Breaking News

Letters to the Editor

ND hospitality lacking for LGBTQ+

I read with interest Gov. Burgum’s statement regarding North Dakota’s new tourism and marketing campaign. Burgum said, “Increasing awareness of all ND has to offer not only attracts visitors but also elevates our state as a potential new home for workers, businesses and families.” Great, until these potential workers get word that our ND legislators don’t want anyone who is gay or transgender. The legislature is doing everything it can to make sure that LGBTQ+ people know they are not welcome here. Despite Gov. Burgum’s rosy words, the reality of pending legislation is ...

Free school lunch is legacy investment

As the federation of unions representing working families in North Dakota, we know what a huge relief it was for working families to not worry about school meals while federal funding was taking care of it. Providing a basic hot meal for every kid who needed one, at no charge to the student or families, worked for everyone. It became normal. The problems we had around school meals, including things like meal shaming, and school meal debt, faded into the rearview mirror of things any of us had to worry about. We are now back to school-meals-as-usual, and once again, it’s really ...

Bill would divert money from public schools

Brenda Seehafer, Rolla As a leader of my local association of educators, I can tell you that our members are regularly talking about what is happening at the state Capitol, and the potential effects that bills will have on their professional lives, their classrooms and, most importantly, their kids. We are discussing bills like Rep. Cory’s efforts to establish “educational reimbursement programs,” also known as vouchers. Past legislative sessions have seen efforts like these under different names, like “education savings accounts,” but the intent is always the same: ...

Public funds are for public schools

Tyler Hancock, Minot So in reading the painfully biased article “Parents call for school choice” (nice title, by the way; are you claiming that all parents are calling for school choice? Because it sounds like you’re claiming that all parents are calling for school choice), I noticed some issues. First of all, you obfuscate a major issue with the bill by using vague language: “the fiscal note for the bill would be closer to $61 million than the $24 million listed for the bill for the biennium.” Why not just say the bill would cost taxpayers $61 million? Because it’s too ...

School lunch bill excludes private schools

LaMonte Jacobson, Bismarck If there was one positive thing that came out of the pandemic, every child in school was provided lunch at no cost through federal funding. Now that this program has ended, there is a bill before the legislature to provide lunch at no cost to public school children. Unlike the federal program, the bill excludes children that attend a private school. Folks that send their children to private school already fund the public schools through property taxes and get little or no benefit for their contribution. I’m not sure what chance this bill has to be ...

Childcare crisis impacts families, businesses

Alexa Ducioame, Fargo It’s no secret, ND has faced a childcare crisis for a long time. I share my story as a snapshot into what families are facing and to implore the ND legislature to act now. My daughter (2.5) has been on a waitlist for our preferred center for 3 years. My son (1) was able to get in at 6 months, but there’s still 700 people waiting. Their first Center had 25 days where we unexpectedly had to stay home due to weather or staffing in February through April 2022. I’m an engineer and my husband is in IT, and we did our best to work from home, but it was not ...