U.S. education secretary’s Nebraska visit highlights K-12 literacy, workforce needs

WAVERLY, Neb. — One day after the Legislature failed to advance a bill requiring local school policies addressing literacy and dyslexia, Nebraska officials say literacy isn’t going away as a top goal.

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon joined Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen for a tour of Hamlow Elementary School in Waverly, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s athletic facilities and Southeast Community College’s new welding training facility. The visit is part of McMahon’s “Returning Education to the States Tour,” a mission to visit all 50 states.

McMahon told reporters at the school library in Waverly that she had visited K-2 classes, including a second grade class where students were learning about branches of government.

“I’m just really impressed looking at how the science of reading and different aspects of it has been implemented here in the school and how these kids are really remarkable,” McMahon said.

“They were very cute,” McMahon added. “Very impressive, very pleased to be here in the state.”

First Lady Suzanne Pillen taught at Hamlow Elementary School in 1979 and returned Thursday with McMahon and the governor. She has visited many Nebraska schools to uplift reading as first lady.

Thursday’s visit nearly coincided with a bill in the Legislature to update a 2018 law — the “Nebraska Reading Improvement Act” — and require the State Board of Education and local school boards to update or adopt policies around reading interventions and dyslexia screening. 

However, lawmakers balked at a suggestion that students be held back in third grade if they couldn’t read. Parents would have been able to opt out under the bill, which fell two votes short.

Pillen requested the introduction of this year’s bill, with support from McMahon, who on Thursday called Nebraska a “beacon of educational excellence throughout the Midwest.”

“We’ve all got to be on the same page,” the governor said Thursday. “We’ve got to commit to make sure every kid can read. This nonsense that we’re going to pass them on to fourth grade and pretend they can read, pun intended, it’s hogwash.”

Whether Pillen will seek to retry a version of the legislation in 2027, if he’s reelected, wasn’t clear, though he told reporters: “If you don’t first succeed, we try again, and we will not give up.”

“We’re never giving up on a kid as long as I’m your governor,” Pillen said.

Defeat won’t stall progress

State Board of Education President Elizabeth Tegtmeier and Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher also joined McMahon and Pillen on Thursday. Each celebrated Waverly Public Schools and how teachers taught reading, as the state shifts toward the “science of reading” and a phonics focus. 

“What they’re doing here in Waverly is exemplary,” Tegtmeier told the Nebraska Examiner. “This is what we’d like to see, all of our schools implementing what we saw in the classrooms today with that explicit reading instruction.”

“They are doing most, if not all, of the best practices that we think should be happening in our schools,” said Maher. “We’re really pleased with what we saw today.”

Maher said what happened in the Legislature around reading “didn’t change our zest, our emphasis for literacy.” 

“We know that regardless of what’s happening in the Legislature, that is a primary focus for us,” Maher said.

By 2030, 75% of Nebraska third-graders will be proficient in reading, according to a goal of the Nebraska Department of Education and State Board of Ed. In an effort to meet that goal, there’s been an influx of more than $80 million in federal and private funding, plus more than $10 million at the state level. The state department also has a new literacy director and a literacy framework.

Supporters of the 2026 legislation described it as providing accountability to the 2018 law, but some senators and school officials said it passed off unfunded mandates in a punitive way.

State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, whose northern Lancaster County district includes Waverly, said he was proud that one of the best districts statewide, which he called a “shining example,” was noticed and seen firsthand by federal officials.

“I think it’s good to say the administration of the United States, the secretary of education, get to see how well Waverly Public Schools is doing,” Ballard said.

McMahon’s visit included NU proclamation

Pillen and McMahon on Thursday also met with NU President Jeffrey Gold and Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln for a ceremonial proclamation recognizing NU’s continued steps for formal joint accreditation of UNL and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Gold said final joint accreditation will reflect NU’s commitment to expand opportunity for students, accelerate research and innovation and deliver greater value to Nebraskans. The change won’t affect day-to-day operations on campus but is expected to improve NU’s rankings.

“We are grateful to Secretary McMahon and Governor Pillen for recognizing the significance of this upcoming milestone and the impact it will have on our future,” Gold said.

Pillen, a former NU regent for 10 years and a defensive back who played for the Huskers in the 1970s, said that while much of the attention of the last 25 years has focused on ACT scores and traditional four-year college degrees, community colleges are helping to fill gaps elsewhere, such as with more plumbers, welders, electricians, livestock producers, “you name it.”

After his visit to SCC’s welding training facility in the afternoon, Pillen said he was honored to show McMahon how Nebraska is investing in “future generations.”

Said Pillen on Thursday morning: “Being able to have strong community colleges across the state … [is] really, really critical.”

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