LD 13 race in Douglas County focuses on vouchers, property taxes, job training

Four candidates are vying for the Legislature's District 13 seat currently held by term-limited State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha. From left, Nick Batter, Matthew Clough, Tracy Hightower-Henne and Ashlei Spivey. (Photos courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner)

OMAHA — The race to replace term-limited State Sen. Justin Wayne in northern Douglas County and northeast Omaha could come down to whether neighbors prefer one of two lawyers, an abortion rights advocate or a former state executive.

In Legislative District 13, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1, three of the four candidates said they disagreed with Wayne’s support for diverting public funds to subsidize parents paying for a private K-12 education. 

Omaha lawyer Tracy Hightower-Henne, a Democrat who co-founded a law firm and is the top fundraiser in the race, said she oppose “public school dollars going to private schools.” She has worked with Union Pacific and the Nebraska Innocence Project and is a board member of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska.

Tracy Hightower-Henne

Age: 42

District: 13

Work experience: Owner, Hightower Reff Law; executive director of Nebraska Innocence Project; board member, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska; former tax attorney, Union Pacific; adjunct professor, Creighton University Law School

Political party: Democratic

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Doane College; Master’s degree and law degree, Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich.

Abortion-rights advocate Ashlei Spivey, a Democrat who leads the Omaha-based nonprofit I Be Black Girl, said she would “not pass policies that remove public funds from public institutions.” She is a former vice president at U.S. Bank and owns a business. 

Omaha lawyer Nick Batter, a nonpartisan and corporate counsel for Hawkins Construction, said the state’s “voucher program” for private school scholarships subsidizes people with “the means to send their kids to private school.” He served in the Army, repairing infrastructure and providing humanitarian aid. 

Matthew Clough, a former chief operating officer of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, applauded Legislative Bill 1402, which appropriates state funds for private school scholarships. He called it a “step to seeing opportunity begin to flourish.” Clough, a Republican, has owned businesses in insurance and health care. 

Hightower-Henne, Spivey and Batter want the state to focus more attention on improving public schools than sending tax dollars elsewhere. Clough said he would like to see more of the impact of the state’s recent investments in state aid to public schools and special ed.

Property taxes among top issues for voters

One of the common complaints the candidates said they have heard from voters was high property taxes. Homeowners and business owners complained about valuation increases pricing them out, they said. 

Hightower-Henne said she wants to rebalance the state’s three-legged stool of property, income and sales taxes. She agrees with Gov. Jim Pillen on the problem but said she would not raise sales taxes to lower property taxes. 

Ashlei Spivey

Age: 37

District: 13

Work experience: Founder and executive director, I Be Black Girl; vice president of business access,t U.S. Bank; owner, Best Burger

Political party: Democratic

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Jackson (Miss.) State University; master’s degree, University of Texas at Arlington

She said “there is opportunity for the state to consider” taxing marijuana and how it might more effectively tax gambling to find revenues for offsetting property taxes. 

“It’s relative to what their socio-economic picture is, and I think what we have proposed right now … is completely regressive, and it’s just going to create the same problems,” Hightower-Henne said.

Spivey said the Legislature needs to stop trying to fix property taxes with a piecemeal approach. She said she would consult with experts such as the OpenSky Policy Institute to find other revenue streams that could support property tax relief.

She said she supports “direct property tax relief,” but she said it cannot come at the expense of funding quality public schools. She would like to see the state take a more holistic approach to its tax system and find a better way. She has talked about legalizing marijuana and taxing it, along with looking at additional options for taxing gambling.

“I think we need to really consider other revenue streams into the state if we want to see property tax relief,” Spivey said.

Batter said he would like to see the Legislature fix some existing programs providing property tax relief, including the property tax credit fund. He would consider not giving relief to land speculators, billionaire investors and slumlords.

Nick Batter

Age: 38

District: 13

Work experience: Lead counsel for large Nebraska infrastructure projects, Hawkins Construction; humanitarian and infrastructure relief work, U.S. Army

Political party: Nonpartisan

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Harvard University; engineer school, Army; law degree, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Doing so could help target more relief at the homeowners and business owners who are invested in their neighborhoods, he said, instead of enriching people who don’t deserve it. He said narrowing down who is eligible could target more relief to those who need it.

“Why are we subsidizing bad actors?” Batter asked.

Clough said people around the Capitol have told him the simplest way to lower the impact of property taxes is to lower the amount of a property’s valuation that is subject to the tax, to reduce the base on the assessments.

However, he said he would have to study the impact that such changes would have on state and local spending before committing to a proposal. 

“I’ve talked to a lot of retired folks who feel like they’re being forced out of their homes because of property tax,” Clough said.

How to help K-12 education

On education, Hightower-Henne said she would focus on recruiting and retaining talented teachers. She said too many teachers leave the profession and are not being replaced fast enough by students coming out of teachers colleges. 

Matthew Clough

Age: 68

Work experience: Former chief operating officer, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; previously ran a manufacturing company; owned businesses in insurance, consulting and health care; former vice president, Alegent Health

Political party: Republican

Education: Bachelor’s degree, William Jewel (Mo.) College

She said she would like to see the state do more to help teachers pay off student loans, offer more bonus programs and consider bumps in pay and benefits. Such changes need to be done at the state level to prevent inequities in places with lower tax bases.

Spivey said she would like to reimagine the state aid funding formula for K-12 schools. To her, the state has yet to fully fund public education. And that, she said, is preventing some schools from being able to retain teachers and staff. 

Batter said he would get more senators to stop being antagonistic to teachers. He said he hears from teachers who feel like lawmakers are purposefully targeting them for doing an already difficult job.

He said the Omaha Public Schools is on pace to lose hundreds more teachers following a pandemic that already cost them hundreds. He said higher pay would help with that and curb the loss of experienced para-educators, as well.

Clough declined to say what policies he would pursue to improve K-12 education, describing the issue as too much of a “hot potato” right now. He said he would need to see the impact of what the Legislature has already done before taking next steps.

Economic development and housing ideas

On economic development and housing, Hightower-Henne said she would like to see North and South Omaha working more with people from central and western Nebraska on addressing the housing crisis, in terms of both accessibility and affordability.

She said she would also like to see increased transparency and accountability on the millions of federal pandemic relief dollars bound for North Omaha through the state. She said the community should have more say in how those dollars are spent.

Spivey would like to see the state place a greater emphasis on boosting the visibility and availability of job training programs at public two-year colleges now that the state has taken over funding Metro Community College and others.

She said helping people boost their skill sets is one of the most effective ways to improve lives. She said she would like to see the state work with private funders to make sure housing is affordable for residents with lower incomes or fixed incomes.

Batter said the state needs to do what it can to eliminate slumlords and incentivize “quality affordable housing.” He said that includes understanding the cost to neighborhoods of development projects eliminating lower-cost housing.

He said he would like to see Nebraska consider investing more in child care services so that more people can afford to enter and remain in the workforce. He said Nebraska could also do more than it does to apply and secure federal funds.

Clough said he would like to see Nebraska do more to encourage young people to consider learning trades, whether through union apprenticeship training programs or working with community colleges and partnerships with major corporations. 

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