As I write this column, we are in the early days of summer. Wherever you are reading this, I hope you are enjoying the weather and making plans for rewarding experiences with family and friends. Here are a few things that we at North Dakota United are following:
It’s an election year, and all of us at ND United are following the action closely. There are, of course, important elections on the state level, for Governor, the House of Representatives and Senate, but there are also important and competitive races in many legislative districts.
The outcome of those races will determine whether our Legislature focuses on investing in our public schools and services or remains mired in culture wars that distract us from crucial investments in our future.
In the upcoming general election, please vote for candidates whose positions on K-12 education, higher education and public service mirror your own. It is critically important to elect a Legislature that will eschew the culture wars and focus on strengthening education and public service. Public employees, regardless of their job title, deserve respect for providing the vital services our fellow citizens across the state need survive.
You can check out the voting records for all of the legislators during the 2023 Legislative Assembly on our Legislator Report Card.
Another race that deserves your attention is the race for the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It is clear to me that there is only one serious candidate for the job and that is the incumbent, Kirsten Baesler. In the primaries, she faced a number of challengers. One of them, Jim Bartlett was the former executive director of the ND Homeschool Association and received a letter of support from the ND GOP Convention. Bartlett ran on a platform rooted in the false claim that our public-school teachers are indoctrinating students.
Following the primaries on June 11, Baesler’s competition was narrowed down to just Jason Heitkamp, a former far-right state senator, since only the top two vote-getters in this nonpartisan race move on to the general election. He would go back to basics, emphasizing the basics of “reading, writing, and arithmetic,” as if schools do not teach those skills already. Worse still, is that he would advocate for moving TFFR from a defined-benefit retirement plan to a defined-contribution retirement plan.
Heitkamp has said that he would vote to eliminate property taxes that fund public schools and public services. It is clear that he possesses neither the skill nor disposition to effectively administer the state’s education system.
Friends, your value to North Dakotans is immeasurable and important. Thank you for all you do, and will do, in service to others. And thank you for your membership in ND United!
