Published: April 14, 2023
Key Takeaways
- House Bill 1532 passed 27-19-1 in the Senate earlier this week and was concurred in the House on a 51-41-2 vote. The bill is now headed to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
- Senate Bill 2360 was laid over and will be discussed on the House floor soon. This bill would ban books with “obscene material” and penalize librarians and businesses with a misdemeanor, resulting in one year of jail time.
- Senate Bill 2284 is the vehicle for K-12 funding and is currently sitting at 3.5% and 3% funding and educator raises for the next biennium. These yearly increases are woefully inadequate. ND United is fighting for 8% for the next biennium.
With three weeks left in the legislative session, we are nearing the end of a hectic assembly. Although there were countless legislative attempts to undermine public education and public service, we did a significant amount of work to hold our elected officials accountable. Keep reading to learn where we stand and what’s next.
Vouchers
House Bill 1532 passed 27-19-1 in the Senate earlier this week and was concurred in the House on a 51-41-2 vote. The bill is now headed to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. Throughout the session, we have outlined countless reasons why private school vouchers are bad for North Dakota. Once signed by Governor Burgum, HB 1532 will take $10 million public dollars from the general fund – away from public institutions that depend on public money – and hand it to private schools with no accountability.
Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, and spoke to legislators on this issue. We sent 53,766 emails to Senators and Representatives over the last four months. Our job is not yet done! Please head down to the Act section and send an email to Governor Burgum asking him to veto HB 1532. Although we are asking Governor Burgum to veto the bill, we expect him to sign it. North Dakota United is currently exploring all our options to prevent this bad legislation from becoming law.
Pensions
House Bill 1040, the bad pension bill that would close the defined-benefit pension plan to new public workers by 2025, was given a 9-6-1 do pass recommendation out of Senate Appropriations and will be heard early next week on the floor for final passage. Keep sending emails to Senators via the action alert below as we still have a chance to kill this bill!
Specified Concepts
Senate Bill 2247, which began as a bill to prohibit teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in higher education institutions, has been amended to only restrict training and non-credit education of these now so-called “specified” concepts.
Specified concepts in the bill relate to diversity, inclusion, and equity. This bill is a solution in search of a problem, with no evidence in higher education that these concepts have created an issue in credit or non-credit learning. Additionally, proponents of SB 2247 are concerned about what kids are learning, but this bill would specifically dictate what adults learn. There were only seven testimonies in support of the bill, four of which came from legislators, while 30 testimonies were submitted in opposition. The amended bill unfortunately passed in the House this week on a 50-39-5 vote and will be sent to the Senate to concur before going to Governor Burgum to become law.
Funding
Members of North Dakota United have been advocating for increases to per-pupil funding for K-12 public schools of 8% in both years of the coming budget cycle, and for 8% increases in both years to salaries for K-12 educators, state employees, and higher ed faculty and staff.
Senate Bill 2284 is the vehicle for K-12 funding and is currently sitting at 3.5% and 3% funding and educator raises for the next biennium. These yearly increases are woefully inadequate, and we need to ensure that our legislators know it will not be enough to account for inflation, cost of living, and the previously inadequate increases in funding from the last few years. This bill also includes a $6 million dollar appropriation to raise the eligibility for free school lunches to students whose parents make less than $60,000 per year.
Book Bans
Senate Bill 2360 was laid over and will be discussed on the House floor soon. This bill would ban books with “obscene material” and penalize librarians and businesses with a misdemeanor, resulting in one year of jail time. North Dakota United is staunchly opposed to book bans and we urge members to join the North Dakota Library Association in sending a letter to your Representatives opposing SB 2360.
Parental Rights
At a time of serious teacher shortage and burnout, the last thing we need is a bill like SB 2260 that piles more requirements on teachers. Educators would love more parental involvement, but onerous requirements and mandates like those in this bill ignore the expertise of educators and are unworkable in practice. SB 2260 was amended this morning to remove individual liability for educators. While this amendment made the bill slightly better, it is still harmful to education. The bill received a 10-4 “do pass”.
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Keeping the Promise of Quality Public Education & Public Services
With more than 11,500 members across the state, NDU supports equal opportunities for success for ALL North Dakota students, and respect and support for all educators. NDU members are teachers, community college professors, speech pathologists, bus drivers, secretaries, retired educators and student teachers.