Bill signed gutting disabilities protections as alternative focus

A Nebraska education bill signed by Gov. Jim Pillen aimed to address glaring disparities in school transfer requests for students with disabilities has been stripped of most of its protections, disappointing parents and advocates who once championed the legislation.

According to reporting from the Flatwater Free Press, State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil introduced the bill to combat a systemic problem: Nebraska school districts deny 35 percent of option enrollment applications from students with individualized education programs, compared to about 9 percent of applications from students without disabilities.

The disparities are particularly stark in the Omaha suburbs. Bellevue Public Schools rejected more than three-quarters of students with IEPs while accepting all but one of 246 applicants without disabilities. Fort Calhoun, Westside and Douglas County West districts each denied well over half of IEP students who applied.

Murman, who drew on personal experience—his now-grown daughter reminded him of the students facing these barriers—originally proposed capping the denial rate for students with IEPs at 16 percent annually and establishing other protections. However, faced with opposition from school administrators and the state teachers union, who cited special education staff shortages, Murman stripped most of those provisions from the bill earlier this year.

The amended legislation shifted focus to allow schools to suspend students in pre-K through second grade for violent behavior, reversing a 2023 law that had limited such suspensions to cases involving deadly weapons.

One modest protection remained: option school districts must automatically accept siblings of currently enrolled option students, potentially opening a narrow pathway for some students with disabilities to transfer.

Angela Gleason, whose son Teddy with autism has been denied transfers multiple times, expressed frustration. "I was like, 'Oh, it was going to help kids, and now I feel like it's hurting more kids than it was going to help,"" she said.

The change particularly troubled disability advocates given that students enrolled in special education were suspended more than twice as often as their peers last school year. The Arc of Nebraska, a leading disability rights organization, opposed the final version because of this disciplinary disparity.

Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Lincoln Democrat, criticized Murman for redirecting the bill toward what she called Gov. Pillen's priority of removing suspensions protections for young students. "If the schools, the Governor and the Legislature won't act to remedy this clear discrimination on a systemic level, I hope parents start suing the schools to hold them accountable," Conrad said.

Murman has indicated he is term-limited after this year but hopes another lawmaker will pursue the original protections in coming years. The state Department of Education is considering additional rule changes tied to option enrollment, though specifics remain unclear.