AGO 97029.

• Court: Nebraska

Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1997. AGO 97029. DATE: May 21, 1997SUBJECT: Extent of Legislature's Power, Under Article VII, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution, to Provide for Free Instruction in the Common Schools REQUESTED BY: Senator Floyd P. Vrtiska Nebraska State LegislatureWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General Lauren L. Hill, Assistant Attorney General You have requested an opinion from this office regarding the extent to which the Legislature is limited in exercising its duties under Article VII, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution. Specifically, the question you have posed is whether "Article VII or any other section of the Nebraska Constitution limit[s] the Legislature's power to establish the duties and obligations of local school boards or to restrict their authority to set budgets or levy taxes to provide the financial support for those budgets." As we have not been advised of any legislation prompting your inquiry, our response is necessarily broad and is not directed to specific legislation. See Op. Att'y Gen. No. 96-003 (January 11, 1996); Op. Att'y Gen. No. 95-004 (January 18, 1995); and Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-214 (March 15, 1982). Pursuant to the Nebraska Constitution, the "Legislature shall provide for the free instruction in the common schools of this state of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years." Neb. Const. art. VII, § 1. Our analysis of this provision is governed by several canons of constitutional construction which have been adopted by the Nebraska Supreme Court. First, we are bound by the cardinal rule that the state Constitution must be applied and enforced as it is written. State ex rel. Spire v. Conway, 238 Neb. 766, 472 N.W.2d 403 (1991). Next, the provisions of the Constitution must be read as a whole. Jaksha v. State, 222 Neb. 690, 385 N.W.2d 922 (1986). Finally, because the Nebraska Constitution "is not a grant but, rather, a restriction on legislative power, . . . the Legislature is free to act on any subject not inhibited by the Constitution." State ex rel. Stenberg v. Douglas Racing Corp., 246 Neb. 901, 905, 524 N.W.2d 61, 64 (1994); State ex rel. Creighton University v. Smith, 217 Neb. 682, 353 N.W.2d 267 (1984); Cf. Lenstrom v. Thone, 209 Neb. 783, 311 N.W.2d 884 (1981). In so acting, however, the court has established that "[t]he people of the state, by...