The Legislature finds and declares that:

(1) For the benefit of the people of the State of Nebraska, the increase of their commerce, welfare, and prosperity, and the improvement of their health and living conditions, it is essential that this and future generations of youth be given the greatest opportunity to learn and to fully develop their intellectual and mental capacities and skills;

(2) To achieve these ends it is of the utmost importance that elementary and secondary schools within the state be provided with appropriate additional means of assisting such youth in achieving the required levels of learning and development of their intellectual and mental capacities and skills;

(3) It is the purpose of the Nebraska Elementary and Secondary School Finance Authority Act to provide a measure of assistance and an alternative method of enabling elementary and secondary schools in the state to finance the acquisition, construction, and renovation of needed educational facilities and structures and to refund, refinance, or reimburse outstanding indebtedness incurred by them or advances made by them, including advances from an endowment or any other similar fund, for the construction, acquisition, or renovation of needed educational facilities and structures, whether or not constructed, acquired, or renovated prior to September 13, 1997; and

(4) The financing and refinancing of educational facilities, through means other than the appropriation of public funds to elementary and secondary schools, as described in the act, is a valid public purpose.