Lawmaker Drops Plan to Pursue Property Tax Ballot Measure

State Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – A North Dakota lawmaker says he’ll no longer petition for a ballot measure to make the state fund 100% of the public school system after polling showed homeowners have mixed feelings about his proposal.

Property taxes assessed by local governments cover about 27% of the cost of North Dakota’s public school system for the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Department of Public Instruction. The state paid the other roughly 73%.

Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot, says the state should cover local governments’ share of public school costs. He believes this is key to broad, long-term property tax relief.

During the 2025 session he sponsored a bill to this end, though it was rejected in favor of another property tax package, House Bill 1176, which provides homeowners with a tax credit of up to $1,600 for tax years 2025 and 2026. The tax credit is expected to eliminate property taxes completely for a subset of homeowners for the next two years.