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Legislative update: state budget gap and school financing review commission among items to watch
Summary
Tim Gay of Catalyst Public Affairs briefed the board on the 2025 Nebraska legislative session, highlighting a roughly $289–$290 million Medicaid-related budget shortfall, carryover bills affecting education (including a commission to review TOSA/school financing), and other education-related legislation to monitor next year.
Tim Gay of Catalyst Public Affairs provided the board with an overview of the 2025 Nebraska legislative session, focusing on items that could affect Papillion La Vista Community Schools next year.
Gay said the Legislature passed fewer education committee bills than some years and that lawmakers closed the session early. He told the board two unexpected items in the state forecast produced a large budget hole late in the session: an oversight in Medicaid funding he described as "$289,000,000" and a subsequent forecast that left lawmakers about "$290,000,000" short. Gay said the resulting budget pressure shaped how some bills were handled late in the session.
Among measures Gay flagged was LB303 (a committee/finance package that evolved into a school-financing review commission) that would create a commission to review school finance and positions often described as TOSAs; he said the commission membership will include the state education commissioner, superintendents and five members of the general public and be appointed with input from the governor. Gay said the panel is intended to study school-finance issues and that the district has potential candidates to recommend.
Gay also summarized other education bills and carryovers to watch, including bills addressing electronic-communication-device policies in schools, protection for service members' students, and student records for children in the juvenile or foster-care system, and he noted that several bills were watered down or did not advance because of time and budget constraints. He recommended continued monitoring of special-education-related measures and a bill (identified in discussion as LB653) that would affect option enrollment and prioritization for students with disabilities.
Gay told the board the main thing to watch is the state budget and related property-tax relief programs that are drawing significant general-fund resources, and he urged district leaders to engage early next session to influence bill language and timing.
Why it matters: state legislative and budget decisions can change district obligations, funding and policy requirements and thus affect district planning and operations.
