On Monday, Nov. 17, I received a copy of an Omaha Public Schools (OPS) email from a statewide watchdog group concerning a $30.5 million error in the state aid their district received this school year.

Upon receipt of their additional state aid, OPS recalculated their budgetary needs and lowered their local property tax levy by almost 11 cents. Two other districts, Grand Island Public Schools and Southern Public Schools in Wymore, also received additional state aid they were not entitled to receive.

The miscalculation was in relation to the Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Lunch Provision. State aid to schools flows from the state’s general fund to the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) where it is dispersed to local school districts using the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act (TEEOSA).

As the funds have already been dispersed, the corrective procedure means in the 2026-2027 school year, NDE will reduce the state aid back to where it should be and deduct the funds they were given in error. For OPS, this means a $61 million reduction of state aid next school year.

This also means other districts throughout the state may receive a bump in their aid next school year. It would be wise not to depend on a larger sum going forward as the additional money is a corrective measure and not a long-term funding amount. Within a few hours of the OPS email being made public on social media, news stations picked up the story, and I had been contacted by concerned taxpayers.

The State Board of Education is not scheduled to meet until December. As board president, I contacted the Commissioner of Education and urged him to inform the board on how he had addressed the situation.

Within two days, the board had been apprised of the situation, the person who made the error was no longer working at the NDE, and a new system of checks had been implemented to ensure correct calculations in future dispersals.

The mechanism of a state board allows for increased accountability of taxpayer money and creates pressure for publicly corrective measures to be taken. This has not been the case with other state agencies misappropriating funds either through negligence or criminal intent.

The State Board of Education will discuss this incident at its Dec. 6 business meeting in Lincoln. Members of the public can attend in person or watch the meeting live on the NDE website.

This summary is my opinion and not an official statement of the board.

Elizabeth Tegtmeier Nebraska State Board of Education District 7 Representative and Board President