LINCOLN — Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher says he will no longer mount a 2026 campaign for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Maher, 63, announced his decision Thursday, citing family and professional obligations. He had announced his campaign July 10. But this week, he said now is not the right time for him to pursue an elected office. He said running was pulling him away from his role in the Nebraska Department of Education and that time away from family is “non-negotiable.”
“I am not a politician — I’m a lifelong educator who wants to make a difference,” Maher said in a statement. “The simple reality is that I underestimated the amount of time and attention running a campaign would take.”
The District 1 seat on the NU Board of Regents includes most of Lancaster County and Lincoln, as well as surrounding Emerald, Malcolm, Agnew, Raymond and Davey. In addition to Maher, Lincoln entrepreneur Brent Comstock, 30, had thrown his hat into the 2026 race.
NU Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln, a regent since 2009, and a registered Republican, does not plan to seek reelection. Maher is a registered Republican in the officially nonpartisan race. Comstock is a registered nonpartisan.
Maher had pledged to “continue faithfully serving” as commissioner throughout the 2026 campaign but, if elected, planned to step down.
‘Laser focus’ on education issues
The state Education Department is undergoing a long-term planning process likely to cover the next five years. It comes as a result of about a dozen forums held statewide earlier this year.
State education leaders are also working to dole out more than $80 million in state, private and federal funding to improve literacy in Nebraska. Addressing chronic student absenteeism, school staffing vacancies and workforce development are also key department goals.
Maher, as education commissioner, chairs the new School Financing Review Commission, a legislatively created advisory body meant to help the Legislature review and possibly revamp how Nebraska funds its 245 public school districts, including how property taxes fit into the equation.
“My campaign for regent was distracting to the education issues that demand my laser focus,” Maher said.
Maher is a native of Hooper with a 40-year career in education that includes being a teacher at Elkhorn and Clarks Public Schools; a school administrator at Waverly, Elkhorn and Johnson-Brock Public Schools; superintendent of Kearney and Centennial Public Schools in Nebraska, as well as the Sioux Falls School District in South Dakota; and as CEO of the South Dakota Board of Regents (the Nebraska equivalent of NU president), where he served from 2020 to 2023 before returning to Nebraska.
In a brief call with the Nebraska Examiner on Thursday, Maher said the “honor” of being the education commissioner “will have my full attention, other than that which I give to my family.”
“I truly plan to really just focus on being the commissioner and really make sure that the confidence that the board has placed in me was not misplaced,” he said of what’s next.
Maher became Nebraska’s commissioner of education in 2023 on a 5-3 vote for an initial three-year contract.
The State Board of Education, an officially nonpartisan board evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, voted unanimously in June to extend his contract to July 2027.
State Board of Education support
All eight members of the state board had endorsed Maher’s campaign for regent.
Board members Elizabeth Tegtmeier of North Platte and Deb Neary of Omaha, chair and vice chair of the State Board of Education, said Thursday they fully support Maher’s decision. Tegtmeier is a registered Republican. Neary is a registered Democrat.
“I am relieved that he is going to be staying with the Department of Education, selfishly,” Neary said Thursday.
