AN ACT to provide an appropriation for defraying the expenses of the department of public instruction, the center for distance education, the state library, the school for the deaf, and North Dakota vision services - school for the blind; to create and enact a new section to chapter 15.1-07 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the collection of free or reduced-price meal eligibility information; to amend and reenact sections 15.1-02-02 and 15.1-27-16 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the salary of the superintendent of public instruction and administrative cost-sharing; to provide for a transfer; to provide a report; to provide an exemption; and to provide an effective date.
HB1013 is the North Dakota education appropriations bill for the 2025-27 biennium. It funds the Department of Public Instruction, the Center for Distance Education, the State Library, the School for the Deaf, and North Dakota Vision Services – School for the Blind. The bill appropriates roughly $3.06 billion in total funds, including about $1.74 billion from the general fund, and sets out detailed line-item spending for salaries, operating costs, grants, formula payments, and capital needs across those agencies.
Beyond the base appropriations, the bill directs funding for several specific education initiatives. These include teacher retention, school board training, early learning, centers of excellence, Native American essential understandings materials, reading and dyslexia supports, gifted and talented reimbursements, regional education association grants, free student meal grants for eligible students, paraprofessional-to-teacher programs, and North Dakota governor’s schools. It also includes one-time funding items and authorizes certain carryover and transfer provisions for prior biennium funds, federal relief funds, and special accounts.
The bill also makes several statutory changes. It updates the superintendent of public instruction’s salary, requires school districts to provide an annual electronic form to collect income information for free or reduced-price meal eligibility while still allowing paper forms on request, and revises administrative cost-sharing rules for cooperating school districts and special education units. In addition, it authorizes the superintendent to use certain funds for late-filed special education and integrated formula payment claims, and it directs how Medicaid-related special education matching funds are handled.
The bill’s impact on state law is both fiscal and administrative: it changes appropriation levels, creates a new school meal eligibility data-collection requirement, and adjusts school finance and cooperative-district reimbursement rules. It also preserves or extends the availability of certain unspent prior appropriations and specifies the use of designated special funds, including the foundation aid stabilization fund and the strategic investment and improvements fund.
Overall, the bill appears to have broad legislative support, passing the House 60-28 and the Senate 46-0. The available record does not include committee debate transcripts, so specific floor or committee arguments are not available. Based on the bill text, likely areas of interest or concern include the size and structure of the education budget, the shift from PowerSchool funding to student information systems, the new electronic meal-eligibility collection requirement, and the targeted grants for meals, literacy, teacher pipeline programs, and special education-related reimbursements.
HB1013 substantially increases and reallocates funding for K-12 education and related state education agencies for the 2025-27 biennium, while also amending North Dakota Century Code provisions governing superintendent salary, school district cooperation, and meal-eligibility data collection. It creates a new statutory requirement for districts to offer an electronic income-information form for free/reduced-price meal eligibility, revises administrative cost-sharing reimbursement rules, and authorizes specific uses and carryovers of state and federal funds. The bill affects the Department of Public Instruction, school districts, special education units, regional education associations, public libraries, and the state’s specialized schools and distance education system.
The voting record suggests strong overall support for the bill, especially in the Senate where it passed unanimously. The House vote was also favorable, though with a notable minority of opposition. With no committee transcript available, the public record does not show detailed debate, but the bill’s structure indicates a generally pro-education, pro-funding sentiment centered on maintaining core school aid and adding targeted program investments. The opposition in the House likely reflects concern about the size of the appropriation, policy direction, or specific program choices rather than the bill’s overall purpose.
The most likely points of contention are the bill’s large fiscal commitment, the distribution of one-time and ongoing education grants, and the policy changes tied to school administration and student meal eligibility data collection. The shift from PowerSchool funding to student information systems, the use of special funds for targeted initiatives, and the new electronic form requirement may raise concerns about implementation, privacy, administrative burden, or local control. The House’s 28 no votes suggest some disagreement, but the available record does not identify which members or issues drove that opposition.