The Network for Public Education publishes an annual ranking of states in relation to their support for their public schools. This year, for the third year in a row, Nebraska topped all other states in the ranking of states. The legislature, led by Republicans, wants school choice, including vouchers. The legislature allocated $10 million for a voucher program. The public voted by 57%-43% in 2024 to repeal the voucher program. The majority of the public wants good public schools.
Carol Burris writes:
Since our state-by-state report card, Public Schooling in America, began, Nebraska has consistently ranked among the top states for its support of public education. This year, it rose from fifth place to first.
Nebraska is one of only two states — the other being Kentucky — with no charter schools and no state voucher program. Both states’ legislatures passed voucher laws, but in Nebraska, voters overturned it by referendum. In Kentucky, the courts struck down both the charter and voucher laws, and voters went on to defeat an attempt to amend the state constitution to allow them.
Beyond the absence of privatization, Nebraska earned high marks for creating a positive climate for teaching and learning. It has fewer underqualified teachers than most states and a high teacher-attractiveness rating. It also has one of the best student-to-counselor ratios in the nation. It bans corporal punishment, and it is one of only two states that place homeschooling restrictions on families under investigation by Child Protective Services. Unlike most states, Nebraska requires families to provide annual notification when they homeschool.
Even at the top, Nebraska has room to improve. On public school funding, it landed in the middle of the pack. The state distributes what it spends equitably, but given its ability to pay, it can afford to invest more.
Nebraska also, unfortunately, opted into the federal voucher program, and it remains to be seen how much funding Scholarship Granting Organizations will direct to the state’s private and/or public schools. For now, however, Nebraskans’ commitment to their public schools has made the state a beacon of hope.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The first thought that came to mind when I read this was that many rural Republicans oppose school privatization because it diverts money from the only public schools their communities have, and in many cases there aren’t private schools as an alternative. I learned that Nebraska is more rural than many other Republican-leaning states, which likely helps explain why voters rejected school vouchers. It’s sickening that many of the state’s elected officials have taken a different position from the electorate on this issue.
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The problem is the NPE rankings have no correlation to the relative performances of states on NAEP. Nebraska reflects this with generally unimpressive rankings in 2024 NAEP public school results such as 36th for white students and 35th out of 39 states with scores for Black students in Grade 4 reading. Grade 8 reading is scarcely better with Nebraska’s whites ranking 32nd and Blacks ranking 29th out of 38 states with scores. The only really bright spot is in NAEP Grade 8 Math, where Nebraska’s whites ranked 8th, but Blacks were way behind in 33rd place out of 40 states with scores. These are public school results only, by the way. What NPE considers important doesn’t seem to make much difference in student performance.
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The NPE report measures states’ support for their public schools.
It does not measure test scores.
Test scores are highly correlated with family income and education.
Anyone can look up test scores on the NAEP website.
The question that the NPE report asked was:
Which states support their public schools the most?
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As I stated before, when you made this comment previously..
From the report: This report does not rate states based on test scores, nor does it rate individual schools. Rather, we rate statehouses based on the policies and laws we know either strengthen or weaken the public schools that the vast majority of children attend.
This is not about test scores — and it is not meant to be. It is an indicator of support and respect for public education and its ideals. It is a predictor of whether public education will even survive in some states. And it reveals how privatization and disinvestment in public schooling go hand in hand.
It is not, nor was it ever meant to be, a predictor of test scores.
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