Nebraska Votes to Set School Sports Rules

If approved, LB 442 would make sex-based team designations part of the state constitution for public and participating private schools.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Secondary Education

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a single plain ballot box against a distant pale horizon under open sky, in deep red, cream, and navy. — Nebraska voters will decide LB 442 on the November 3, 2026 ballot, a constitutional amendment requiring public schools and participating private schools to designate athletic teams by biological sex. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Should Nebraska amend its constitution to require school sports teams be designated by biological sex?

Nebraska voters will decide LB 442, the Fairness for Girls initiative, on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot after the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously upheld the measure's validity in mid-October. If approved, it would amend the state constitution to require public schools, universities, and participating private schools to designate athletic teams or sports by biological sex.

Why it matters

The initiative would lock the 'Stand with Women' act, passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 2025, into the state constitution, so future legislative sessions could not easily change it. Supporters say that protects girls' athletic opportunities, which makes the November vote a decision that would apply to school sports for families across the state.

Nebraska voters decide LB 442 on November 3, 2026, after public hearings in all three districts on October 22. Of the 78,528 students who played high school sports in 2018-19, only seven trans students applied to the policy from 2017 through 2023, and five used it.

The players

Nebraska Supreme Court

The state's highest court, which unanimously upheld the validity of the 2026 ballot measure in mid-October.

Nebraska State Legislature

The body that enacted the Stand with Women act and LB 89 in 2025, setting the policy the initiative would make permanent.

The details

The measure is placed on the ballot as a constitutional amendment, so a yes vote would write the sex-based team designation into the state constitution rather than leave it to a statute. It would apply to public schools, universities, and participating private schools. The initiative builds on LB 89, which the 2025 Legislature passed to exclude trans athletes from sports, and it does not yet say how gender checks would take place.

2025: The Legislature enacted the Stand with Women act and LB 89.
October 22: Public hearings on LB 442 were held in all three districts of the state.
Mid-October: The Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ballot measure's validity.
November 3, 2026: Voters decide LB 442 on the general election ballot.

The Home Front

The initiative moves a sports-eligibility rule from statute into the state constitution, a more durable form that would be harder to revise than the 2025 legislation it builds on. For Nebraska families, the question is less about a single season than about how schools across the state would be bound going forward.

If you have a student-athlete in a Nebraska public or participating private school, check how your district currently designates teams and what it would change under LB 442 before November 3. Ask your school's athletic office how eligibility is verified now, since the measure leaves the verification method unspecified.

The takeaway

A constitutional amendment is much harder to change than a statute, so a yes vote on LB 442 would make the sports rule durable for years. Families with students in Nebraska schools should note the November 3, 2026 deadline and keep their district's athletic eligibility policy on file.