School choice bills moving through North Dakota House, Senate committees

Yahoo

07-02-2025

Feb. 6—GRAND FORKS — Several bills directing state education dollars outside of North Dakota's public schools inched through committee hearings this week, as lawmakers push to open the state to school choice.
School choice refers to a broad slate of educational options where public dollars are spent outside public schools, whether toward public charter schools, homeschooling support or private school tuition.
Though conservative lawmakers have successfully pushed for school choice legislation across the country, North Dakota is one of a handful of states that has resisted implementing such measures.
Some form of school choice legislation is considered likely to pass this legislative session, particularly after President Donald Trump issued an executive order
directing the Secretary of Education to prioritize school choice
programs in federal discretionary grants.
Department of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler called on Senate lawmakers Monday to lay groundwork so North Dakota could receive these funds on its own terms.
"At the federal level, school choice is no longer a matter of if, but how," she said.
House and Senate education committees each heard testimony on several school choice bills this week.
Most would create educational savings accounts, or ESAs, which deposit public funds in private accounts for parents to use on a set of approved expenses.
"Everyone has a little bit of a different idea of what their ideal version of an ESA, or their ideal version of school choice is," Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, a school choice proponent, told the Grand Forks Herald.
HB 1590,
HB 1607,
SB 2400
and the duplicate
HB 1540
and
SB 2303
would all allow parents to direct public funds toward private school tuition via ESA.
(Another bill allocating state dollars to private tuition or homeschooling costs,
SB 2295,
received a unanimous "do not pass" recommendation from the Senate education committee.)
Proponents have hailed ESAs as offering better and more flexible educational options for parents and guardians outside the strictures of the public school system.
"We want to get parents empowered and engaged," said Justin Forde, a lobbyist with the North Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity. "We want to make sure everybody has all these opportunities as decided by their parents."
School choice legislation came close to becoming law in 2023, when the House and Senate passed a "school voucher" bill that would have reimbursed some parents of private school students for their child's tuition costs.
Then-Gov. Doug Burgum vetoed the bill,
saying it was "not the comprehensive solution"
the state needed while voicing support for school choice.
Public school administrators and teachers widely oppose to school choice legislation, as do unions representing public school employees.
Those educators have repeatedly said they oppose any legislation that would direct state funding away from public schools and toward private options, which they point out are not subject to the same oversight as public schools and cannot turn away students.
"Public dollars demand public accountability," said Joe Drumm, vice president of the Grand Forks Education Association, during Wednesday testimony.
Opponents have also cited declining test scores in states that have gone all-in on private school choice like Arizona. (Nationwide research has shown mixed-to-negative results on the impact of school choice on test scores.)
The North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders, the North Dakota School Boards Association, and North Dakota United have all submitted testimony opposing the bills.
National school choice lobbyist group the American Federation for Children and the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity have backed several school choice bills.
So have private school operators and parents of private school students, particularly those with children in Catholic parochial schools.
In written testimony, Catholic parents have cited the financial hardship of having to pay private tuition for as many as five children and asked for the state to cover those costs for them.
"The economic status of our parents really is not very different than a public school," Jeff Ringstad, administrator of Our Redeemer's Christian School in Minot, told the Herald. "We know that some of our current parents really struggle to make that tuition bill. ... So trying to support that choice as far as they want from education, we feel it would be valuable for the state to support that."
Critics have argued public dollars should not subsidize religious education, saying it goes against longstanding constitutional doctrine.
Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, though, have
opened the door
to allow states to funnel public school dollars to private religious programs through school choice measures.
Rural school districts have been particularly vocal in their opposition to school choice, with local superintendents pointing out that most of their students do not have access to alternative education options and arguing school choice will create a two-tiered system that draws funding from public schools.
"I don't have the ability to say, 'I'm sorry, I don't think our school is right for you,'" said Rick Deagle, superintendent of Kidder County School District, who testified against SB 2400. "I need every dollar I can get."
Four of the ESA bills would draw their funds directly from the per-pupil payment that states allocate to schools.
Another, HB 1590, proposes to appropriate $41 million for a pilot program where parents can deposit up to $2,000 per year in a Bank of North Dakota-run savings account for educational costs and receive a 50% match in state dollars.
SB 2400 offers the most complex funding scheme of any of the school choice bills. That bill would offer $1,000 to every public school student for educational expenses on top of their per-pupil payment.
It would also offer between $2,000 to $4,000 per year to private school students, and $1,000 toward homeschooled students.
That bill's author, Sen. Michelle Axtman, of Bismarck, has pitched her bill as the first "universal ESA," saying it addresses the faults of other educational savings programs that only support private school students.
"It makes North Dakota stand out in a really positive way," she said. "Senate Bill 2400 really breaks the mold, and it's the only one that does that."
Gov. Kelly Armstrong is among her bill's proponents; Ringstad, from Minot, says he believes Axtman's bill has the most support from lawmakers.
Public school advocates like ND United's Nick Archuleta have said they support the idea of supplemental funding for all students, but remain opposed to spending public funds on private school students.
He characterized SB 2400 as another voucher bill during Wednesday testimony, leading to a charged exchange with Axtman where she asserted her legislation was not a private school voucher.
"Any bill that diverts public money to private education is a voucher bill," he responded.
Public charters
Axtman is also the author of a bill that would allow for the establishment of public charter schools, HB 2241, provided the school has community support and the state superintendent's approval.
A separate charter school measure led by Grand Forks Rep. Eric Murphy
failed a floor vote
in the House on Jan. 31.
Axtman's public charters would draw their funding from enrolled students' per-pupil payment. She said the schools would have to comply with local, state and federal school rules, including special education laws, and that those schools' teachers would be eligible for the state's teacher pension plan.
This bill is also opposed by public educator groups including ND United.
Among those who testified in support of the bill was a principal from North Idaho Classical Academy, set to open in 2026 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
According to its website, the school is receiving startup counsel and training from Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian liberal arts college in Michigan that's backed charter school efforts nationwide. (The college is also a member of the advisory board for the conservative political initiative Project 2025.)
Axtman has said her bill does not authorize spending on homeschool, virtual or religious education.
Asked by the Herald whether her bill would allow public charters to use Hillsdale's K-12 curriculum, she said she wasn't familiar with the curriculum but that the Department of Public Instruction would be responsible for establishing curriculum standards.
Lawmakers have also introduced a bill allowing for the creation of "microschools" operating out of residential addresses and exempt from rules governing schools, teachers and child care facilities, including criminal history record checks.