2024 single audit report, a contract for an external evaluator for the comprehensive literacy state development grant, two contracts with education improvement funds for work around chronic absenteeism, and a literacy screener, an increase in the criminal history check fee as a result in the state patrol increasing their rates, and incentive payments for computer science and technology education. The committee reviewed travel expenses, noting no concerns. Last, the committee reviewed three information items, including an update on the comprehensive literacy state development grant, a potential contract for an educator effectiveness specialist, and an update to the school district bid requirement dollar threshold. This concludes the budget and finance committee report. Kristen Christensen, chair. Are there any questions on the budget and finance committee report? I just want to thank that

117committee. I know you had a big agenda this week. It was hefty. It was. It was a lot. It was. And you did you you got through it and you did it in great timing, too. So, thank you for that your work. Item 7.2.8 monthly board travel. Are there any questions on the reports in this item? Okay. Is there a motion on item 7.2B? I move to approve the issuance of subgrants for the purposes of funding the promoting engagement and knowledge projects or peak. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve the issuance of subgrants for the purpose of funding the peak. Is there any discussion on this motion? The motion is to approve the issuance of subgrants for the purpose of funding the peak. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Christensen, yes.

118Ner, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Tegmire, yes. Penner, yes. Eight. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve the issuance of subgrants for the purpose of funding the peak is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2 C? I move to authorize the commissioner to approve the funding recommendations for the 21st century community learning grant centers grant. It is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to approve the funding recommendations for the 21st century community learning centers grant. Is there any discussion on the motion? I would just like to add a comment for again for the public. Um we've had these Century 21 grants I believe for about 22 years. And so I believe I asked last year as well that if there's data showing that they are showing

119gains in the three areas in which they are meant to have gains and are proposed to make a difference in. And so I appreciate Dr. Rita has given um a document that I'll be looking through to look at the data that shows its effectiveness. And so by next year I should be um up on making a confident vote about this entry 21. So anyway, just a comment that they've been around for a while and hopefully doing good things. Lisa, I agree. I was there um and she did give us this really thick book and I also have asked her to make sure she invites me to their orientation so that I can go and see what's happening and everything because again our goal is to make sure that we're making um data driven decisions. So

120thank you for your work on that Deb. So, I just want to make sure that if someone isn't able to support this and it needs to go back to committee that we do that rather than just randomly not funding something without discussion. So, because I've I've been watching the afterchool movement for 10 years now because of the nonprofit work I did, it's absolutely amazing uh the outcomes for these programs. And so, I want to make sure that uh people have the information today in order to make a vote that's appropriate. So, do we see this maybe going towards not being approved? And if so, do we want to table this and take it back to a committee where it can have more discussion? I think that would be a good question for the members of

121the committee as well who the budget and finance committee. What was the committee's our committee's recommendation was approval of the 21st century grants. It was a good discussion yesterday. Okay. Um there were questions asked about data and the effectiveness and we felt confident that it was um something worth continuing. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? These are great. I know I feel like a lot has gotten hashed out yesterday in committee and I appreciate the hard work of the board members to ask the questions and do the research and so it may seem like we're just passing things but but we've actually had spent a lot of time examining them prior to coming here today. So, seeing no further comments or questions, the motion is to authorize the commissioner to approve the funding recommendations

122for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Jones, yes. Ner, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Christensen, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Tagm, yes. Eight. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to approve the funding recommendations for the 21st century community learning centers grant is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2D? I move to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program. Second. is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program. Sorry, all those P's, the alliteration. Is there any discussion on the motion? Madam Chair, uh I move to amend the main motion by adding after program after the last word, menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker

123rooms. adding, "From this day forward, female restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only females can safely change clothes, store belongings, and use the restroom. Female means any individual who naturally has had, will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or an unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization. Female includes a woman and girl. Girl means an adolescent human female. Period products are not to be placed in male restrooms or locker rooms. From this day forward, male restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only males can safely change

124clothes, store belongings, and use the restroom. Male means an individual who naturally has had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or an intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization. Male includes a man and boy, man means an adult, human male. So, can I ask Okay, we don't normally get amendments, so if you guys can hang on a minute while I look at Robert's Can I ask a process question? Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Second. Okay, that's okay. So, so it's So, do I repeat that whole amendment after a second? Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay, I need the wording for that. So I do this. So it has been moved to amend the main motion by

125adding after program. Read all of that. So if adopted, the motion would read authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program and then all of that. Does that make sense? Okay. A little bit. Yeah. I think I just got lost. Sorry. So, it is moved and seconded to Sorry board members, we don't get amendments a lot. has been moved and seconded to amend the motion by adding I move to by adding after program menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms from this day forward female restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only females can change clothes safely change clothes store belongings and use the restroom. Female means an individual who

126naturally has had, will have, or would have but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption. The female reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization. Female includes a woman and a girl. Girl means adolescent human female. Period. Products are not to be placed in male restrooms or locker rooms from this day forward. Male restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only males can safely change clothes, store belongings, and use the restroom. Male means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization. Male includes a man

127and a boy. Male means a human, excuse me, male means an adult human male. Is there any discussion on the amendment? Yes, Deborah. So, I have a question. I have a couple of questions. First one, did this go through the appropriate process of being brought up and discussed during the committee? No. So, uh do I don't know if amendments have to go through that. I don't know. All right. So there's the technicality of do they have to and then there's the is it appropriate to since we have the committee process just for that person purpose so that we can hash out challenges in language uh and so therefore because I think there's some compromise certainly in language but I don't know that we are there yet with the wording of that because it's pretty lengthy.

128Uh, so, uh, and you've never been a wordy guy, Kirk. So, like I'm wondering if there was anyway a ghost rider, but I'm kidding. So, uh, anyway, I guess what I'd like to do is ask the staff, is there I'd like I am a process person. I'd like to see this go back to committee and work out a compromise on some language. uh because I mean we all know how the votes are going to go today if we don't go back to committee and I think that's unfair again to kill something that uh you know people have tried to politicize beyond the scope of our work like there is some compromise in there definitely uh so I want to ask the staff is Is there a reason uh is there anything that's going to hold

129it up or any problem with us holding it up? I mean, I know it's two months that it would have to go before it would be approved. So, um All right. So, so Deb, can I have Dr. answer that question for you? All right. Because I just passed him in. Thank you. Or or actually the commissioner or Dr. for either one of them I believe not having a board meeting until August we would lose the funding for this for this school year Brian saying no of course I would defer to deputy commissioner Holstead if he would come forward Uh Brian Holstead, uh Board Legal Council. Uh the funding for this program begins July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. So that's the funding year for the pilot program. Hopefully that answers the question about funding.

130Oh, okay. Yeah. No, that's okay. Any other questions? Can I just give you Oh, go ahead. I have not sp You not spoken. Well, I just I think I need a clarification on the process. If an amendment is brought now, we vote on that amendment whether to include it or not. Then we vote on it as the main thing. So, I just want to make sure that's the process. I believe so. And just just to pause for a minute, we are so fortunate to have a parliamentarian at our table. Most boards do not. And so is she correct in that? Dr. Yes. The motion on the floor is the amendment as was stated. So you're discussing the amendment. the board is discussing the amendment and then the board would vote to include the amendment or

131not. If the amendment is voted up to be included, then you go back to the original motion that includes the amendment and discuss whether to adopt that or not. If the amendment is voted down, then you go back to the original main motion. Go ahead. You brought the amendment. I don't know if you want to speak. No, I mean it 10 years ago I wouldn't have to bring this, but it would make sense and I think for most people in the room said, hey, and I think it said in here, source and supply menstrual products, pads, and tampons to participating school districts for female restrooms and locker rooms. It's been blurred. And so, what's a female and what's a female locker room? That is the reason. And I wrote this out here by myself, Deb.

132And just so to give you an idea. So I mean, and we got a hand out actually sent via email to Indie email singing the praises of this pro of this program. Okay. And to quote I mean to quote one nurse, girls have what they need to manage their periods without fear or embarrassment. And I think that's totally fair. But you can't have confidence when you are allowing males into female restrooms and locker rooms. And I have a specific example at Lincoln Southeast High School. Although they have genderneutral restroom facilities, two males are using the locker room to either change clothes before open gym or use the restroom facilities. I love the interum superintendent at Lincoln public schools, but he has done anything about it and I wish he would. The principal there at Lincoln

133Southeast is very aware of the situation and I have a quote from him. If your student, speaking of the girls, is feeling uncomfortable or unsafe, they can reach out to a counselor or administrator and we will address their concerns and develop plan for them. So, the females are being made unsafe and the principal wants to provide the victims quite frankly with counseling instead of the male uh the male people dressing the male guys dressing in the women's locker room. There is a gender neutral bathroom that they are not going to. So, they're specifically going into the girls bathroom. That's that's the reason Deborah. So it's the question of what's a female restaurant. Okay. So, uh trying to stay within the scope of what the legislation said and the scope of what we're in charge of

134and respect local control that we all want to do, but also respect what you want. I'm I want to and this is I'm not making an amendment. I'm discussing discussing a possibility wondering if this is a compromise that we could consider. And trust me, I don't like this compromise. If it makes you feel any better, I don't like it, but uh something to just move the needle. Uh is I wonder if we could keep your first sentence, but I move to amend the main motion. Oh, well no, the second sentence, too. Uh, menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms, but maybe add and health service offices or whatever we call the nurses offices anymore. I don't know what they are. Nurse, pardon me. Health. health offices, which accomplishes, I think,

135what you want to accomplish without us getting into legal trouble about definitions that I don't know if they are out there legally. So, I I'd love some discussion on that. And trust me, I don't like this, but if it's a compromise that gets us to supporting it, then then I would support the this hear from Maggie because I I don't speak a lot but when I do um the one concern that I have about this conversation is that this is about menstrual products and not about being transgendered in what bathroom they use. It's and I don't want those two to get melded so much that people that are expecting access to period products aren't going to get them. That makes sense. Makes sense. Yeah. I u I want to say that I was going to

136have a part of the discussion be the opposite of what you're saying and I was looking at the legislative language and it just says school bathrooms. I was going to ask why not just leave it that and include uh a genderneutral or a medical space which could be a nurse's office or health whatever we call it. So, I I actually think the um compromise that Deborah's suggested works nicely to um make space for students that of all kinds to access these supplies. Um while keeping bathrooms uh identified the way that you want them identified. Um so, and I think Maggie's point is also really important. This is just about menstrual products. This is not about defining people or genders. Um, so I think we need to just probably stay a little more limited in our

137scope. Any any other discussion? Kristen, I do. We have a second amendment now that we We don't currently right now. So, we're still discussing Kirks. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. Just needed that clarification. Yes. And please, please don't give me a second amendment because I've never done that. No, Ryan will hold my hand. I appreciate the ceniality right now. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. So, thank you. Um, as a mom of boys, I'm really all in favor of not making a a product that would be thrown into toilets and used to clog toilet. I mean, boys, it's a joke to boys and to girls. It's a necessary product. And so, I do appreciate Deb's suggestion. [Music] And so, but we are still on the original amendment. Anyone else? I I mean, we everybody says I

138don't give my opinions or don't tell my thoughts. So, I'm telling you my thoughts that I don't want them in boys bathrooms where they just become wasted because it's a joke to boys. It's stupid. It's they it's they're boys. they're high school boys and and middle school boys and and so I appreciate that. Um and I see Liz kind of is waving. So Liz, yeah, my thought on that is more along the lines of I know a lot of schools when they have uh they're the home team and then away team comes to play a lot of times girl uh teams use boy locker rooms and there's spaces that uh serve multiple purposes for multiple genders. And so I guess I was thinking about it in terms of just how do we reach the most

139kids that might need these products as possible. That's why I think the health office option might be a really neat compromise for that. Um and also accomplish keeping things in the place that Kirk would like to see them in other people. So what is keeping a I'm legitimate question. What's keeping a female from going into the female restaurant to restroom? I'm hungry. Um as opposed What is keeping her from going in there as opposed to going to the health office? There might be students that require menstrual products that don't identify uh a certain way and feel safer. I also know sometimes girls have uh a need for menstrual products and they also need an aspirin or an ice pack or a little extra time outside of the classroom and they not might not be feeling

140uh they might get in trouble for hanging out in the the bathroom. So being in a health office gives um girls that opportunity to access those supplies in those circum those situations. Sorry, Maggie. Yes. Um, also from experience in working in the schools, uh, the products that are carried in nurse's office is not like something anybody wants to use. So that's been a barrier. And then also distance from the classroom to the office. And so that's why it's more ideal to have the product in the restroom versus in an office. So, you're kind of countering her point. Is that what you meant to do? I Well, I'm just saying it's why having them in the bathroom is better. Sorry. I I'm not trying to counter, but I think the ideal is to have more access,

141but I am open to compromising too. I mean, it's a pilot program and we know how pilot programs happen. They are pilot programs and then they're forever. And that's one reason I want to get this now. Um, and I'm not a I'm not opposed to the health office. I as as long as I mean, how much are you taking out of the whole motion? I guess I was recommending uh that we include your first two sentences including the IMOVE and then the second one and then adding into that second one uh and the health offices the female restrooms and locker rooms and health offices period and and partly because I mean I don't want to get away from what the scope of the legislation was about. Uh, one last thought. Uh, and I don't want

142to whatever, but um, could we make it a point to in the future ensure that every board member gets a copy of proposed emotion uh, motions amend or amendments because it's this is a lot and it's really technical. Uh, no, I don't want to see it right now. I kind of want to see where we go with this conversation. But just for the future, I think it would be helpful to make a copy available out of courtesy. Did um Brian say the funding is not going away or is going away? You said yes, he said no. As per usual in the office, I was corrected by Brian Holstead. The funding is available uh in the next fiscal year. So anytime in the fiscal year correct. Okay. Can can I clarify what that means? Like does

143it mean it if we approved it in August, it would still start in the classroom in September of this year? I'm going to I'm going to change that just a little bit. If you approve it in August, the money would be available to begin the program is as quickly as we could make that happen. I don't know what the logistics are. Got it. Okay. I would pref I would prefer the vote on the amendment and then see where that goes and then go and see what as Dr. Ford says and then if we need to go back we'll go back. Thanks Kirk. Hey. All right. So any further discussion? Okay, got to read through this again. So So it has been moved and seconded. So the current motion that's on the table is to amend

144the motion by adding after program menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms. From this day forward, female restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only females can safely change clothes, store belongings, and use the restroom. Female means an individual who naturally has, had, will have, or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption. The reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization. Female includes a woman and a girl. Girl means adolescent human female. Period products are not to be placed in male restrooms or locker rooms. From this day forward, male restrooms and locker rooms in all Nebraska accredited and approved schools are defined as

145a dedicated space in a school or sports complex where only males can safely change clothes, store belongings, or use the restroom. Male means an individual who naturally has had, will have, or would have, but for congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization. Male includes a man and a boy. Man means an adult human male. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Shonhoff. Yes. Penner, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, no. Douglas, no. Ner, no. Tegmire, yes. Christensen. No. Four yes. Four no. The motion fails. And so we are now at the original motion, which is to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program. Is there any discussion on the main motion? Deborah, I'd like to make a new

146amendment. Uh, I'd like to move right if you're changing things, please. Okay. Uh, so glad you loan me your glasses. Uh, I move to amend the main motion by adding menstrual products will be placed. I hate using the word only, but only this is for you, Kirk. only in female restrooms and locker rooms and nurses office. Oh, I'm sorry. Health. This is showing my age. I think that's pretty standard. Can we say health or nurse offices? Health or nurse offices. She's writing it right now. Is there a second on Is there a second on the motion? Second. Is so the motion Hold on. Maggie wants to go. Nope. You have to wait till I read the motion. I'm going to get this amendment thing down. Um, so the the a motion is has been moved

147and seconded to amend the main motion by adding after program menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms and health and nurse offices. There's there is discussion. Is there discussion? There is discussion. I'm gonna start with Maggie again. All right. Anyone else? Kirk. 10 years ago that works perfectly. But we've bl my opinion. We blurred the line between male and female. And now that is why the definition was on the failed motion is we need to define what male and female is and what a female restroom and a male restroom is. So that's why I will not I'm not a big fan of just that Deborah. But you do appreciate the attempt at compromise. Well, we're going to see what happens. It's the spirit of compromise. I'm sweating buckets up here.

148Any other comments, guys? I really don't like controversy. All right. Any other comments or questions or discussion on the motion, the amended motion? I yeah I just come back to you know uh what is the scope of our job and uh what is the scope of this legislation and to me those are the priorities and when we get into legal definitions of things I think we're in somebody else's area we're not lawyers And uh it concerns me when we try to uh go outside our scope. Uh it also concerns me when we try to dictate too much to our local school districts who I have tremendous respect for and no disrespect intended, Kirk, just those are I have some strong feelings about that. So thank you. Any further discussion on the a the second amended

149time that we've got here. Okay. So the motion is to amend the main motion by adding after the program after program menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms and health and nurse offices. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, no. Teagmmer, yes. Penner, no. Ner, yes. Shonhoff, no. Five, yes. Three, no. The affirmative has it in the amendment to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual amendment to the language. The amendment to add the language. Menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms and health and nurse offices has is adopted. Now we're back to the main motion. The main motion as amended. The main motion to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program.

150Menstrual products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms in health and nurse offices. Is there any discussion on this? I just would like to publicly state um take this opportunity to publicly share my rationale for my upcoming vote because that's important to me. Um and this was before I thought any amendments were going to be added. This was what I wanted to say. I believe there are resources currently available to help girls when they show up to school unprepared in regards to their period. There are safety nets in place and I appreciate that. Nurses, family, uh, female teachers, friends, etc. I believe the cost of minstal products should be the responsibility of the user or the user's family, not the taxpayer. For the 2025 202425 school year, taxpayers generously paid an average

151of just under $16,000 to educate each student in our public schools. If a local school board believes there is a need and wants to provide products, they could do so free or at cost and I would support that. Perhaps local businesses or individuals could contribute to the cost. I believe students need to be taught personal responsibility rather than dependency on the government. This initiative takes away from personal responsibility. And in my recent checks, a box of tampons is $5.98 for a box of 40. That's about two cycles, two months of product for someone. $7.34 for a box of 60 pads. That's about half the cost of one fast food fast food meal. For those reasons and a couple more I'm not mentioning, I will be voting no. Any any other comments or discussion? I do,

152Kirk. So if female is not defined, what is happening at Lincoln Southeast will continue to happen because we do not have a definition of female. We do not have it. And so your definition of female female can be whatever you want it. Without a definition, um, we're putting girls at risk with males intruding into their locker rooms and bathrooms. And that's all I'll say. Deborah. Yeah, I can't find my sticky note where I wrote down a quote that one of our speakers during public comment said, but essentially what she was saying is Maslov before. Does anyone remember the Maslo before you can bloom? Okay, thank you. All right. So, and so uh yeah, it shows that I'm not an educator. Uh but I do understand uh just from working on poverty issues for 10 years

153that I mean these are the little things that make the learning environment uh better and there's research out there that I'd be happy to share when kids feel safe. I also, because I spent 10 years working in poverty issues, understand the level of poverty and $ five dollar for a back box of tampons is a really big deal for some families. And I and so I just and I also am, you know, our state legislature passed this like they did a lot of research before they passed it. And you know, I I take that pretty seriously because, you know, there's um a lot of different views of people in the state legislature and I I just believe this is an essential way to improve learning opportunities for young people that might need these supports. Thank

154you. Can I make one? I guess I just want to add to uh add to this that if we care about girls and women providing these products is part of that standing by them and caring for them. And I I think what we'd need to keep in mind that that's kind of the underlying thing is that um while it is important to teach responsibility, some kids aren't in a position to even manage that responsibility for a variety of reasons, poverty or or other things involved. So, I will be voting yes because I really care about the girls in our schools and uh making sure that every girl has what she needs. Even uh if she needs a band-aid from the nursurse's office, I want her to have that. If she needs an aspirin, I want

155her to have that. And so, um that's my rationale for voting yes for this. Lisa, not to get I'm avoiding the weeds and all areas on this topic, but um if just because we don't vote alike doesn't mean one cares more or less about girls. And I want to make sure we're very clear on that. I have three daughters. I've worked in poverty schools for most of my tenure. I have a great compassion for girls regardless of how I vote on this. I when when this item first came onto our agenda, I was not going to vote for it because it didn't say female and that was added. Um, I sat through three different um focus groups. And every single one of them for our strategic plan, the participants all expressed [Music] concern about politics

156in our policy. senators in the district that I represented voted and passed the menstrual product pilot program as representatives of the district and because we have changed the amendment to have the products placed only in female restrooms. And while I appreciate and support the definition of female, I also had my specific concerns on this item addressed. And so, while that may not make me popular with some people, that's not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because my personal concerns were addressed. Any other discussion? So the motion is to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program. Minstal products will be placed only in female restrooms and locker rooms and health and nurse offices. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Douglas, yes. Penner, no. Tegmire, yes. Ner, yes. Christensen, yes.

157Rener, yes. Jones, no. Shonhoff, no. Five, yes. Three nos. The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to contract for the menstrual product pilot program. Menstrual products will only be placed in female restrooms and locker rooms and health and nurse offices is adopted. It's currently noon and I've just heard from staff that the board's lunch has arrived. Board members, how long do you need for a recess? 20 minutes. 30. 30. Okay. So, we will recess for 30 minutes and resume at 12:30. He's going to help us write a new policy. Okay. Well, the board meeting will resume. We are on agenda item 7.2. E. Is there a motion on 7.2e? I move to authorize the commissioner to contract for an educator lensure system. Second is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner

158to contract for an educator lensure system. Is there any discussion on the motion? This was brought forth from committee with recommendation to approve. The motion is to authorize the commissioner to contract for an educator lensure system. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, yes. Tagmire, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to contract for an educator lensure system is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2F? I move to approve new and expansion early childhood grants. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve new and expansion early childhood grants. Is there any discussion on the motion? Kirk, you have your light on. Oh, you both do. Lisa. All right. So, this is the one

159that I stayed up late last night thinking about. And here's um here's where I'm at with it. I want to give a little bit of my thinking on this. Um, one of my platforms while running for office that I hold true to my close to my um, just everything that I think that we need to be focused on is um, the fact that we do spend 5 billion in our state on educating our um, students, which is approximately between 15 and 16,000 per year per pupil. Um, if you've learned anything about me so far, it is that I'm very research and data oriented. Um, I will stay up. I will pull an allnighter if I need to to dig into the research. I'm very um conscientious about making sure I make informed decisions. And as

160somebody who has taught in government funded preschool, I can tell you those were some of the best um that's one of the best preschools I ever worked at. It was when I was in college on the college campus. Um, and as I'm thinking about this, uh, Head Start has been around since the 60s. There has been ample research on Head Start. Uh, it was started, I believe, you could correct me on this one, but I believe it was to raise student achievement with literacy. It's right around right before the federal department of education starting. And so we knew that we were just back as far back as then really trying to raise proficiency rates in our nation. And so with that being said, the research again and again in the multiple decades since it's been

161around has shown that it actually does not raise student achievement beyond the third grade level. And so considering that at the beginning of this session there was a $432 million budget deficit with our um in our legislature. And one of the things that while they were able to establish a budget that closed that gap, one thing Speaker Arch said is one of the constraints we've had this year is obviously budget constraints. We don't have the money to do what we want to do. with that constraint, I think we have done what we needed to do. And so I would like to say that I think that's something that as we are over taxpayer dollars, we really need to be thinking about what's effective and what's not. And I think that a a fact that was

162pointed out to me is that having an ineffective teacher in a classroom can significantly delay learning outcomes for that child for years to come. And as a teacher, I know that we all think about when we have a struggling student, we think about multiple things that they're reasons that they may be struggling, but we think also where which teachers have they had prior to coming into my classroom. And so it is something that I feel strongly about that we really need to figure out how we're going to get effective teachers in every classroom from kindergarten through sixth grade. how we're going to make sure that we solve the issue, the literacy and math issue that we have in those grade levels. And while I believe it would be irresponsible to cut funding from the families

163who have grown so dependent on um government funded preschool, I also believe it's irresponsible to go forward without very solid data that shows us that it is going to. And so one argument that I've heard is well it helps to um lower incarceration rates to get them into the preschool. But what the number one thing that helps our students um avoid incarceration is learning how to read. And that doesn't happen until elementary school because their brains the brain research shows that they're just not cognitively able to learn to read. Most students aren't. Some will pick it up naturally. There are kids that can, but I think we have to be very cognizant of how we're spending taxpayer dollars. And so, while it was passed in the consent agenda, let's see, what was it? 2,712,637. I

164think that when we're looking at new, we just really have to have very specific data that shows what we're doing in our preschools in Nebraska is going to improve reading and math. Otherwise, we we really need to focus our tax dollars on what's improving lifelong literacy and math. U I have some some of the same thoughts and I told Melody I said I'm looking for some research that tells me what we've been doing for 20 years is working and I we just keep throwing money at early we all feel good about it but we need some stats to say it's helping and uh she knows that she's probably is she behind me? No. Okay, good. You don't feel the daggers? Don't have a knife in my back. Um, so and yeah, so I'm just looking

165for some more data that the early childhood works beyond just short term and works in the future. I'm looking at the uh the rationale and and I I keep saying I'm like the least likely I think person up here to to be an advocate for preschool. It's I am I my kids do not go to preschool and it's it's not my jam. We'll say it's not our family thing, but it is a huge need in district 7 and rural areas struggle and I have been contacted by so many constituents in district 7 who they they need these programs and I see that one is going up in Mullen and for those of you who aren't familiar Mullen is an hour and a half drive from Northplat through the Sand hills. Um the highways are rough

166up there. It's not it's not the resident's fault. We need better roads. We don't have money. Um I'm guessing Mullen doesn't have even a private preschool right now. And so because of because of the needs of my constituents, um I do support this because because I do see so many families that that struggle with it. Well, I also appreciate the fact that expansion um government expansion is hard to vote on um ex expanding that financially. But I so I appreciate your perspective. I also know what my constituents have asked me to do and how they've tasked me to represent them. And when we don't ha even we have towns that don't even have one or the the only one that they have that's sustained is the public school preschool. It's important to families in district

1677. Any other comments or discussion on this item? Okay. Okay. The motion is to approve new and expansion early childhood grants. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Jones, yes. Penner, no. Christensen, yes. Rener, yes. Teagmier, yes. Shonhoff, no. Douglas, yes. Ner, yes. Six, yes. Two, no. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve new and expansion early childhood grants is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2G? Yes. I move to authorize the commissioner to approve the 2025 2026 revision action grants. Second. It's moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to approve the 2025 2026 revision action grants. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, the motion is to authorize the commissioner to approve the 2025 2026 revision action grants. With the recording secretary, please call the role. Shanhoff, yes.

168Douglas, yes. Tegmire, yes. Jones, yes. Christensen, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Rener, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it in the motion to authorize the commissioner to approve the 2025 2026 revision action grants is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2. Yes. Um, President Tmier, I move to accept the 2024 single audit report. Second. It is moved and seconded to accept the 2024 single audit report. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, the motion is to accept the 2024 single audit report. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Tegmire, yes. Ner, yes. Penner, yes. Christensen, yes. Rener, yes. Jones, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Douglas, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to accept the 2024 single audit report is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2? Yes. I

169move to adopt the recommended certification and teaching requirements. Am I on the right one? I think I have that. Oh, 7.2 I. I move I have it. Oh, I must on the CLSD. Yes, I have it. I move to authorize the commissioner to award the CLSD grant external evaluator contract. Second. It is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to award the CLSD grant external evaluator contract. Is there any discussion on the motion? Lisa, sorry. Uh these are my only two that I really have a lot to say about and I'll try to keep it short. Uh this is another one that I really thought about. I reached out to Allison. I appreciated her getting back to me. I reached out to the commissioner. I appreciated him getting back to me about my questions. My

170questions are really around the um having an international um evaluating company coming into our schools and um bringing influence that may or may not help uh improve our literacy rates here. Um and I appreciate the conversations that I've had with fellow board members around this. And also Trudy, right? Want to make sure I have the same the right name. Okay. uh for my answering my concerns about data and privacy and all of that. And so just the amount of conversations that I've had and that that I've gotten to been able to get to a place where I do feel comfortable with it because of all the questions that were answered. So very grateful for all the staff in um appeasing me and answering all the questions that I have. So thank you. Any further comments

171or questions? The motion is to authorize the commissioner to award the CLSD grant external evaluator contract. With the recording secretary, please call the role. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, yes. Tegmire, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Shonhoff. Yes. Eight. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to award the CLSD grant external evaluator contract is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2J? Yes. I move to approve the Nebraska Improvement Grant Projects. Am I the right one? Okay. Is moved and seconded to approve the Nebraska Improvement Grant Projects. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve the Nebraska Improvement Grant projects. With the recording secretary, please call the role. Shonhof, yes. Ner, yes. Christensen, yes. Rener, yes. Jones, yes. Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Taggy, yes. A

172yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve the Nebraska improvement grant projects is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2K? Yes. I move to authorize the commissioner to adjust the criminal history record check fee. Second. Is moved and seconded to authorize the commissioner to adjust the criminal history record check fee. Is there a discussion on the motion? Would the recording secretary please call the role? Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Tegmire, yes. Ner, yes. Christensen, yes. Rener, yes. Jones, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to authorize the commissioner to adjust the criminal history record check fee is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.2? I move. Yes. I move to adopt the recommended certification and teaching requirements for the computer science and technology expansion program. Second. It

173is moved and seconded to adopt the recommended certification and teaching requirements for the computer science and technology expansion program. Is there any discussion on the motion? Not discussion, just gratitude for our CTE staff who have been overseeing this. It's been a rush to um come into compliance with the statute. So, we appreciate you doing everything possible to help Nebraska teachers so that they can do this. Thank you. The motion is to adopt the recommended certification and teaching requirements for the computer science and technology expansion program. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Christensen, yes. Ner, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Teagmire, yes. Penner, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the recommended certification in teaching requirements for the computer science and technology expansion program is

174adopted. 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 June 5th, 2025. The members present were Lisa Shonhoff, Sher Jones, Deborah Neri, and Kristen Christensen. The committee discussed four action items related to rule 11, teacher waiver requests, and the accreditation of public and non-public rule 10 school systems and ESU systems. The committee recommends board approval on these items. The committee reviewed two action items related to the priority school designation process and the Isanti elementary school priority school status. The committee recommends no action at this time. The committee requests the commissioner bring next steps to the committee at the next board meeting. The committee reviewed discussion items with NDE staff, providing summaries and answering questions related to the

175conditional approval of new non-public school systems, conditional approval of new interim program schools, plans of correction for school systems and interim pro program schools and approval of educator preparation programs. We did a lot. It was a lot. The committee also reviewedformational items related to rule 11 teacher waiver request statewide assessment contract for high school to meet statutory requirements. Social social studies content standards review pilot process for clinical practice annual reports for approved pilot programs and processes and notice of bank vacancies for the Nebraska council on teacher education and the special education advisory council. NDE staff will bring these items to a future meeting for discussion and subsequent approval. This concludes the planning and evaluation report. Lisa Shonhoff, chair. Are there any questions on the planning and evaluation committee report? Is there a motion? Oh, excuse

176me. Um, items 7.3. A 7.3B. The committee has recommended no action on these items. Is there any discussion on them? I would I guess I'm not on the planning evaluation committee. So can I have an update from someone kind of what there's no action on them. So what is now the course of procedure that we're going to take with these two items? So, it was recommended um that we go ahead and hold off and develop a committee um of members to put together some ideas for going forward on the um priority designation process. So, to clarify then there will be no change to what is currently happening with our priority schools. They will continue as they have been this past year. Correct. At this point. Yes. Any other questions? Is that clear enough? Do you

177think or would you like me to? Well, I said I wasn't going to speak the rest of the meeting. Deb went on the record that she's not going to speak. So, we're going to ask Dr. Mher to clarify. Thank you. I'll be happy to clarify. So really the uh the recommendation on no action was uh born in the work session yesterday where we had a a great dialogue. you had a great dialogue on what are we doing not only with Asante which was the the primary piece of the work session but what are we doing with priority schools in general and I think the thought was we really need to take a deep dive and look at what we're doing with priority schools either um having a school move into priority school status or having

178a school come off of priority school status And our and my original thought was after we do the the work that we need to do in this meeting, probably would be good to take a deeper dive into that whole process of of uh school status. And then um it was my thought that before we take action, maybe we should have that deeper dive. And and so it was my recommendation to the committee and one that the committee adopted to not take action uh on the on the items in the agenda and rather have the study, if you will, have the study of school status take place first before the we come back to the board with any recommendations for change for change in school status. Any comments or questions? I appreciate the work of the

179committee. Um I I thought our work session was it was good. It raised a lot of questions and I appreciate the committee um considering how to better address it um given the lengthy status of some of these schools that maybe we need to re-examine the process. I appreciate that. Just a comment. All right, we'll move on to item 7.3. C. Yes, I move to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Fullerton Public Schools. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Fullerton Public Schools. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Fullerton Public Schools. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Shonhof, yes. Penner, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Ner, yes. Tagmire, yes.

180Christensen, yes. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Fullerton public schools is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.3D? I move to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Lincoln Public Schools. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Lincoln Public Schools. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Lincoln public schools. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Penner, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, yes. Tegmire, yes. Rener, yes. Ner, yes. Douglas, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request from Lincoln public schools is adopted. Is there a motion on items item 7.3?

181Yes. I move to approve accreditation of public and non-public school systems for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve accreditation of public and non-public school systems for the 2025 2026 school year. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve the public excuse me. The motion is to approve accreditation of public and non-public school systems for the 2025 2026 school year. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Jones, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Ner, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Tegmire, yes. Christensen, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve accreditation of public and nonpublic school systems for the 2025 2026 school year is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.3F? Yes. I move to approve accreditation of educational service units

182for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. It is moved and seconded to approve accreditation of educational service units for the 2025 2026 school year. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to approve accreditation of educational service units for the 2025 2026 school year. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Christensen, yes. Ner, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Tagmire, yes. Penner, yes. A, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to approve accreditation of educational service units for the 2025 2026 school year is adopted. Agenda item 7.3.G. G condition is a discussion item conditional approval of new non-public schools. Are there any questions or comments on this item? Item 7.3.8 is also a discussion item, conditional approval of new interim program schools. Any questions or discussion on this

183item? 7.3 I discussion item plans of correction for rules 10 14 and 18 school systems and interim program schools board members are there any questions or discussion on this item I did appreciate that all the plans were listed for us and I did read through all the plans and so grateful for um our staff to be including those kind of documentation. Please continue to do so. Item 7.3.J, J. Approval of educator preparation programs for 2025 2026. Board members, are there any questions or discussion on this item? [Applause] Okay. Agenda item 7.4. Chair Maggie Douglas will report on behalf of the rules and regulations committee meeting. Thank you. The rules and regulations committee reports on the June 5th, 2025 meeting of the committee. Members present were Chair Maggie Douglas, Vice Chair Liz Rener, Elizabeth Tegmier, and

184Kirk Penner. Committee members reviewed the report on rules and committee report. The public hearing was held on April 29th, 2025 for revisions to rule three, regulations governing high ability learners. NDE staff shared the hearing summary and testimony. The committee, having no concerns, recommends approval. The public hearing was held on June 4th, 2025 for revisions to rule 15, regulations and procedures for English learner programs in Nebraska public schools. NDE staff shared the hearing summary and testimony. The committee, having no concerns, recommends approval. Public hearings were held April 29th, 2025 for the repeals of rule 22 regulations governing the master teacher program, rule 25 regulations governing the excellence in teaching act and rule 26 regulations and procedures for mentor teacher programs. NDE staff shared the hearing summary and testimony. The committee having no concerns recommends approval. NDE

185staff provided information on proposed revisions to rule 11 regulations for the approval of pre kindergarten programs established by school boards or educational service units and for the issuance of early childhood education grants. NDE staff will modify the revisions for further review by the committee. NDE staff provided information on proposed revisions to rule eight regulations for school finance and budgeting, state funding of educational service units and learning communities. NDE staff will modify the revisions for further review by the committee. NDE staff provided an update on proposed revisions to rule 10 regulations and procedures for the accreditation of schools. The committee will continue discussing the rule revisions. NDE staff provided a potential public input draft of revisions to rule 20 regulations for the approval of educator preparation programs. The committee recommends proceeding with public input. NDE staff

186provided an update on proposed revisions to rule 24 regulations for certification endorsements. The committee will continue discussing the rule revisions and staff provided information on changes to the administrative procedure act relevant to the rule making process. The committee will continue to discuss this topic. This concludes the rules and regulations committee report. Maggie Douglas chair. Are there any questions on the rules and regulations committee report? Okay. Is there a motion on item 7.4? I move to adopt the proposed revisions to rule three. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed revisions to rule three. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to adopt the proposed revisions to rule three. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Jones, yes. Ner, yes. Rener, yes. Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Christensen, yes. Shonhoff, yes.

187Tegmire, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed revisions to rule three is adopted. Item 7.4 C. Is there a motion? I move to adopt the proposed revision to rule 15. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed revision to rule 15. Is there any discussion on the motion? know by the time we get these to action this the committee has just tore through these so long that yeah see no discussion. The motion is to adopt the proposed revisions to rule 15. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Rener yes. Douglas yes. Christensen yes. Jones yes. Tagmire, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Shonhoff, yes. A yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed revisions to rule 15 is adopted. Is there a

188motion on item 7.4D? Yes. I move to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 22. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 22. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 22. With the recording secretary, please call the role. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Penner, yes. Ner, yes. Tagmare, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 22 is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.4e? Yes. I move to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 25. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 25. Is there any discussion on the motion? The motion is to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 25.

189Would the recording secretary please call the role? Ner, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Tagmire, yes. Douglas, yes. Christensen, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Penner, yes. Eight, yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 25 is adopted. Is there a motion on item 7.4? Yes. I move to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 26. Second. It is moved and seconded to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 26. Is there any discussion on the motion? We could have a really long discussion right about now. The motion is to adopt the proposed repeal of rule 26. Would the recording secretary please call the role? Douglas, yes. Penner, yes. Shonhoff, yes. Ner, yes. Tagmire, yes. Jones, yes. Rener, yes. Christensen, yes. Eight. Yes. The affirmative has it and the motion to adopt the proposed

190repeal of rule 26 is adopted. The next items on the agenda, items 9.1 through 9.5 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 point in the agenda. Nor should board members engage in substantive discussion about other agenda items or introduce new agenda items. Does anyone have anything to share for the good of the order? I still want to hear what happened in DC, but we can talk afterwards. Yes. Thank you for representing us

191at the Early Childhood Conference. We appreciate that, both Maggie and Lisa. Anyone else? Well, we look forward to I I'm just going to make a BL I am going to speak for the board. We look forward to seeing our um Nebraska administrators. Uh this July at admin days. Uh typically NDE day is where you're going to see a lot of the board members represented. So uh we hope that our administrators will come up and say hello, introduce themselves if we don't already know them, and we look forward to seeing you all. 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 August 7th and 8th, 2025 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The June 26, 2025 state board meeting is adjourned.