State Board of Education moves forward with proposed budget

With hopes of making changes in March

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN)- The State Board spoke about teacher shortages on Friday and a way that might help keep them in Nebraska.

The budget is made up of the remainder of the $18 million dollars in federal funding including the American Rescue Plan Act funding.

$1 million has been set aside in the budget to go towards teacher recruitment, preparing, retaining/sustaining.

Committee member Jacquelyn Morrison felt that was just not enough.

“Teachers around the state are struggling, they are having a hard time in the classroom.  We need to show a sign of supporting our teachers.  If we can’t find anything in this allocation to reallocate to show that we are supporting teachers, that to me sends the wrong signal.”

The committee voted to move forward with the budget, but only to move forward.  They plan to make official changes to it in March.  The deadline to submit a draft to the federal government for funding is February 28th, and changes can be made after it is submitted.