Cody Mickelson, Jamestown

The 69th Legislative Assembly is well underway and North Dakotans need to watch the actions of their elected officials closely. There are a variety of bills this session that seek to undermine public education under the guise of Educational Savings Accounts, vouchers, or school choice. They’re all the same -taxpayer robbery.

These are plans that will take money that could (and should) otherwise be used to improve our public schools for all students. ESAs and vouchers would take taxpayer money and give it to families who choose to send their kids to schools that can (and do) deny students admission, they take money from the rural taxpayer and redistribute it to areas where private schools are located, and they duplicate services that already exist in many of our communities. They aren’t even required to tell the public about what they would be doing with public money. These plans are rife with double-standards and lack transparency and accountability.

The people of ND stand strongly with public education and against these plans. But what does it mean that every advertisement seen on social media and television about ESAs, vouchers, and school choice are funded from out of state groups? It means that our legislature is listening to the wrong people.