logo
North Dakota Senate passes Education Savings Accounts for private school students

North Dakota Senate passes Education Savings Accounts for private school students

Yahoo18-04-2025

Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, speaks on the Senate floor on April 17, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
The North Dakota Senate approved a bill Thursday establishing Education Savings Accounts for private school students, but details are likely to be worked out by a conference committee.
The Senate voted 27-20 in favor of an amended version of House Bill 1540, which would provide vouchers for families to use for private school tuition or other qualifying education expenses. The accounts would not be available to public school or homeschooled students.
The amount each family could receive varies based on household income. Students from families in the lowest income category could receive about $4,000 per year, while students from the highest income category could receive a little over $1,000 per year.
Families with high incomes would qualify for vouchers in the version of the bill senators advanced. A previous version of the bill limited the vouchers to families who fall within 400% of the federal poverty level, which is an annual income of $128,600 for a family of four.
The Education Saving Accounts would be available for students for the 2026-27 school year.
Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, who introduced the amendment, estimated the program would cost about $20 million per school year. The exact cost to the state would depend on how many students use the accounts.
Bills look to expand North Dakota student opportunities through savings accounts
Sen. Mike Wobbema, R-Valley City, was among those who spoke in favor of Education Savings Accounts.
'We need to recognize that taxpayer funds need to be prioritized for use in educating taxpayers' children,' Wobbema said.
He argued that Education Savings Accounts could save the state money over time, if public school students switch to private schools, reducing how much the state spends on per-pupil payments to public schools.
Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, voted against the bill. She said there are no private schools in her district, so the bill wouldn't be used by her constituents.
'If we're going to do school choice, it's got to be for all kids,' Myrdal said. 'I can't in true conscience stand here today to vote for a vehicle that doesn't give any power to the parents in my district.'
Axtman is the chief sponsor of a competing Education Savings Account bill, Senate Bill 2400, which is still under consideration by the House Education Committee. The key difference in that bill is dollars could be used for educational expenses for public school or homeschooled students in addition to private school students.
Axtman voted in favor of the Senate version, but said she's still hopeful for a more universal policy.
'My goal is still a very comprehensive ESA that affects, truly, all students in North Dakota,' she said.
North Dakota United, a union representing educators and public sector employees, is among those who oppose the Education Savings Account bills.
'This bill, 1540, is all about private schools, just public money given right to the private schools,' said Nick Archuleta, president of North Dakota United.
The bill is expected to head to a conference committee made up of three lawmakers from each legislative chamber.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Poll: Colorado voters do not want to see funding cuts for assistance programs
Poll: Colorado voters do not want to see funding cuts for assistance programs

Yahoo

time29 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Poll: Colorado voters do not want to see funding cuts for assistance programs

DENVER (KDVR) — As the spending plan known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill makes its way through the U.S. Senate, new polling is out here at home, giving insight into how some Coloradans feel about programs that could see cuts under the proposal. The poll by Healthier Colorado shows that support for programs like SNAP and Medicaid is strong among Colorado voters. Safe2Tell report involving sexual misconduct leads to arrest 'They are going to rip this away from Colorado, but also the 36 other states that have utilized this,' said Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen. The congresswoman representing Colorado's seventh congressional district is concerned that substance abuse programs funded by Medicaid could be gutted if cuts inside the spending proposal in Washington come to fruition. 'With the budget proposal, they are taking states' ability to apply for the waiver that we utilized in Colorado and across the nation to draw down federal dollars to support treatment programs for those who are struggling with addiction,' Pettersen said. The concern over cuts comes as new data from the Centers for Disease Control shows a 35% drop in fentanyl deaths among young people in Colorado. New polling data from a Healthier Colorado survey out today also shows how some Coloradans may feel about the potential cuts to services. The survey, conducted between late last month and the early part of this month, polled 675 Colorado voters. 49% of them are unaffiliated voters, 26% are registered Democrats, 23% are registered Republicans. Aurora City Council will not hold in-person meetings until Kilyn Lewis lawsuit concludes Of the folks polled, 48% of people surveyed say they want to see an increase in Medicaid funding, and 25% said they would like to see it stay about the same. Only 21% say they would like to see a decrease. The survey also polled people about SNAP benefits, with 83% of people surveyed saying they support funding those benefits. 404 of the 675 people who took the survey live in Colorado's eighth congressional district. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NC Republicans send immigration crackdown bills to Gov. Josh Stein's desk
NC Republicans send immigration crackdown bills to Gov. Josh Stein's desk

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

NC Republicans send immigration crackdown bills to Gov. Josh Stein's desk

As national protests break out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's sweeping deportation raids, North Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday sent two bills to the governor's desk that target unauthorized immigrants and mandate further state cooperation with ICE. The wide-ranging bills would deputize some state law enforcement agencies to carry out immigration actions, ban immigrants from receiving state benefits if they are in the country illegally, and require sheriffs and prisons to notify ICE about suspected immigration violations in more circumstances. Both passed the Senate 26-17 with Democrats united in opposing the proposals. 'This bill really is not about safety, it's about intimidation,' Sen. Natalie Murdock, a Durham Democrat, said. 'It's about fear mongering, and it's about targeting vulnerable people who come to North Carolina seeking a better life.' Republicans, however, have championed the measures, saying the state needs to do more to aid the federal government's immigration enforcement actions. 'I think the people of North Carolina and the people of this nation want our immigration laws enforced,' Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters after the vote. 'I think what we have moved forward with are things that will enhance the ability of the federal authorities to enforce our nation's immigration laws.' Democratic Gov. Josh Stein has not said whether he will veto the proposals, both of which are likely to head to his desk soon. 'The governor will continue to review the bill,' a spokesperson for his office said. 'He has made clear that if someone commits a crime and they are here illegally, they should be deported.' If Stein does veto the bills, Republicans would have to gain the support of at least one Democrat in the House to override his rejection. Democratic Rep. Carla Cunningham voted in favor of one of the measures, House Bill 318, on Tuesday — making her the only member of her party do so. Ahead of Tuesday's vote, protesters demonstrated against the bills outside the legislature, saying they contributed to a campaign of fear against immigrants stoked by the Trump administration. 'I'm seeing our immigrant communities being terrorized and it's unnecessary,' Karen Ziegler, a protester, said ahead of the vote. 'These are people that have been living around us, working, performing critical functions, paying taxes. This is not OK, what's happening now. People being snatched off the streets, people being flown and transported to concentration camps in this country and in other countries. It's so wrong and I don't understand why the General Assembly wants to support this slide into fascism.' Tuesday's votes come as the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to respond to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, sending in the National Guard and Marines in a dramatic escalation of tensions. Both pieces of legislation significantly expand the state's responsibilities to cooperate with ICE. Senate Bill 153 would require four state law enforcement agencies to participate in the federal 287(g) program, which allows state officers to carry out immigration actions usually done by federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Officers from the state departments of Public Safety and Adult Correction, the State Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation — executive agencies which are overseen by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein — would all be required to carry out ICE functions. The other bill, HB 318, would require sheriffs to notify ICE before releasing anyone in their custody with a detainer, or detention request, from the agency. A law passed last year requires the affected person to be kept in confinement an additional 48 hours to give ICE time to potentially retrieve them, but the new bill aims to ensure immigration officials are notified. Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch attempted to amend the bill with what she called a 'victims' rights' provision which would ensure that victims of violent crimes could request that the person charged in their case be tried in court before ICE carries out any immigration actions. Without her amendment, Batch said the bill would be 'amnesty for criminals.' 'It's going to allow someone to come into North Carolina, to seriously injure, rape, murder or harm someone, and does not allow the victim or the victim's family to come before a court to ask for that individual to be tried (and) held accountable to our rules,' she said. Republicans set aside her proposal without debating it. HB 318 would also require sheriffs to attempt to determine the immigration status of anyone charged with a felony or drunk driving. Previous legislation narrowed this requirement to only people charged with high-level violent crimes. Cooperation with ICE isn't the only factor in the legislation passed Tuesday. SB 153 would also direct state agencies to ensure unauthorized immigrants do not receive a variety of state-funded benefits, such as housing assistance or unemployment. Another portion of the bill would allow local governments that approve what it describes as sanctuary policies for immigrants to be sued if a person in the country without legal authorization commits a crime in their jurisdiction.

Advocates, legislators still trying to expand expired compensation program for radiation exposure
Advocates, legislators still trying to expand expired compensation program for radiation exposure

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Advocates, legislators still trying to expand expired compensation program for radiation exposure

Jun. 10—One year ago, Congress let a federal program end that compensated people who grew sick from mining uranium for nuclear weapons or from living downwind of nuclear weapons tests. In those 12 months, Tina Cordova's cousin died after years of living with a rare brain cancer. Under a proposed expansion of the program, 61-year-old Danny Cordova likely would have qualified for the $100,000 compensation offered to people with specific cancers who lived in specific areas downwind of aboveground nuclear weapons' tests. "Instead, he and his mom lived literally paycheck to paycheck trying to pay for all of the medications he needed," Cordova said. Since the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) program was created in 1990, New Mexican downwinders have been left out, as have uranium mine workers from after 1971. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., has led an effort in the Upper Chamber alongside Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to expand the program so it includes later uranium mine workers, and people harmed by aboveground nuclear tests in more states — including New Mexico. In January, they reintroduced a bill to extend and expand RECA. "Letting RECA expire is a disgrace to these families and victims," Luján said. "It's an insult to the victims and their families who still struggle to this very day to get help, get the medicine they need, get the treatments for the conditions caused by the negligence of the federal government. For the victims, this story is long from being over. Generational trauma and poor health conditions continue to plague entire families." Although Hawley and Luján's bill passed the Senate twice in the last session of Congress, and was supported by the entire New Mexico delegation, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., never allowed a vote on the companion House bill, sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M. The expansion would have included an increased pricetag of $50 billion to $60 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — a cost estimate Luján has disagreed with. Since its inception, RECA has paid out approximately $2.6 billion. There is no accurate estimate of how many New Mexicans would be included if RECA is expanded, according to Luján's office. "We know we have the votes to get this passed now," said Leger Fernández, who plans to reintroduce the bill in the House. "They keep raising issues with regards to the cost... These are people's lives, and so we need to keep bringing it back to that issue. And in many ways, I think that we are doing this in a bicameral manner, and that the pressure that is being brought from the Senate will help us in the House." 'No apology' Cordova's cousin was diagnosed in his 20s, and had five brain surgeries to address his cancer. "He was left with horrendous and devastating consequences of that (first) surgery," Cordova said. "He lost the eyesight in one eye, he lost the part of his brain that controlled all of his hormonal functions, and he lost the part of his brain that also controlled his ability to adapt his body temperature." Five generations of Cordova's family tree include many cases of cancer. She herself survived thyroid cancer, and as a co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, she's long advocated for expanding RECA. Cordova's kitchen counter is covered in the stories of family trees that mirror her own. For 18 years, she's been collecting health surveys from people who grew up in areas downwind of aboveground nuclear weapon tests, documenting a history of cancer and death for families from Tularosa, Alamogordo and beyond. Loretta Anderson, a patient advocate and co-founder of the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71, works with over 1,000 former uranium miners and their families throughout the Laguna and Acoma pueblos. She knows 10 post-1971 uranium miners, those who would be compensated under a RECA expansion, who have died in the past 12 months. "They died with no compensation, no apology from the government," Anderson said. Despite the difficulty in getting RECA extended and expanded, Cordova has faith it will eventually pass through Congress. "This is not a partisan issue," Cordova said. "Exposure to radiation has affected the young, the old, the male, the female, the Black, the white, the Republican and Democrat alike."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store