The 74

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 — kids who reminded Murman of his now-grown daughter. In 2025, he proposed a bill to ban the disproportionate rejections. Gov. Jim Pillen signed the measure last month, 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.