School Choice Bills Before North Dakota State Legislature

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(KNOX) – When it comes to school choice, the North Dakota Legislature has plenty of bills to choose from.

Five proposals to establish education savings accounts for parents/guardians of students got hearings in House and Senate committees.

Generally speaking, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) provide state funds to parents to use for their children’s education expenses. They are often designed for parents who favor nonpublic school.

For the 2024-25 school year, the state aid payment to public school districts is $11,072 per student. Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s budget recommendations would raise this amount to $11,293 per student for 2025-26, and to $11,519 the following year.

These are the base amounts; they are adjusted for each school district, based on a variety of factors that are set out in state law.

It is important to know these base per-student payment numbers because some ESA bills use them to determine the amount of money parents can get.

HB1540 and SB2303 would deposit an amount equal to 80 percent of the per-student payment to school districts ($8,857 when you use this year’s payment to calculate it) into an education savings account at the Bank of North Dakota, which a parent could use for nonpublic school tuition and fees, computer hardware, textbooks, and other education supplies.