The State Board of Education will vote on a plan from the Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties on Tuesday in a special virtual meeting.
The community achievement plan focuses on areas like attendance and literacy for 11 Omaha-area school districts, along with the work of learning centers in north and south Omaha. Gerald Kuhn, chief executive officer of the learning community, said the organization as a whole aims to close gaps in achievement for families in poverty.
The districts that are part of the plan receive extra state aid for doing so. Kuhn said that state aid goes directly to the schools and never goes to the learning community.
“(Omaha Public Schools) gets the lion’s share of that, that they use to pay for 25 preschool classes,” Kuhn said. “If this isn’t approved, 25 classes, which is about 700 students, in OPS may not be able to attend preschool next year because of this. There’s very high stakes at place right now if the plan isn’t approved.”
The Nebraska Department of Education must certify state aid by March 1, so the board’s vote will be just in time for those numbers to be finalized.
The plan has come to the board for a vote the past two months, but was tabled each time due to various board member concerns. Some of the conservative board members took issue with a partnership between OneWorld Community Health Centers, which provides transgender health care that is outside of its work with the learning community.
Kuhn said the partnership with OneWorld started about a decade ago when the Learning Community South center was starting up. The learning community needed help getting off the ground, and OneWorld was already a trusted resource in South Omaha.
“They were a leader in the community. They had a lot of credibility with the community in south Omaha,” Kuhn said. “We, the learning community, needed that at that time to be able to gain the trust of the community.”
Kuhn said OneWorld only helps with the educational programs at the learning center, which include English as a second language, financial literacy and parenting classes. Kuhn added that the learning centers do have educational navigators who help parents find resources like health care, but those navigators will supply a full list of providers in the area, not just OneWorld.
Another member felt there hadn’t been improvements in student achievement since the last time the plan came to the board three years ago. Although Kuhn said that work falls more on the districts than the learning community, he talks with the superintendents regularly and said he sees advancements.
“I do see improvement every quarter, every semester, every year, in regards to literacy, in regards to math, in regards to in every area,” Kuhn said. “They’re making improvement. Could it be better? Absolutely, but they’re making improvement every year.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, the learning community did add a clarification to the plan saying that “no learning community resources — including state funding or levy funds — may be used to provide, support, subsidize, or reimburse gender-affirming medical care, reproductive health care services, prescription medications, or any clinical medical procedures.”
Kuhn said the learning community looks forward to working with all of its partners, including the state board.
“I really hope that this plan is approved and passed because it is very crucial for our community,” Kuhn said.