ND lawmakers still talking K-12 funding

The North Dakota Senate has approved the bill that funds K-12 schools.

That includes language on what school districts are to do with the increased state funding.

The Senate is proposing a one percent increase in per-pupil payments in each year of the upcoming biennium. This, as school districts will be receiving federal money due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But comes with strings attached.

Grand Forks Republican Senator Ray Holmberg chairs the Appropriations Committee, and also chaired the K-12 subcommittee. He says that subcommittee – which also included Bismarck Republican Senator Nicole Poolman and Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman of New Rockford – approved language that tells local districts 70 percent of the new state money has to be spent on teacher compensation.  “In schools education takes place in the classroom and that’s where we want to focus North Dakota money.”

The bill – HB 1013 — passed 44 to 3.

The Grand Forks School Board will look over a plan to trim $4.5 million dollars from next year’s budget when they meet tonight.

NDPPR/KNOX