NE Rev Statute 79-213 states; “At the discretion of the State Board of Education, the closing of a school shall not prevent a district from being accredited or receiving its proper share of state funds when epidemic sickness or severe storm conditions prevail to such an extent that the school board in any district deems it advisable to close any or all schools within the district or when the destruction of the schoolhouse makes it impossible to continue the school. Such sickness, storm conditions, or destruction of the schoolhouse shall be sworn to by the secretary of the school board and the oath filed with the State Board of Education if the school board of the school district is proposing to offer fewer hours than required by law.”

The 2022-23 Affidavit form will be available on May 1st, 2023 on the Accreditation website. School systems will have until June 30th, 2023 to submit the form to nde.accreditation@nebraska.gov.  Efforts to meet the required hours of instruction, 1080 for secondary, 1032 for elementary, and 400 for kindergarten, will be a required component of the submission.  “That the contextual and decision-making evidence showing why these school days were cancelled, as well as efforts made to meet the required thresholds of instructional hours is attached hereto, and numbers _____ pages in total.”