For more than 45 years, the Lincoln Independent Business Association (LIBA) (Liba.org) has held an unwavering belief in the free enterprise system; those private businesses, not government, are the best engines of innovation, efficiency, and prosperity.

To LIBA, free enterprise means allowing private businesses to compete with minimal government interference – trusting market forces, not bureaucracy, to serve the public best.
This belief is hardly new. Ronald Reagan has previously said, “There is barely anything that the public sector can do as effectively and efficiently as the private sector.” Long before that – dating back to our nation’s founding – Adam Smith – often referred to as the “father of modern economics” – argued in The Wealth of Nations for the power of free markets driven by the “invisible hand”: the idea that individuals pursuing their own self-interest will contribute to the overall economic good. When markets are allowed to operate freely, resources are allocated efficiently, innovation thrives, and wealth grows.

But these ideas aren’t just talking points – they are playing out right now in Lincoln’s childcare system. Matt Schulte, who is currently serving District 3 as a Commissioner of Lancaster County, observed firsthand – during his time on the Lincoln Board of Education – the growing push to expand preschool classrooms in every elementary school across our district. That movement was driven by advocacy groups such as First Five Nebraska and strongly encouraged by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). To help launch these new programs, NDE provided grants to school districts willing to open preschool classrooms.

At first glance, this might sound like a win for families. After all, the perception of free preschool inside the public school system feels like an easy solution for parents facing the high costs of childcare. But the reality is more complicated.

Those grants weren’t “free money”. They were funded by taxpayers – and they were temporary – lasting only three to five years. This guaranteed that the financial burden would eventually be shifted to local citizens.

Without a doubt, running a day care is expensive and difficult work. The youngest children require the highest staff-to-child ratios, which makes infant care the least profitable and most labor-intensive part of the business. Providers often balanced those costs with the older, preschool-aged children who could be supervised at a lower ratio.

When public schools began offering taxpayer-funded preschools, many three- and four-year-olds shifted out of private centers. Those older kids had been essential to the business model that allowed providers to afford infant care, the most expensive, least profitable age group. Removing them upsets the balance, leaving many private providers unable to survive, which is borne out by statistics.

According to First Five Nebraska, between 2019 and 2023, the number of licensed in-home providers dropped 19.4% in metropolitan areas and 13.2% in non-metropolitan areas. According to Lincoln Littles, since November 2023, there have been 8, possibly 9, childcare centers that have closed.

And yet here we are, asking ourselves – how did we end up with such a shortage of daycare providers? The answer is in our own hands.
The same issue shows up beyond childcare. The City of Lincoln recently approved using taxpayer-funded general obligation bonds to create a new downtown library that will include “flexible community spaces, a makerspace, and a rooftop auditorium.”

Admirable? Perhaps. But those features compete directly with local private and nonprofit venues like Fuse Coworking, Turbine Flats, Nebraska Innovation Studio, The Foundry, the Marriott, Embassy Suites, and the Talon Room — even the new convention center, which itself will be taxpayer-funded.

To make matters worse, city officials confirmed, during presentations, that the rooftop auditorium alone carries a $5 million price tag — $5 million that local taxpayers are footing to build a venue that will compete with businesses already providing the same service.

And let’s not forget that the Lincoln Electric System pays the City of Lincoln an annual dividend, direct to the city for utility ownership and payment instead of taxes to the City and other local governments. In 2024, those payments amount to almost $26,000,000. $26M that is ultimately passed onto LES customers.

Whether it’s daycare, libraries, or utilities, Lincoln faces a growing tension between public expansion and private innovation. LIBA believes it’s time to restore balance — to let entrepreneurs, not government programs, drive growth and opportunity.

That begins with asking hard questions:

• Should Lincoln Public Schools really be in the business of competing with private daycares?

• Should taxpayers fund projects that undercut small businesses?

• Should the City of Lincoln (and other local governments) continue to receive revenue from the utility system that taxpayers already own (LES)?

At its core, this isn’t about being “anti-government.” It’s about ensuring that government stays in its lane — creating the conditions where private businesses can flourish, not replacing them.

Lincoln’s strength and future have always come from the entrepreneurs, small business owners, and dreamers who take risks, create jobs, and invest in our community. By empowering innovation and keeping free enterprise free, we ensure that both our local economy and our neighborhoods continue to thrive. Let’s protect that spirit by keeping government focused on governance, and opportunity in the hands of those who know it best — our local businesses.