Change provisions relating to school policies on the involvement of parents, guardians, and educational decisionmakers in schools

Brief

What this bill does

If it passes, what actually changes?

This is a narrow amendment to an existing school-policy law. It adds survey notice and opt-out rules to what every district's parental involvement policy must cover.

• Amends section 79-532, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, and repeals the original section.
• Districts must notify parents at least fifteen days before administering a sensitive survey.
• Covered surveys ask about sex, mental health, medical matters, health risks, religion, or politics.
• Nonanonymous drug, vape, alcohol, or tobacco surveys also trigger the notice requirement.
• Parents may request a copy, review the survey in person, and exempt their child.
• Surveys requesting sexual information are barred in kindergarten through grade six.

What it says it is for

Does it do what it claims?

The title matches the text, but promises more breadth than the bill delivers. Nearly every operative word concerns surveys.

• Title says "change provisions"; the bill amends exactly one section, 79-532.
• New subdivision (g) is the only added substance; (a) through (f) read as before.
• "Educational decisionmakers" runs throughout the text, matching the group named in the title.
• Nothing here expands curriculum access or class monitoring beyond the language already on the books.
• Title omits the disclosure carve-outs naming FERPA, PPRA, COPPA, and CIPA.

Where Scripture bears on it

What does the Bible say about this?

This bill asks who holds first authority over what a child is asked about matters of sex, faith, health, and conscience — the school or the parent. Scripture does not address school surveys, but it consistently treats parents as the ones who bear and answer for their children's formation.

• "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." Deuteronomy 32:7
• "Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not your's, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." 2 Corinthians 12:14

These verses speak to the standing of parents in a child's instruction and care, but they are thematic here rather than direct: they say nothing about fifteen-day notice periods, what counts as a sensitive survey, when a school's own duty to a child's welfare might run alongside or against a parent's wishes, or whether such information should be gathered from sixth graders at all.

The case each way

What is the strongest argument for, and against?

The disagreement is whether advance notice and opt-outs protect students or blunt schools' ability to collect health data.

• For: Parents get fifteen days and the actual questions before a sensitive survey.
• For: Personally identifiable student information cannot be disclosed unless federal or state law requires.
• For: A bright line keeps sexual-content surveys out of kindergarten through grade six.
• Against: Notice and opt-outs can shrink response rates on drug and mental-health surveys.
• Against: "Sensitive in nature" is left to each school board, inviting uneven practice.
• Against: The fifteen-day notice adds administrative work, and the bill names no funding.

What is unsettled

What should I be careful about?

This reading covers only the bill text printed above, which settles less than it may appear.

• No dollar figure, appropriation, or fiscal estimate appears anywhere in the text.
• No effective date is stated; the text shows only Governor approval on April 29, 2025.
• No penalty or enforcement mechanism is named for districts that skip the notice.
• What counts as "sensitive in nature" is left entirely to each school board.
• "Educational decisionmaker" is not defined here; the definition must live elsewhere in statute.
• The printed text carries no strike-and-underline markup, so exactly which words are new is uncertain.

Text (3)

• Final Reading (application/pdf)
• Introduced (application/pdf)
• Slip Law (application/pdf)

Each link opens the Legislature's own document. The text itself is not in our database yet (fetched lazily); when it lands these pages will carry it verbatim.

All Actions (20)

Votes (4)

Every roll call as the Legislature recorded it, with each member's vote by name.

Sponsors (1)

• Sen. Dave Murman [District 38] — primary sponsor

Amendments (3)

Fiscal Notes & Statements (4)

• Committee Statement — Committee Statement
• Document — Enrollment and Review ST18 (recorded)
• Fiscal Note — Fiscal Note
• Statement of Intent — Statement of Intent

The Legislature's own companion documents; each link opens the official copy.

Committees (1)

Related Bills (0)

No related bill information was received for LB428.