North Dakota Superintendent Kirsten Baesler, center, speaks during a work group of the Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force on Aug. 28, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
(North Dakota Monitor) -A notice has been published for the next meeting of the school choice task force, a group that previously did not publicize its meetings.
A meeting notice for the task force, also known as the educational opportunities task force, is now available through the secretary of state’s public meeting notice website. It’s listed on the site as the Legislative Management Interim Education School Choice Study.
The public can subscribe through the website to receive email notifications about meetings. The next meeting is 9 a.m. Sept. 26 in the Peace Garden Room of the Capitol.
The North Dakota Monitor has requested an attorney general’s opinion to determine whether previous meetings of the task force violated the open meetings law. The task force met once virtually and twice at the Capitol but did not publicize meeting notices or agendas.
Confusion about which governing body should have published the meeting notices contributed to the lack of transparency, prompting lawmakers to ask questions about the process during an Aug. 14 meeting of the interim Education Committee.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler said her staff took over publishing the meeting notices after she asked Committee Chair Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, if she objected.
“I don’t think anyone ever intended to hide the work of the task force,” Baesler said. “I know I certainly didn’t.”
Meeting notices of listening sessions planned for September also will be published once the dates are confirmed, Baesler said.
Legislative Council Director John Bjornson has previously said the task force is not led by the Legislature, which is why the meeting notices were not published to the Legislature’s website.
The final meeting of the interim Education Committee is at 9 a.m. Sept. 24 – two days before the task force meets. That means the committee members, who were directed by the Legislature to study school choice, will not have the final work of the task force before they meet.
Baesler said Axtman set the meeting dates. Axtman did not return a call seeking comment Friday.
The Office of the Attorney General has acknowledged receipt of the Monitor’s opinion request. The agency said the opinion drafting process is “exhaustive” and takes 120 to 180 days, or longer for complex issues. Not all requests result in a formal opinion.
The most recent open meetings opinion published by the attorney general was in July 2024 for a meeting that occurred in July 2022.
Baesler said she, too, is interested in the attorney general’s input on who is responsible for publishing such meeting notices.
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