My Personal Recap the January 2026 SBOE Meeting

My Views Are My Own

By Lisa Schonhoff, Ed.S.

1/15/2026

During our January meeting, the board members reelected Elizabeth Tegtmeier as board President.  Liz Renner from District 4 was elected as Vice President.  All eight board members will remain in their current committees to maintain consistency.

We heard from the new Teacher of the Year.  Sarah Hardin received a science degree and was working at a bank when the Mullen Public Schools superintendent knocked on her front door and asked her if she would consider teaching science at the high school.  Her nontraditional route to becoming a teacher is an inspiring story.

We received updates from the NDE Literacy Officers regarding the Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grants.  Administrators across Nebraska are communicating that positive developments in literacy instruction are taking place in their buildings.  I look forward to hearing more how these improvements will be reflected in student achievement scores across our state.

In accordance with state statute, the State Board of Education is required to vote on the plan for the Learning Community (LC) of Douglas and Sarpy Counties. For those who are not familiar with the Learning Community, here is a brief history.  In 2005, Omaha Public Schools (OPS) attempted to annex portions of the Millard, Ralston, and Elkhorn districts.  Initially, the Legislature passed a bill to break OPS into three separate districts. This was challenged in court and ultimately replaced by the Learning Community concept as a compromise to maintain district boundaries while forcing cooperation among school districts in 2007 to address socioeconomic disparities.  The primary intent was to resolve boundary disputes and address the "socioeconomic gap" in the Omaha metro area.  According to the Nebraska Auditor page, the Learning Community spent approximately $13.5 million during the 2024-2025 school year.  

After reviewing more than 500 pages of documentation I was given ahead of voting on the LC’s plan, I am seeking to understand how the work the LC has been doing since 2007 has impacted student achievement and graduation rates.  How do preschoolers served by the LC do on state assessments by the time they are in the third grade?  One of my greatest concerns with the plan is the excessive monitoring and digital tracking of preschool Social and Emotional Learning via their Devereux Early Childhood Assessment.  This program calls for the screening of every child for social and emotional mental health for intervention purposes.  I cited “a meta-analysis of 39 studies including 12,496 subjects was conducted to determine the magnitude of the relationship between self-reflection and both positive and negative mental health…showed a significant positive relationship between self-reflection and overall negative mental health indicators, including depression and anxiety.” After attending a preschool professional development session in Kearney in August, I learned that teachers find these social and emotional assessments to be distracting and not helpful to student instruction.  In December, KETV7 reported that Omaha Public Schools graduation rates declined.  “This year’s data shows graduation rates are 2.6 percent lower than five years ago, declining from 74.1 percent in 2021 to 71.5 percent in 2025.” Another concern I have with the plan is the LC partnership with One World Community Health Centers. I have serious misgivings about sending taxpayer dollars to public schools to partner with an organization that promotes “hormone therapy and medical transition assistance for transgender individuals.”

The Nebraska Social Studies Standards are currently being revised and have received an extremely low rating from Civics Alliance.  If you would like to provide input regarding the Social Studies Standards revision, you may email the Nebraska Department of Education:  nde.socialstudiesstandardsinput@nebraska.gov

You can view the Nebraska Education Profile to review the demographics, performance and spending in your school district:   NEP - Nebraska Dept of Education