Senate passes school choice bill
Senate passes school choice bill
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State money would funnel to private schools through parents who meet income qualifications under a school choice bill approved by the North Dakota Senate Tuesday.
Senators debated for nearly an hour before voting 27-19 to pass an amended version of the bill that previously passed the House 54-40. The House now must consider the amendments.
House Bill 1532 would provide up to $3,200 to a private school if requested by a student's family, as long as the family's income is not greater than 500% of poverty, or about $150,000 a year. The money can be used only for tuition and is subject to state audit. The program would be in place only for the 2024-25 school year and would be studied by a legislative committee. The estimated cost of the bill was reduced from the initial $24 million for the biennium to $10 million for one school year.
Sen. Jonathan Sickler, R-Grand Forks, said the $10 million doesn't take away from the $1.6 billion appropriation for public education.
"Every North Dakota child deserves to be supported because every educated North Dakota child is a boon to the state," Sickler said. "Whether we adopt 1532 or not, parents will continue to seek out the best education for their children. The decision before us is whether to give a meaningful choice to all North Dakota parents, not just those with the financial means."
Sickler reported 19 states adopted some variation of a school choice policy prior to 2023, and at least another three states have done so in the past three months. Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, added that North Dakota public schools are educating 115,000 students at state expense, while private schools currently are performing a service in educating 7,500 students at almost no state expense.
Sen. Bob Paulson, R-Minot, pointed out that families of private school students also pay taxes.
"I think it's completely appropriate for the tax dollars that they pay to follow their child to a private school," he said.
"Sending one's child to a private school is a choice that parents make, and they make it for very specific and sometimes personal reasons. And I have no problem with that," said Sen. David Rust, R-Tioga, a retired school superintendent. "However, the state should not pay for that choice."
Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, said allowing assistance up to 500% of the poverty level while other social assistance programs are at much lower percentages isn't right.
"We need to get back to meeting the basic needs of our people with the money that we do have," he said.
"This appropriation is only for $10 million. But it is a road that goes downhill very quickly from here, in my mind," said Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, R-Williston, suggesting the result will be eventually providing per pupil payments to private schools. "I just don't think it's appropriate that we send the monies that we do to private education facilities for them to build better facilities than we do for our North Dakota public schools."
Sen. Terry Wanzek, R-Jamestown, said both public and private school systems are important to the education of the state's students and its future workforce.
"I see the benefit of this bill as going to parents, not to private schools necessarily," he said. "I see this as empowering parents that might otherwise not have the means to make that decision."
Other legislators pointed out that two-thirds of districts have no private school option within an accessible distance.
"Most people will be paying their taxes and contributing towards this $10 million, but they’re not empowered and they have no choice," said Sen. Robert Erbele, R-Lehr.
Senators also touched on concerns about a potential constitutional challenge to the bill if it becomes law and also raised questions about the ability of private schools to educate children with special needs.
"If the private schools were required to accept all children, I probably could support House Bill 1532. Those private schools will be extremely challenged to follow the rules that we place on our public schools," said Sen. Dean Rommel, R-Dickinson, a former school board member.
Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, said private schools shouldn't be compared to the larger districts but to the smaller public schools, which also struggle to provide special education services.