Board hears how recent state laws require new classes, staff and spending for financial literacy and computer science

Norfolk Public Schools administrators told the board that two recent state laws — the Financial Literacy Act and the Computer Science and Technology Education Act (LB 1112) — have become graduation and K–8 instructional requirements that the district must implement, and that both imposed costs not covered by state appropriations.

"We like to refer to these as unfunded mandates because at the time that they were passed and signed into law there were no funds attached to them," Jared Oswald, director of teaching and learning, told the board. He said the district had to spend money to meet both laws.

Under the Financial Literacy Act, students must earn five credit hours of financial literacy instruction to graduate; the first graduating class to meet that requirement was the class of 2024. The district added personal finance to the required course list at the high school and expanded financial literacy instruction across K–8 through economics standards, STEAM coursework and exploratory business electives.

"We did have to go through the full curriculum process to update that course to make sure that it met all the standards that were contained within what was required for us by the state of Nebraska," said Jason Settles, senior-high principal, describing the staffing and scheduling changes needed to offer personal finance to every student. He said the district ultimately needed the equivalent of one full-time teacher dedicated to personal finance to meet demand without disrupting other offerings and that the district provides special education and ELL supports for required graduation courses.

Nikita Benton, a business teacher who previously worked in banking, described classroom practice and the rationale for the required course. "I was surprised by how many adults of all ages, but especially our young adults, didn't know how to do basic things like write checks, manage a checking account, read bank statements, deal with issues like fraud, or even understand how to get a loan," Benton said. "These are basic skills that if taught early on can help our students to avoid common financial mistakes in the future."

The Computer Science and Technology Education Act (LB 1112), signed in 2022, creates a computer-science graduation requirement for the cohort graduating in 2028 and requires K–8 instruction. The district adjusted its required ninth-grade information-technology class to align to the new computer-science standards and purchased a commercial platform (CodeHS) to support standards-aligned instruction and assessments.

"We found out roughly last year, August, ... these are gonna be your new standards," said Eric Bridal, one of the information-technology teachers. He and colleague Lance Kush said the district purchased a subscription that allows teachers to align assessments to Nebraska standards; they described strong student interest in programming modules and said the district coordinated with Northeast Community College for advanced pathways.

Oswald and Mickey Mueller, the district's education-technology facilitator, told the board the Legislature later created the Computer Science and Technology Education Fund via LB 1284 to recruit and train teachers, but district staff have not yet received guidance or an allocation process from the Nebraska Department of Education. Mueller said the fund appears limited to teacher training and would not reimburse the platform purchase.

Board members asked for clarification on the content of required annual reports: the Financial Literacy Act requires a progress report to the school board and LB 1112 requires a report to both the school board and the Department of Education; administrators said the state has not specified the required contents beyond a report of progress.

Administrators asked the board to be aware that state curriculum mandates can have a chain of operational effects: new graduation requirements can require staffing changes, schedule adjustments, purchases, and targeted supports for special education and ELL students.