This is an action commenced in the District Court for Lancaster County, praying for a declaratory judgment determining the constitutionality of 1978 Neb. Laws, L.B. 743, codified as Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 85-980 to 85-9,102, inclusive (Cum. Supp. 1980). L.B. 743, commonly referred to as the Scholarship Award Program (hereinafter the Act), provides for a financial assistance program to “enable eligible undergraduate Nebraska residents to receive educational services in an eligible postsecondary educational institution of this state,” § 85-981, all as defined by the Act.
The Act is administered by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postseсondary Education. § 85-983. An award is a grant of money by the commission to an eligible student for educational expenses. § 85-992. Section 85-994 prescribes the conditions which attached to an award and eligibility requirements needed to attain an award. These include: (1) Direct distribution of the award to the student; (2) Enrollment in an eligible institution and maintenance of a minimal standard of performance; (3) The maximum amount of the award; “(4) The award is given on the basis of substantial financial need”; (5) The period covered by the award; (6) An agreement that the award be used only for educational exрenses; “(7) The individual is not pursuing a course of study which is pervasively sectarian and creditable toward a theological or divinity degree”; and (8) Compliance with rules and regulations of the commission.
Eligible postsecondary educational institutions include both public and private institutions which are: “(1) Located in Nebraska;
“(2) Primarily engaged in instruction of students;
“(3) Satisfying the provisions of Nebraska law re *785 lating to the approval, licensure, and accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities; and
“(4) Offering courses of instruction in regularly scheduled classes to regularly enrolled undergraduate students who reside in Nebraska and have received high school diplomas or their equivalent.” § 85-984.
The petition alleges facts indicating the plaintiffs are persons eligible for the program. The defendants are the members of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education. Also joined as defendants are the Governor, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, and the State Auditor. The petition alleges the defendant Attorney General has rendered an opinion stating the Act is unconstitutional and, for that reason, the defendants have refused to implement the program as provided for by the Legislaturе. As such, the plaintiffs have been deprived of their opportunity to participate in the award program.
The defendants filed a demurrer to the plaintiffs’ petition. The District Court sustained the demurrer, finding the Act, on its face, violated the portion of Neb. Const, art. VII, § 11, which provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision in the Constitution, appropriation of public funds shall not be made to any school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the state or a political subdivision thereof . . . .” The petition was dismissed by the District Court, and the plaintiffs have appealed to this court.
The defendants contend the statute is unconstitutional because it attempts to appropriate public funds in support of educational institutions not owned or exclusively controlled by the state, and because it attempts to extend the credit of the state to privаte individuals, that is, the students who would be the beneficiaries of the program.
The contention of the defendants with reference to article VII, § 11, may be summarized as follows: The scholarship program may inure to the benefit of private
*786
postsecondary educational institutions because recipients may or will use some of the awards to pay tuition and fees and this constitutes a benefit to the institutions prohibited by article VII, § 11. They state the issues presented in this case are controlled by the prior opinions of this court in
State ex rel. Rogers v. Swanson,
They recognize the language of article VII, § 11, wаs amended by the voters in 1972, but assert the change made no substantive difference in the meaning of the section. Prior to the 1972 amendment the Constitution prohibited the appropriation of public funds “in aid of any sectarian or denominational school or college, or any educational institution which is not exclusively owned and controlled by the state or a governmental subdivision thereof.” In 1972 this provision was amended to read: “Appropriation of public funds shall not be made to any school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the state or a political subdivision thereof.” (Emphasis supplied.)
We will first discuss the proposition that the result in this case is controlled by our opinions in
State ex rel. Rogers v. Swanson, supra,
and
Gaffney v. State Department of Education, supra. Rogers
involved an act of the Legislature which provided for tuition grants to students attending private colleges only, and was enacted prior to the 1972 amendment to аrticle VII, § 11. With reference to the language change in the constitutional amendment, the court said in
Rogers
the amendment did not affect the question involved because an act of the Legislature, unconstitutional when enacted, is null and void from its inception and, therefore, is not validated by а subsequent amendment to the Constitution authorizing its passage. We, in that case, expressly refrained from expressing an opinion on the effect of the constitutional change.
*787
The opinion, however, noted the trial judge had found the purpose of the act was to aid private сolleges and not to enable students to attend colleges of their choice. We sustained that finding. In that case we relied upon, among others, the precedent of
Hartness v. Patterson,
Gaffney, supra, involved an act of our Legislature which provided for the loan of secular textbooks to children enrolled in private elementary schools. This statute, too, was enacted before the 1972 amendment to our Constitution. We held the act unconstitutional. The case was decidеd upon the basis of the constitutional provision as it existed at the time the statute was enacted. It is apparent in the two cases mentioned we did not decide the effect of the 1972 amendment.
The literal language of the amendment prohibits “appropriation . . . to” any schоol not owned by the state. The defendants assert this language has a broader meaning than its literal language imports. They would urge the Constitution prohibits any use of public funds which might either directly or indirectly aid a private school and that the 1972 amendment did not change the prior prohibition in any wаy. In supporting this argument, they point to the language in A Summary of Constitutional Amendments Proposed by the Nebraska Legislature (Neb. Legislative Council, March 1972). “The adoption of this proposed amendment would retain the above-mentioned prohibitions against sectarian instruction in public schools, the appropriation of public funds to any non-public school, and the requirement of any religious tests or quali *788 fications for public school teachers or pupils, although these provisions would be re-worded somewhat. The meanings would remain the same.” Id. at 28.
Even if that statement wаs deemed in any way “interpretive” of the provision, the plain language of the 1972 amendment does not support the defendants’ contention. The statement of the Nebraska Legislative Council, simply put, is that the 1972 amendment retained the prohibition against “the appropriation оf public funds to any nonpublic school,” and that “the meanings would remain the same.” The statement’s effect is only that the prohibition against the appropriation of “public funds to any nonpublic school” would remain. That is what the Constitution says.
Defendants also argue the failure to enaсt a rather confusing constitutional amendment in 1976 somehow affects the meaning of the constitutional provisions adopted in 1920 and 1972. We know of no legal basis for such a contention. Even if the voters in 1976 expressed disapproval of a proposed amendment, such disapproval does not affect a change in constitutional interpretation.
In
Gaffney v. State Department of Education,
The holding of the Supreme Court of South Carolina in
Hartness v. Patterson,
Certain fundamental constitutional principles must guide, and always have guided, us when the constitutional bounds of legislative power are questioned. The first principle is the Legislature has plenary lеgislative authority limited only by the state and federal Constitutions.
Swanson v. State,
In enacting the scholarship program, the Legislature made certain factfindings which they set forth in § 85-980. These were:
“(1) The provision of a higher education for all residents of this state who desire and are properly qualified for such an education is important to the welfare and security of this state and nation and consequently is an important public purpose;
“(2) Many qualified students are deterred by financial consideration from comрleting their education, with a consequent irreparable loss to this state and nation of talents vital to welfare and security;
“(3) The state can enhance its economic and social potential when the state’s residents have the opportunity to contribute to the full extent of their capabilities through the removal of the financial barriers to their economic, social, and educational goals;
“(4) The state can enhance its educational objectives by the development of financial aid programs, including programs which enable the stаte to fully *791 qualify for federal student aid funds made available to the state through the Federal SSIG program under authority of Section 415 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and related acts; and
“(5) To avoid the application of a double standard in carrying out its educational рrograms, the state needs to make certain that all students who qualify for aid stand equal to each other before the law, and that they be given the freedom, within reasonable and constitutional limits, to select the institutions of their choice in which to pursue their educational goals.”
In thе absence of some plain restriction in the Constitution, it is not for this court to say the scholarship awards for needy students, paid directly to the student, which may be used at any eligible institution, private or public, as defined by the Act, and which may not be used for pursuing courses of study which are pervasively sectarian and creditable toward a theological or divinity degree, do not serve a public purpose. Nor is it for this court to say the Legislature is not justified in making the finding a public purpose, which it did in this case.
The defendants also contend that the Act is unconstitutional because it viоlates Neb. Const, art. XIII, § 3, which provides: “The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association, or corporation ....” They cite no authority, but argue it violates this article because it is a “gift.” We think this position misconceives the true issue. We have said the рurpose of the section is to prevent the state (or any subdivision thereof) from extending its credit to private enterprise. United Community Services v. The Omaha Nat. Bank, supra. See Chase v. County of Douglas, supra. In the first case cited, the question was whether public utilities districts could make contributions to the united fund. We there held the making of the gifts was a public purpose and did nоt violate article XIII, § 3, but did violate article VII, § 11, as it then existed. The question is whether the *792 Act serves a public purpose. We have already held that it does.
If article XIII, § 3, were extended to include “gifts” for public purposes, then all state welfare programs and many others would be unconstitutional. We find no authority which supports the defendants’ position with reference to article XIII, § 3.
The holding of the District Court is reversed.
Reversed.