New legislation could affect Sidney Public Schools

Board members with Sidney Public Schools learned about new legislation that could potentially affect the district during this month's regular meeting Monday evening.

Sidney Superintendent Jay Ehler said that when it comes to the new legislation, he doesn't expect to see a lot of changes for Sidney schools. However, it might affect the decision-making process.

"There is just an awareness for the administration and the leaders of the school to perform within the new legislation," Ehler said

One new piece of legislation discussed was Legislative Bill 1066, or LB 1066. There are some stipulations to the bill that could have an affect for Sidney, such as that a student can only option into another school outside their district once prior to graduation.

The bill would allow the option if the student relocates to a different school district, the option school district merges with another district, the option school is a class I (elementary only) district school, the option allows the student to continue current enrollment in a school district or if the option allows the student to enroll in a district in which they were previously enrolled.

LB 710 is a bill that pertains to "hazing," which is sometimes seen in social groups including gangs, sports teams, schools, military units, and fraternities and sororities.

The bill defines "hazing" as any activity by which a person intentionally or recklessly endangers the physical harm or mental health or safety of an individual for the purpose of initiation into, admission into, affiliation or continued membership with any organization.

If prosecuted, this law is a class II misdemeanor offense.

Ehler said that what LB 710 did was clarify that the hazing law does extend down into K through 12.

The Workplace Privacy Act was put into place by LB 821.The bill protects the rights of employees in reference to personal social networking accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In essence, LB 821 lays out the guidelines for employees and employers. Employers cannot request personal account information for social networking sites, require an employee to log on, or log on to an employee's account through another employee or social network friend.

LB 959, is a property tax bill that brings a change in the budgeting process. The bill simplifies budget growth to 2.5 percent plus expected student growth, and moves predictable annual retirement expenses into the budget base.

Currently, schools are able to grow their budgets above this limit without taxpayer approval.

Ehler gave an example where this bill would affect SPS, saying that, because the school district is already at its max levy of $1.05, if a campus would need to have an improvement made, it would have to go to a vote of the people or use funds from the general budget,.

For more information on legislature bills, visit nebraskalegislature.gov.