My Personal Recap of the August and September SBOE Meetings

My Views Are My Own

By Lisa Schonhoff, Ed.S.

10/7/2025

In the August meeting, Commissioner Maher shared updates regarding the School Finance Review Commission.  Governor Pillen appointed the committee to review state education finance policy.  The meetings minutes are public and can be viewed on the NDE website.

The Nebraska Literacy Leadership Network (NLLN) grant was unanimously approved to provide administrators with professional development on the Science of Reading. Nebraskans have $80 million invested in literacy between the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant and the Nebraska Literacy Leadership Network grant.

Another action item on the August agenda was to approve the NCTE roster. “The Nebraska Council on Teacher Education (NCTE) is an advisory body to the Nebraska State Board of Education. Its membership is appointed by the State Board from representatives of state-wide organizations that have a direct involvement or interest in teacher and administrative preparation, and from higher education institutions in Nebraska which are approved by the State Board of Education to prepare and recommend for certification teachers, administrators, and counselors; and those people recommended for special services endorsements.”  The roster for the NCTE board was voted down with a 4:4 vote due to inadequate representation of union, nonunion, public, and private school teachers on the NCTE board. The Nebraska Department of Education will appoint members for the current school year.

One item that was pulled from the consent agenda allows school districts to exceed their spending lid. 62 school districts are asking for TEEOSA Exclusions totaling $121 million this month alone.  I was told that these exclusions will be coming up again in months ahead. Bryce Wilson, the Finance Officer, explained how the exclusions allow the districts to raise their spending limits for items that are not typically paid for by taxpayers, and are paid with grant dollars.  These exclusions were unanimously passed in August and have shown up again in the consent agenda in September and October.

In the September meeting, the most important item on the agenda was the approval of the Nebraska Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant. “Phase 1 of the NDE Portal utilized Board approved ESSER funding and was built as a safe and secure, one-stop gateway where schools, districts, and NDE staff can log in and access all the applications, reports, and tools they need. The portal is accessible by districts and schools and can be used by both public district and non-public district users. Current SLDS funds will be used for further enhancements to make the portal easier to use, more powerful, and more flexible." This is funded federally in a total amount of $4 million.

The Information Systems Officer, Kristin Yates, discussed the need to update the Data Access and Use Policy and Procedures manual to ensure that it reflects most current use of technology in our schools.  She also stated that while the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is the “guiding light for privacy and security” at the NDE, “the Feds don’t often update FERPA as often as they should."  The federal laws have NOT kept up with technology.  This leads me to believe that we must be diligent in ensuring adequate safeguards are in place to protect student data.  I also believe it’s extremely important to review FERPA and the MANY exceptions provided in releasing student data:

Provided certain conditions are met that are not included in the summary below, other exceptions to FERPA’s general consent requirement that permit the disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from education records include, but are not limited to:

 • To authorized representatives of, among others, the U.S. Secretary of Education, as well as State and local educational authorities, for audit or evaluation of Federal- or State-supported education programs, or for the enforcement of or compliance with Federal legal requirements that relate to those programs;

 • In connection with financial aid for which the student has applied or received;

 • To organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, the school for the purposes of administering predictive tests, administering student aid programs, or improving instruction; 

• To the victim of an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or a non-forcible sex offense concerning the final results of a disciplinary hearing conducted by an institution of postsecondary education against the alleged perpetrator of such crime or offense with respect to the alleged crime or offense; 

• To any third party the final results, as described in FERPA regulations, of a disciplinary proceeding conducted by an institution of postsecondary education against a student who is the alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense if the student is found by the institution to have violated its rules or policies as a result of the disciplinary proceeding, as long as the disclosure does not include the name of any other student, including a victim or witness, without the written consent of that other student; 

• To comply with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena;

• In connection with a health or safety emergency; and 

• To a parent of a student at an institution of postsecondary education regarding the student’s violation of any Federal, State, or local law, or of any rule or policy of the institution, governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance, where the institution determines that the student has committed a disciplinary violation with respect to that use or possession, and the student is under 21 years of age at the time of the disclosure to the parent.

The SLDS grant was unanimously passed.

Other Quick Points:

The Social Studies Standards Revision process is underway, and the work will continue throughout the next year. Content standards are reviewed on a seven year cycle.  School districts are NOT required to purchase new curriculum materials once the standards have been reviewed by the NDE.

I was able to attend the student kickoff event for the Grow Your Own program to speak with future educators on September 3rd in Lincoln.

Congratulations to Sara Hardin, of Mullen Public Schools, on being named 2026 Teacher of the Year!