LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers advanced two bills Thursday aimed at altering the state’s education system — one to change the curriculum, and the other to add incentives to recruit and retain teachers.
Legislative Bill 888 cleared the second of three rounds of debate after being amended twice. As advanced earlier, the measure would require education about “the Holocaust and other acts of genocide” to be included in Nebraska’s social studies standards.
Legislative Bill 1218 cleared the first of three rounds of debate, and was also amended twice. The bill aims to provide financial incentives for teachers, and would ease testing requirements for teachers in training.
State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, who introduced LB 888, has said she did so to ensure that future generations learn the lessons of the Holocaust and the potential outcomes of unchecked hate. The Holocaust refers to the organized killing of about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people by the Nazis and their allies during World War II.
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On Thursday, lawmakers added an amendment spelling out that the other acts of genocide to be covered would be those recognized by the United States government or the United Nations as of Jan. 1, 2022.
Among those events would be the killings of Tutsi people in Rwanda in 1994, Bosnian people in Srebrenica in 1993 and Armenian people in Turkey in 1915. Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard offered the amendment as a guide to schools.
Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha offered a second amendment that would require education about “slavery, lynching and racial massacres in the United States.” He said he supports the idea of Holocaust education but believes schools should also acknowledge the massacres that have happened closer to home.
Examples could include events such as the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, when White mobs killed as many as 300 Black residents of what was known as Black Wall Street, and the Trail of Tears, when hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their eastern homelands and thousands died during the journey to territory west of the Mississippi River.
LB 1218 would create the Teach in Nebraska Today Program, which would provide educators with proven financial need up to $5,000 a year for up to five years, and would provide teachers in training with up to $1,000 of student loan forgiveness after they complete a specialized teaching program, known as Attracting Excellence to Teaching.
The bill is one of the Education Committee’s priorities this year, as lawmakers look to address the state’s teacher shortage.
The original bill also intended to ease requirements around the basic skills test prospective teachers must take before getting hired, but an amendment by Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard removed that from the legislation.
Erdman’s amendment will require new teachers to pass a basic skills test — the Praxis test — before they receive their teacher certification. This is technically already state law, but due to a discrepancy with the State Board of Education, it is not the same process most new teachers in Nebraska currently follow.
An Education Committee staff member confirmed that a 2003 bill changed state law to reflect Erdman’s amendment, but the State Board of Education never changed its rules and regulations. This means that new teachers are required to pass the Praxis test halfway through their college education before they can enter teacher college.
LB 1218 includes language requiring that the State Board of Education change its rules and regulations.
Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, the Education Committee chair, ultimately supported Erdman’s amendment but said she wasn’t “excited about it.” She, along with several other senators, said the Praxis test is a major barrier to educators entering the profession, and she said she would prefer the state offer other avenues for teachers to get certified.
“We’ve got to eliminate these barriers,” said Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte.
Walz said she supported Erdman’s amendment because she wants LB 1218 to pass so the state can provide financial aid to teachers as soon as possible. However, she vowed to continue working on easing regulations on entrance barriers.
“We didn’t want to pass up that opportunity,” Walz said.
Correction: This story has been updated with additional details about LB 1218’s student loan forgiveness program. It also clarifies that the financial incentives are based on financial need.
Meet the Nebraska state senators
Nebraska has 49 state senators in the Legislature. Scroll through to find your state senator and others.

State Sen. Julie Slama
District: 1
From: Sterling
Party: Republican

State Sen. Robert Clements
District: 2
From: Elmwood
Party: Republican

State Sen. Carol Blood
District: 3
From: Bellevue
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Robert Hilkemann
District: 4
From: Omaha
Party: Republican

State Sen. Mike McDonnell
District: 5
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh
District: 6
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Tony Vargas
District: 7
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Megan Hunt
District: 8
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. John Cavanaugh
District: 9
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Wendy DeBoer
District: 10
From: Bennington
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Terrell McKinney
District: 11
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Steve Lathrop
District: 12
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Justin Wayne
District: 13
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic

State Sen. John Arch
District: 14
From: La Vista
Party: Republican

State Sen. Lynne Walz
District: 15
From: Fremont
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Ben Hansen
District: 16
From: Blair
Party: Republican

State Sen. Joni Albrecht
District: 17
From: Thurston
Party: Republican

State Sen. Brett Lindstrom
District: 18
From: Lincoln
Party: Republican

State Sen. Mike Flood
District: 19
From: Norfolk
Party: Republican

State Sen. John McCollister District: 20 From: Omaha Party: Republican

State Sen. Mike Hilgers
District: 21
From: Lincoln
Party: Republican

State Sen. Mike Moser
District: 22
From: Columbus
Party: Republican

State Sen. Bruce Bostelman
District: 23
From: Brainard
Party: Republican

State Sen. Mark Kolterman
District: 24
From: Seward
Party: Republican

State Sen. Suzanne Geist
District: 25
From: Lincoln
Party: Republican

State Sen. Matt Hansen
District: 26
From: Lincoln
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Anna Wishart
District: 27
From: Lincoln
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks
District: 28
From: Lincoln
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Eliot Bostar
District: 29
From: Lincoln
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Myron Dorn
District: 30
From: Adams
Party: Republican

State Sen. Rich Pahls
District: 31
From: Omaha
Party: Republican

State Sen. Tom Brandt
District: 32
From: Plymouth
Party: Republican

State Sen. Steve Halloran
District: 33
From: Hastings
Party: Republican

State Sen. Curt Friesen
District: 34
From: Henderson
Party: Republican

State Sen. Raymond Aguilar
District: 35
From: Grand Island
Party: Republican

State Sen. Matt Williams
District: 36
From: Gothenburg
Party: Republican

State Sen. John Lowe
District: 37
From: Kearney
Party: Republican

State Sen. Dave Murman
District: 38
From: Glenvil
Party: Republican

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan
District: 39
From: Elkhorn
Party: Republican

State Sen. Tim Gragert
District: 40
From: Creighton
Party: Republican

State Sen. Tom Briese
District: 41
From: Albion
Party: Republican

State Sen. Mike Jacobson
District: 42
From: North Platte
Party: Republican

State Sen. Tom Brewer
District: 43
From: Gordon
Party: Republican

State Sen. Dan Hughes
District: 44
From: Venango
Party: Republican

State Sen. Rita Sanders
District: 45
From: Bellevue
Party: Republican

State Sen. Adam Morfeld
District: 46
From: Lincoln
Party: Democratic

State Sen. Steve Erdman
District: 47
From: Bayard
Party: Republican

State Sen. John Stinner
District: 48
From: Gering
Party: Republican

State Sen. Jen Day
District: 49
From: Omaha
Party: Democratic
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