Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — All Nebraska teachers could receive an annual bonus under a proposed expansion of an existing grant program to recruit and retain teachers through 2028.
Legislative Bill 411, from State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, would amend the Nebraska Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act, adopted in 2023, to automatically apply to all K-12 school teachers. The current law allows grants of $2,500 a year once teachers reach their second, fourth and sixth years of teaching in the state, with retention bonuses as well for teachers in high-need subject areas.
The expanded grant amount would grow, depending on a person’s years of teaching experience.
“We continue to talk about the need for public school teachers and the fact that we are woefully understaffed, and one of the things that we all agree on that would help with that is just to give them more money,” Dungan said Friday.
Under LB 411, all full-time teachers after July 1 would annually receive a retention grant:
- For teachers in their first through sixth year of teaching, $2,500 each school year.
- For teachers in their seventh through 15th year of teaching, $3,000 each school year.
- For teachers in their 16th year or more of teaching, $4,000 each school year.
Teachers who obtain an endorsement in special education, math, science, technology or dual-credit and who sign a contract to complete a full year of teaching that endorsement in Nebraska would be eligible for one $5,000 “high-need retention grant.” Teachers who received a high-need grant prior to July 1, 2025, would be ineligible to receive another.
The current recruitment and retention program, led by former State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Lincoln, requires teachers to apply for the grants. The law is set to end Jan. 1, 2028.
Dungan said that some long-time teachers have felt left behind from a lack of financial or administrative support and are leaving the teaching field at higher rates. His bill would ensure those teachers “who have committed their life to teaching and continue to work in the career” also get a bonus.
In the 2023-24 school year, there were nearly 27,000 teachers statewide in public and private K-12 schools, according to the Nebraska Department of Education.
Dungan said he’s unsure of the annual cost of his proposal. However, excluding high-need retention grants, it could annually cost between $66 million (if all teachers were in their first to sixth year of teaching) and $106 million (if all teachers were in their 16th year of teaching or beyond).
If all teachers received one high-need retention grant before 2028, that would cost more than $132 million.
School boards would retain local control over employee salaries, but Dungan said the proposed teacher bonuses signal support from the state “with what tools we have in our toolbox.”
“It may cost some money, but when we’re talking about finances, especially this year with the budget conversation being what it is, we have to figure out what our priorities are,” Dungan said. “I think one thing we all agree on is we have to prioritize schools.”
Other legislative bills introduced between Jan. 15 and Jan. 17
- Legislative Bill 282, by State Sen. Jason Prokop of Lincoln, would allow K-12 school teachers to apply for up to $300 in reimbursement from the Nebraska Department of Education for school supplies.
- LB 285, by State Sen. Dan Lonowski of Hastings, would outlaw the sale of flavored vape products.
- LB 312, by State Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney and 19 other senators, would expand student loans and repayments under the Rural Health Systems and Professional Incentive Act to include nurse anesthetists.
- LB 371, by State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha, would expand a 2019 law from DeBoer authorizing civil remedies for the nonconsensual disclosure or threat of disclosure of private intimate images to include computer-generated or digitally manipulated photos.
- LB 384, by State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, would require a majority of elected members on property tax asking governing bodies to attend joint public hearings related to property tax requests above the allowable growth percentage.
- LB 389, by State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, would replace the property tax authority of educational service units with state funding, similar to how the state took over most funding of community colleges in 2023.
- LB 417, by State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, would codify the University of Nebraska’s “Nebraska Promise” scholarship program in state law. It guarantees free undergraduate tuition for Nebraska residents with family incomes of less than $65,000, or who are Pell Grant eligible. Bostar’s bill would also create the “College Promise Act,” extending the same program to community colleges and state colleges, with state reimbursement.
- LB 424, by State Sen. Bob Andersen of Omaha, would prohibit total property tax bills from increasing by whichever is less between 3% or inflation, excluding property improvements.
- LB 432, by State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, would allow the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to carry out the death penalty by the inhalation of pure nitrogen (nitrogen hypoxia), in addition to lethal injection.
- Legislative Resolution 15CA, by State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, would prohibit the death penalty.
- LR 16CA, by the Urban Affairs Committee, and LR 18CA, by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, would prohibit the Legislature from imposing increased financial burdens on local political subdivisions unless lawmakers attached funding. Similar efforts to crack down on unfunded mandates, by former State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, stalled multiple times.
- LR 19CA, by State Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk and 23 other senators, would extend legislative term limits, allowing senators to serve three four-year terms, instead of two terms.
- LR 20CA, also by Bostar, would allow authorized gaming operators already conducting sports wagering at licensed racetracks in the state to allow online sports betting if the wager is placed on a mobile or electronic device within Nebraska.