CYCLE WORKS
Saturday
April 25
from 1-3
27th & Vine
See him
Sunday
April 26
at the
Me
M Royaie,
Mountain Bike
Race
2 miles
South of
Denton
. -s
S
Education officials want special session
SESSION from page 1
school districts that received less than
their share of funding because of calcu
lation errors by the Department of
Education.
■ Language formally closing the
Nebraska School for the Deaf.
Kathleen McCallister, president of
the State Board of Education, said
schools need to have a special education
funding formula in place as they plan
their budgets.
Schools are required to provide spe
cial education. If they are unsure of the
amount of funding they will receive, they
may have to cutother programs to ensure
special education is paid for, she said
LB 1175 is a routine funding bill that
shouldn’t be politicized she said.
“We’d like to see it go back into
obscurity and not be a big deal any
more,” she said.
Katherine Endacott, vice president
of the State Board of Education, agreed
students’ interests shouldn’t be held
back by political wrangling.
“This is a housekeeping chore that
has been left undone,” she said. “It
should be taken out of the political
arena.”
The seven senators who appeared at
the press conference, and two more who
participated via telephone, said the issue
was important enough to warrant a spe
cial session.
Sen. Shelley Kiel of Omaha said the
issues of LB 1175 should be handled
this year so schools can go on educating
students.
“I’m tired of our schools becoming
the punching bag for whatever ails the
state,” she said.
Sen. George Coordsen of Hebron
said via telephone that although he is busy
with farm work, he would be willing to
return to Lincoln for a special session.
“If I have to come in the middle of
planting season, so be it,” he said.
Sen. Bob Wickersham of Harrison,
who sponsored the amendment that led
to Nelson’s veto, phoned in to the con
ference. He insisted his amendment
would not, as Nelson has said, obligate
the state to $70 million in funding.
In a statement, Wickersham said
that although his amendment would
have changed the means of calculating
state aid, it would not obligate the state
to additional spending.
“It does nothing that 25 votes in the
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can’t change,” he wrote.
Bohlke also noted that an appropri
ations bill was not passed along with
LB1175. There can be no obligation for
future spending without an appropria
tion, she said.
Nevertheless, Wickersham said he
would be willing to table his amend
ment if a special session was called to
restore LB 1175’s original provisions.
“The amendment has been misin
terpreted and misunderstood,” he said
Wednesday. “But I’m more than willing
to put that behind and go ahead with
what’s best for our schools.”
Doug Christensen, state education
commissioner, said the coalition of leg
islators and education officials at the
press conference were united by a desire
to see LB 1175’s main provisions passed
this year. , >
He said schools need the assurance
of funding these provisions would pro
vide. The controversy surrounding the
Wickersham amendment should not
hold back this education funding, he said
“The veto of 1175 creates yet anoth
er crisis and uncertainty,” he said.
“Enough is enough.”
Nelson has said he will take the next
two weeks to decide if a special session
is needed
James Joyce, a spokesman for
Nelson, said it would take more than a
desire for a special session on the part of
legislators to persuade him to call one.
State senators face some uncertain
ty as to the means of calling a special
spssinn Stiitp ctntntf* nllnwc lpoicljitnrs
to call a special session, but the
Constitution grants this power to the
governor.
Bohlke said it would be easiest if the
governor would simply call a special
session.
Joyce maintained that the
Wickersham amendment would require
the $70 million in future spending
despite the absence of an appropriations
bill.
“An obligation is an obligation,” he
said, “whether or not there’s an appro
priation bill.”
Bohlke said that in the event of a
special session, a bill containing
LB1175’s original provisions would
have strong support.
“The support would certainly be
there,” she said. “I think it would be a
slam dunk.”
Run-off election finishes
with victory for ACTION
RHA from page 1
the complex. ? -•
“More students voted in this
year’s election than last year’s,” he
said. “That’s definitely a victory for
us all.”
Overall, ACTION took 61 per
cent of the vote, leaving opposing
party ENHANCE with 39 percent of
the vote.
Willis said he is not upset for los
ing the election.
“I don’t mind losing by the rules,”
Willis said. “Things were changed
and done properly this time - the
election was fair.”
Chuck Rensink, interim adviser
for RHA, said he was pleased how the
election commission and candidates
handled all issues raised by the elec
tion.
“Many individuals were chal
lenged by the election,” he said.
In light of concerns brought for
ward by the ENHANCE party,
Stenger said, the election commis
sion took many precautions to make
sure everything ran smoothly.
Aside from;mf^in^|suresithe«e^
was an ample supply of ballots at the
polling site, Stenger said, the com-^
mission made all poll workers sign a
sheet stating that they understood
proper polling site procedures.
“We didn’t want any confusion or
mix-up,” Stenger said. “We wanted
the run-off election to go as smooth
as possible.”
Both ACTION and ENHANCE
said they campaigned heavily; how
ever, ENHANCE was disappointed
more students did not vote.
All candidates said they were
looking forward to next year’s RHA
senate. Willis and Knobbe will be
serving as Husker Hall president and
Abel Hall senator, respectively, next
year.
“We are all a team now,” Morrow
said. “We represent RHA and the stu
dents of this university.”