Northeast Nebraska mailbox project invites grads to return home

Each of the 172 seniors who graduated this year from one of the six high schools located in Holt County received an identical present — a congratulatory note offering graduation wishes and an open invitation to remember the communities where they grew up. And the invitation came inside a personalized mailbox. Nicole Sedlacek, Holt County Economic Development (HCED) director, said the mailbox project urged graduates who are entering the work force to take an active role now in the community.

Students who plan on attending college were asked to consider placing their mailboxes in their hometowns and Holt County following graduation from college. Sedlacek said most youths have hometown and school pride. Showing graduates the career and entrepreneurial opportunities that are available or needed in the region might help reverse trends in regard to population of rural communities. Making a connection with youths while they are still in high school is a key to success.

Sedlacek said that giving youths a sense of ownership instills a sense of community, which helps develop an attitude of wanting to return home. With the popularity of online networking, HCED can keep individuals updated via their e-mail. The development office has created an online presence at Facebook and currently has more than 100 members.

Nebraska students get financial Jump$tart

Nebraska high school seniors scored slightly better than the national average on the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy 2008 survey, but there is still plenty of room for improvement, said Jennifer Clark, president of the Nebraska Financial Education Coalition, a Jump$tart affiliate.

Nebraska seniors correctly answered 50.8% of questions, compared with 48.3% nationally. This is the first year Nebraskans participated in the survey, which was launched in 1997. Students were surveyed at 19 Nebraska high schools that were randomly selected in both urban and rural areas, Clark said.

But while Nebraskans outperformed their national counterparts, they were only able to correctly answer about 43% of questions specifically related to money management and savings. Financial literacy information written for teens is available online at www.jumpstart.org

Statewide testing measure passes in Legislature

Nebraska lawmakers on Monday voted to replace the state’s approach to measuring student achievement The Legislature gave final-round approval to a bill (LB1157) that would require uniform, statewide tests in reading, math and science in many elementary and high school grades. Thirty-three senators voted for the bill. That’s enough to override a veto, were one to come from Gov. Dave Heineman. His spokeswoman said the governor will review the bill in detail.

Bill would require training for employees who sell, serve alcohol

The Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to the full Legislature Wednesday that would require training for an employee to sell or serve alcohol. The penalty for not training employees would be the same as if the clerk or server had sold alcohol to a minor. The training would be done via computer or video and would have to be done every three years.

The fine for failure to train would involve a cash penalty or temporary suspension of alcohol sales. The bill (LB810) is a priority bill of Omaha Sen. Lowen Kruse, but was “transmogrified” from the bill he introduced, he said.

The original version of the bill would have made a reckless or negligent retailer who served alcohol to a noticeably intoxicated adult liable for any resulting death, injury or damage. Kruse said he believed he had good support for his original bill and it will come back next year with another senator.

Legislature’s Ag Committee favors State Fair move to Grand Island

Lawmakers began nudging the Nebraska State Fair off it’s 106-year-old site in Lincoln and toward Grand Island on Monday. The Agriculture Committee advanced a bill (LB1116) to the full Legislature that would move the fair to Grand Island by 2010 at a cost of $42 million, with about half coming from the University of Nebraska and $5 million from the state’s cash reserve fund. But with the advancement of the bill Monday, Grand Island went from the one-time underdog to the front-runner, racing ahead of Lincoln in the competition for the fair.

Grand Island Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Johnson attributed it to the support Grand Island officials got from the fair board. “What we found is that Grand Island really had an understanding of what the state fair wanted and needed,” Johnson said.

In addition to $21.5 million from the university and $5 million from the state, Grand Island would pitch in private donations and public dollars totaling $8.5 million. The fair board would give another $7 million.

The university wants to use the land at State Fair Park in Lincoln to build a research campus where they envision university researchers and private businesses co-mingling to boost the state’s economy with high-paying jobs.

That project could include $300 million worth of new, public facilities and $600 million to $700 million worth of private facilities. One key player seemed satisfied with the cost breakdown. Gov. Dave Heineman quickly endorsed the Grand Island plan, calling it an “opportunity of a lifetime.”

Statewide testing measure advances in Legislature

Nebraska’s one-of-a-kind approach to measuring the achievement of students is one step closer to being modernized. The Legislature gave second-round approval to a bill (LB1157) that would require uniform, statewide tests in reading, math and science in many elementary and high school grade levels.

State aid bill gets second-round approval; school aid would still grow at 9%

Despite complaints from a number of senators about the effects of proposed changes to the state’s school aid formula, the Legislature gave second-round approval Thursday night to a bill amended to reduce the 17% growth rate of state funding next year by another $11 million.

With the most recent version of the bill (LB988), state aid would increase overall next year to $839 million, $62 million less than original calculations, but still $70 million more than schools got this year. Schools had been slated to get nearly $901 million in state assistance for 2008-09 under Nebraska’s current state aid formula, a $132 million, a 17% increase.

LB988, introduced by State Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln, was put on a fast track after updated forecasts showed Nebraska would collect less tax revenue than previously expected through 2008-09. Last week, state senators voted for a version of the bill that trimmed the aid amount by $50 million, which still would be a 10% increase from 2007-08. But it was not enough to close an estimated $60 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. And the bill resulted in sharp reductions for small schools in sparsely populated areas of the state.

Thursday, Raikes returned to the Legislature with a new proposal that subtracted more from next year’s aid amount, but softened the blow to phase in over two years the deep cuts proposed for the school districts in sparsely populated areas. Raikes emphasized that the bill does not “cut” state aid. Overall, the state is still increasing its allocation to schools, but a number of districts will be receiving less money. “Keep in mind that state aid still increases by more than 9% next year,” he said. “Be careful how you use the word ‘cut.’”

Nebraska students putting skills to the test

Nebraska high school and college students will be competing in various contests at the 2008 SkillsUSA Nebraska contest in Columbus this week. About 700 students are expected to take part in the event, which begins Thursday and concludes Saturday. SkillsUSA is a national organization that focuses on giving secondary and post-secondary students opportunities to develop skills in trade, industrial, technical, technological and health areas.

The state event will feature more than 70 different contests for students, said Duane Matson, the event’s campus coordinator at Central Community College-Columbus. The college, along with Platte County Agricultural Park and the New World Inn, are contest sites.

The contests cover a wide variety of areas from architecture and carpentry, to cosmetology and photography. Most of the contests are coordinated and judged by local employers, so the event also provides a good opportunity for students to build relationships for future employment and vice versa.

This is the fourth year Columbus has hosted the state event. The public is welcome to attend. The first session will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at the New World Inn. Winners of the contests will be eligible to compete at the national contest in Kansas City.

Changes in school funding get nod from Nebraska lawmakers

Nebraska lawmakers have given first-round approval to a measure that will give many school districts less money than they expected. Supporters say the proposed changes to the school aid formula will help make sure money is distributed more fairly and will slow the rapid growth in aid to public schools.

If the changes get final approval, the planned increase in school aid next year could drop to about $82 million, versus the planned increase of $132 million. Lawmakers are counting on the changes to help fill an expected budget gap caused by slower growth in state revenue.

Nebraska community colleges awarded $6 million in competitive grants

The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded nearly $4 million in job training grants to three of Nebraska’s community colleges. Central Community College in Grand Island and Southeast Community College in Lincoln have been awarded more than $2 million for a health care initiative involving 40 counties.

Metropolitan Community College in Omaha got nearly $2 million for a project to help meet demand for information technology workers in eastern Nebraska. The projects are two of just 69 projects nationwide to receive funding as part of President Bush’s Community-Based Job Training Grants initiative.