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For Dave Murman, the issue was personal.

The Republican state lawmaker knew Nebraska school districts were denying transfer requests at high rates to students with disabilities 鈥� kids who reminded Murman of his now-grown daughter. 

In 2025, he proposed a bill to ban the disproportionate rejections.

Gov. Jim Pillen , but by then, it was unrecognizable to the parents and disability advocates who had once backed it.

Murman, facing opposition from schools and the state teachers union, stripped most of the protections for students with disabilities out of the proposal earlier this year. The new focus of the legislation: allowing schools to suspend their youngest students.

Angela Gleason, whose son Teddy has been denied transfers several times, said it feels like one step forward and two steps back. 

鈥淚 was like, 鈥極h, it was going to help kids, and now I feel like it’s hurting more kids than it was going to help,鈥� 鈥� Gleason said.

Nebraska鈥檚 option enrollment policy allows students to transfer from one public school district to another, but in practice, kids with disabilities don鈥檛 have the same freedom to transfer as their peers, by the Flatwater Free Press and 社区黑料 found.

That trend continued during the 2024-25 school year, according to the latest state report. Nebraska districts denied 35% of option applications from students with individualized education programs, compared with about 9% of applications from students without them, a new Flatwater analysis found.

The rejection rates are especially disproportionate in the Omaha suburbs.

Bellevue Public Schools turned away more than three-quarters of students with IEPs but accepted all but one of the 246 applicants without disabilities. Three other suburban districts each denied well over half of the kids with IEPs who applied while accepting a majority of kids without IEPs.

Murman鈥檚 original bill would have outlawed that. But school administrators and opposed the legislation, contending that districts with dire special ed teaching shortages shouldn鈥檛 be forced to take on more kids with IEPs.

Murman knew he didn鈥檛 have enough votes from lawmakers willing to buck their local superintendents. So earlier this year, he altered the focus of the legislation.

The amended bill aimed to restore schools鈥� ability to suspend students in pre-K through second grade for violent behavior, reversing on the practice.

One option enrollment provision remained: Districts had to guarantee seats for siblings of students who had already optioned in.

After on school suspensions, Republican lawmakers passed the bill over objections from Democrats.

The siblings clause will provide an avenue for at least some students with disabilities to get into districts that might otherwise deny them, Murman said. 

State Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Lincoln Democrat, said Murman had hijacked a well-intentioned bill to push Pillen鈥檚 priority of removing protections for young students facing punishment.  

鈥淚f the schools, the governor and the Legislature won’t act to remedy this clear discrimination on a systemic level, I hope parents start suing the schools to hold them accountable,鈥� Conrad wrote in an email to Flatwater Free Press.

Gleason said it鈥檚 disappointing that the bill she thought would help kids like her son Teddy transfer schools will result in more of them being suspended. 

In first grade, Omaha Public Schools placed Teddy, who has autism, in a general education classroom where he struggled behaviorally, she said. The school called almost daily asking her to pick him up early, she recalled. 

鈥淗e basically had a lot of informal suspensions where they would call me and ask me to come get him,鈥� Gleason said. 鈥淭hen he’s just missing out on the education, and so it just snowballed.鈥�

Across the state, students enrolled in special education were suspended more than twice as often as their peers last school year, . The Arc of Nebraska, a leading disability advocacy organization, opposed Murman鈥檚 bill because of that disciplinary disparity. 

Gleason鈥檚 other children are option students at a nearby suburban district, so Teddy could potentially join them under the new law. It鈥檚 still upsetting that the opportunity to transfer doesn鈥檛 extend to all other children with IEPs, she said.

For the Shada family, the bill comes years too late to make a difference. 

Gary Shada, a longtime teacher at Pierce Public Schools in northeast Nebraska, applied years ago for his daughter Kylee to join the district as an option student, but his employer turned her away. His son was granted a transfer.

Instead, Kylee, who has Down syndrome, has been enrolled at the nearby Plainview district. But with Shada nearing retirement and his son due to graduate next year, he said he doesn鈥檛 see the point in bringing Kylee into the district anymore. Still, he said he wishes Murman鈥檚 bill had been in effect when the family first applied for option enrollment.

“I think sometimes public schools forget what their reason for existing is,鈥� Shada said. 鈥淚t’s not about being able to pick and choose who walks who walks through your front door.鈥�

Bellevue Public Schools is short six special ed teachers and about 15 paraprofessionals, and adding more option students with IEPs to 鈥渁lready difficult caseloads is not what is best for teachers or students,鈥� said district spokeswoman Amanda Oliver.

鈥淥ur decisions are not based on a student鈥檚 disability, but on our ability to provide the services required by their IEP in a manner that meets both educational standards and legal obligations,鈥� Oliver wrote in an email. 

Grand Island Public Schools, which denied all five of the students with IEPs who applied last school year, is similarly understaffed in special ed and is close to enrollment capacity just with neighborhood students, Superintendent Matt Fisher said in a statement.

鈥淟egally and functionally, we have not been able to accommodate some of the needs of those requesting to enter the district through the option process,鈥� Fisher said.

Staff at the Nebraska Department of Education are considering option enrollment rule changes tied to the original and amended versions of Murman鈥檚 bill, but it鈥檚 not clear what they will look like.  

Murman said the disproportionate rejection of kids with disabilities is 鈥減ure discrimination.鈥� Term limits prevent him from running for reelection this year, but he hopes another state lawmaker will take up the cause after he鈥檚 gone.

Gleason said she appreciated Murman鈥檚 intentions, but she鈥檚 not hopeful the Legislature will resolve the issue soon, especially given schools鈥� opposition.

This year, the Legislature also that would have required schools to get parents鈥� approval before changing a student鈥檚 IEP. Proponents said the legislation would have given families a way to fight schools鈥� attempts to cut special education services. 

Mary Phillips, president of the Arc of Nebraska, takes the long view on advocating for the rights of children with disabilities. It wasn鈥檛 until 1975 that a law ensured they could attend their neighborhood schools. 

鈥淚 feel like progress comes very slow for the disability culture,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淭he work isn’t done.鈥�

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