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NebraskaLB143109th Legislature 1st and 2nd SessionslegislatureWALLET

Change provisions relating to student enrollment

Sponsored By: Victor Rountree

Signed by Governor

Education Committee

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

7 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.

State pays school costs for wards

When a child is a ward and is placed outside the home district (not in a licensed foster home), the state pays the cost of schooling and required transportation to the receiving district or approved institution. If a ward age 18 or younger is placed in a county detention home, the state pays that education cost to the approved provider. A ward in a licensed or approved foster home is treated as a resident of the district where they lived when they became a foster child, unless other state rules assign the school in the foster‑home district.

Tuition rules for nonresident students

A district may admit a nonresident student under a contract with the student’s home district and must collect tuition set in that contract. A district may also admit a student who lives in another state and require tuition paid in advance at a board‑set rate. These charges can be large for families.

Early enrollment for military families

If a military parent shows orders stationing the family in Nebraska this school year or next, the district must allow early enrollment. The same early‑enrollment rules apply when the child has an IEP, IFSP, or 504 plan. When the family arrives and the requirements are met, the student is admitted without charge.

Free school enrollment for local and homeless students

A student who lives in a district, or has a parent who lives there, is admitted for free. Homeless students can enroll free where they are now, where they last enrolled, or where they went when permanently housed. Districts may also take nonresident students through the state’s enrollment option program without tuition. If you move during the year, the board may let your child finish the year there. Schools cannot charge tuition when the law says attendance is free.

Residential care education: who provides and pays

If a residential setting has no interim‑program or approved school, the resident district must arrange all educational services, usually by contracting with the district where the setting is located. If the setting runs an interim‑program or approved school, the State Department of Education reimburses the setting based on the average per‑pupil cost, and the resident district keeps IEP responsibility. When there is a district‑to‑district contract, legal responsibility for special education shifts to the district where the setting is located. If the districts cannot agree on the contract payment, the State Department of Education sets the amount using the student’s needs, approved special‑education rates, past budgets, and local per‑student costs. For non‑ward students in DHHS‑licensed Nebraska residential settings or enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, the student stays a resident of the district they lived in before entering the setting. If it is later decided another district was the resident district, that district must reimburse 110% of what was paid. Students in these settings are treated as students with a handicap for contracting, allowing non‑state, nonreligious providers to deliver services.

Same timelines for special education enrollment

Students with an IEP, IFSP, or 504 plan follow the same preliminary or advanced enrollment timelines as other students. School boards must apply the same enrollment steps and deadlines to these students.

Info you must give to enroll

To enroll a student, an adult with legal or actual charge must give basic information to the education department. Provide the student’s name, the adult’s name, the address where the student lives or will live, and a phone or email to reach the adult during the school day.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Victor Rountree

    legislature

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 86 • No: 0

legislature vote • 4/3/2025

Final Reading

Yes: 47 • No: 0 • Other: 2

legislature vote • 2/25/2025

Vote

Yes: 39 • No: 0 • Other: 10

Actions Timeline

  1. Approved by Governor on April 7, 2025

    4/8/2025legislature

  2. Dispensing of reading at large approved

    4/3/2025legislature

  3. Passed on Final Reading 47-0-2

    4/3/2025legislature

  4. President/Speaker signed

    4/3/2025legislature

  5. Presented to Governor on April 3, 2025

    4/3/2025legislature

  6. Placed on Final Reading

    3/19/2025legislature

  7. Enrollment and Review ER19 adopted

    3/11/2025legislature

  8. Advanced to Enrollment and Review for Engrossment

    3/11/2025legislature

  9. Placed on Select File with ER19

    3/4/2025legislature

  10. Enrollment and Review ER19 filed

    3/4/2025legislature

  11. Advanced to Enrollment and Review Initial

    2/25/2025legislature

  12. Andersen name added

    2/24/2025legislature

  13. Placed on General File

    2/7/2025legislature

  14. Notice of hearing for February 03, 2025

    1/27/2025legislature

  15. Referred to Education Committee

    1/15/2025legislature

  16. Raybould name added

    1/15/2025legislature

  17. Conrad name added

    1/14/2025legislature

  18. Date of introduction

    1/13/2025legislature

Bill Text

  • Introduced

    4/8/2025

    PDF

  • Enrolled / Slip Law

    PDF

  • Final / Enacted

    PDF

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