(Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor) – The state should not fund school choice programs at the expense of public schools, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler.
“This cannot be an either-or conversation,” Baesler, who is running for a fourth term as superintendent, said in a recent interview with the North Dakota Monitor.
In general, school choice refers to the idea that the government should invest in alternatives to traditional K-12 public education. It was subject to study this year by the Legislature’s interim Education Committee and as well as a state task force.
One of the best-known examples of school choice is the so-called voucher system. In this model, families get to take the tax money that otherwise would have supported their child’s public school education and use it to pay for an alternative they prefer — which could include private, charter or magnet schools, or homeschooling.
Baesler said if the Legislature decides to fund a school choice program, she hopes lawmakers will choose to supplement, not detract from, the money they invest in public education.
Overall, the state covers about 70% of educational costs while local property taxes support another 23%, according to data published by the State Department of Public Instruction. Other revenue sources cover the rest.
The Department of Public Instruction doesn’t have control over where school funding goes. Generally speaking, the agency does not endorse legislation either, Baesler said.
She said the conversation surrounding school choice shouldn’t be limited to private school subsidies.
To her, school choice means allowing students to have more opportunities to learn what they want, in whatever environment best supports their needs.
This could include helping with the cost for a child to attend coding camp over the summer, or increasing the availability of special support like counseling or dyslexia services, she said.
It also means helping kids take advantage of programs that already exist within the public school system, Baesler said. She pointed to legislation passed during the 2023 session that made it so that school districts cannot deny students the ability to enroll in an approved virtual school.
The Department of Public Instruction offered neutral testimony on the bill. Some groups, including the North Dakota School Boards Association, testified against the legislation on the grounds that it takes away districts control over planning and budgeting.
Baesler said that any private institution or program that receives state dollars should be subject to strict government oversight, including financial audits and performance standards.
When asked for his position on school choice, Baesler’s challenger, former state senator Jason Heitkamp, said he’s neither for or against the model.
“That’s as much as I want to say about it,” he said.
Superintendent of Public Instruction is a nonpartisan position.
The interim Education Committee and Educational Opportunities Task Force wrapped up this year without drafting any legislation related to school choice.
Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, chair of the Education Committee and a member of the task force, has said she plans to bring legislation this session that would create a tiered student assistance program.
Tier one, she said, would help public school students; tier two would provide assistance for private school students; and tier three would support homeschooled students, Axtman said. A bill that would have subsidized K-12 private school tuition for low-income families was nearly adopted into law last year. The bill passed both chambers, but was vetoed by Gov. Doug Burgum, who said he felt the legislation did not do enough to expand school choice opportunities and that it did not include enough regulatory sidebars. The Department of Public Instruction did not take a position on the legislation.
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