A legislative bill to require Nebraska public schools to increase support for struggling young readers and students with dyslexia fell two votes short Wednesday.

Legislative Bill 1050, a priority of Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen with support from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, failed on a 31-4 vote. The bill needed 33 votes to invoke “cloture,” the procedural motion to shut off debate after four hours of opposition led by State Senator Jane Raybould of Lincoln. Thirteen senators refused to take a position, plus one absence.

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“We shouldn’t be importing policies driven by outside influences that don’t understand Nebraska’s unique landscape,” said Raybould, urging lawmakers to oppose the bill she said would pass costs to schools without additional state funding.

Others, such as State Senators Ben Hansen of Blair and Mike Moser of Columbus, said teaching reading is already the primary objective of schools and their funding.

“I think the idea of teaching our children to read and unfunded mandates should never be in the same sentence,” said Han Senator “If all of their money has to go to teaching students how to read, that should be their primary goal.”

Added Moser: “If you’re going to run out of money, don’t run out of money teaching them how to read — don’t do something else that’s costing you money.”

As introduced, LB 1050 from State Senator Dave Murman of Glenvil, as Education Committee chair, would have required that K-3 students, who are already assessed three times a year for reading proficiency, be held back at the end of third grade if they have persistent reading difficulties.

Lawmakers added a choice for parents to opt out of their child being held back during first-round debate, eliminating some senators’ concerns, though some still worried that any retention policy for reading wouldn’t work.

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The latest amendment to LB 1050, led by State Senator Jana Hughes of Seward, vice chair of the Education Committee, would have delegated the specifics of mandated reading interventions, dyslexia screening and possible retention standards to the State Board of Education.

By July 2028, local school boards would need to pass individualized policies mirroring the statewide Nebraska Department of Education “model policy,” including built-in flexibility that schools could implement the changes “within existing resources.”

State Senator George Dungan of Lincoln offered an amendment to remove any mention of retention from the bill. He said having a parental override would mean retention is the “default mechanism” of the policy, which he said might not work with a disengaged parent or family.

LB 1050 was in part meant to mirror the “Mississippi Miracle,” a process by which Mississippi sought to dramatically improve literacy standards. Part of that work included retention but also helping teachers who teach reading, which Nebraska has implemented and is funding.

State Senator Dunixi Guereca of Omaha said the “Mississippi Miracle” was long and drawn out but was thoughtful and based in science and evidence. He said retention was step seven or eight of that journey.

“If we’re truly serious about literacy issues … if we want to recreate our own ‘Nebraska Miracle,’ we cannot focus on step eight and skip steps one through seven,” Guereca said.

In the end, lawmakers weren’t able to vote on either amendment from Dungan or Hughes over continued motions and amendments from Raybould, including motions to kill the bill and an amendment to replace “model policy” with “guidelines.”

State Senator Danielle Conrad of Lincoln criticized the tactics of opponents, including lawmakers and school officials. She said schools already have policies and already tailor supports to students. Now in her 12th year, Conrad said there’s “always a little theater in political theater,” but she said lawmakers needed to be honest about where LB 1050 was at.

“It’s a direction to adopt a policy to improve reading, for goodness sake. That shouldn’t be controversial,” Conrad said. “And I think the optics are really troubling and really sad that schools are fighting tooth and nail against a policy to improve reading.”

She said if senators had concerns, they could suggest changes, and she criticized Raybould for saying it would be a “burden” to require dyslexia screening when parents statewide are left “shocked” that’s not already the case. Conrad said the money is there but not accountability.

“I don’t care about the burden to the school,” Conrad said. “I care about the loss of learning for the kid.”

Pillen, too, blasted the Legislature on Wednesday for failing to move forward on LB 1050 and hold schools accountable for the “basic literacy” of students they’re entrusted to educate. He, in part, blamed the 33-vote filibuster threshold he called “broken” and “antiquated” despite Republicans holding a 33-seat supermajority in the officially nonpartisan body.

The bill failed to advance on the eve of McMahon visiting a Nebraska elementary school.

“This is dysfunctional and fails to serve the will of the people of our state,” Pillen said on social media. “Senators should put politics aside and get the people’s work done.”