AN ACT to amend and reenact section 15.1-07-25.4 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to a school district's virtual learning policies.
HB 1105 revises North Dakota law governing school district virtual learning policies. The bill allows school boards and nonpublic schools with a physical school plant to adopt policies for virtual instruction, while preserving a resident district’s ability to count eligible students for average daily membership and prohibiting denial of open enrollment to approved virtual schools. It also keeps in place the restriction that students or family members may not receive gifts or other items of value from vendors providing virtual instruction or support, and it requires the superintendent of public instruction to continue adopting rules for these policies.
The bill adds and clarifies several policy requirements for districts that choose to offer virtual learning. District policies may set registration deadlines, prerequisites, and a minimum number of onsite courses, but they may not unreasonably restrict access to virtual school options. Districts must pay for a virtual course when the course is not offered locally and the credit is needed for timely graduation, and they may decide whether to pay for a retake. The bill also states that students in approved virtual schools do not generate school district sized weighting factors, which affects how state aid is calculated.
HB 1105 amends Section 15.1-07-25.4 of the North Dakota Century Code and affects school district virtual learning policies, state rulemaking by the superintendent of public instruction, and school funding calculations tied to virtual enrollment. It requires annual reporting on virtual instruction performance comparisons and, when subgroup sizes are too small for state reporting, shifts reporting responsibility to the district. It also clarifies that approved virtual school students do not generate school district sized weighting factors under the state aid formula, which may affect district funding and enrollment accounting.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the Legislature. It passed the House 89-0 and the Senate 47-0, indicating unanimous approval among voting members. No committee transcript or recorded debate was provided, but the vote totals suggest general agreement with the bill’s approach to regulating virtual learning while preserving district discretion.
No major points of contention are evident in the available record. The main policy balance in the bill is between expanding access to virtual instruction and allowing districts to impose some conditions, such as registration deadlines, prerequisites, and onsite course minimums. The bill also leaves discretion to districts on paying for course retakes, and it bars unreasonable restrictions on virtual access, which may reflect the Legislature’s effort to balance local control with student access and graduation needs.