2025 Legislative Wins

1. Defeated Six Voucher Bills

After Governor Burgum vetoed a voucher bill in 2023, we expected the issue to come back and assumed that something would pass. At the beginning of the session there were 6 different bills introduced that would send public dollars to private schools in various ways. Proponents, realizing they had to coalesce around something, defeated 4 of them. That left HB 1540, introduced by Rep. Koppelman, and SB 2400, introduced by Sen. Axtman. While SB 2400 did provide some money for public school families, the system was inherently unequal in giving more to private school families and allowing the funds to be spent on tuition. HB 1540 was a typical voucher, only giving money to private school parents who could spend that money on tuition.  

Members of NDU stepped up to make their voices heard by writing testimony, submitting letters to the editor, and sending emails to their legislators and we were also joined in our effort by other supporters of public education and members of the community. We had assumed a bill would pass and spent the session building plans to bring it to the voters, but in the last few weeks both bills failed! Governor Armstrong vetoed HB 1540 stating, “House Bill 1540 falls far short of truly expanding choice as it only impacts one sector of our student population... We get one chance to craft policy to benefit the most students and ensure implementation of the program is achievable and realistic.” One day later, the House killed SB 2400 with only 14 votes in favor, and sustained the Governor’s veto the next day, ending the chances for a voucher bill this session. 

We will continue doing our work to stand up for public education and fight against ANY scheme that would attempt to send public dollars to private schools.  

2. Defeated SB 2307 - Library Censorship

SB 2307 was this session's iteration of a book ban, introduced by Senator Boehm. It would have criminalized librarians, required books considered “obscene” or “explicit” be placed in a location inaccessible to minors, and allowed any person from any state to challenge books in our libraries. After passing through the House and Senate, Governor Armstrong vetoed the bill. SB 2307 was then returned to the Senate, where the veto was sustained.

North Dakota United members worked together with Right to Read ND and other organizations to oppose this censorship bill, sending thousands of emails in opposition to legislators and the Governor. Members of NDU wrote nine letters to the editor expressing concerns with the bill.

3. Weakened Anti-Tenure Bill, HB 1437

HB 1437, which started as a ban on tenure at 2-year institutions, was amended to alter tenure and post-tenure review and signed by Governor Armstrong. The Governor took action in response to the over 100 emails sent to his office by NDU members and supporters. SB 2003, the higher ed funding bill, was amended to strike out language in HB 1437 prescribing the makeup of a "culminating post-tenure evaluation committee" and add due process protections to post-tenure evaluation. In the final version of SB 2003, the culminating committee language was added back in while due process protections remained. Our members and allies have now defeated significant attacks on tenure and academic freedom for the second consecutive legislative session. 

4. Passed Lifetime Teaching Licensure Bill, HB 1238

During the 2023 session, members in Fargo worked to introduce a bill that would have lowered the years required for a lifetime teacher licensure from 30 to 20. Although that bill was defeated, there was another chance this year as Rep. Ista introduced the same bill that was defeated previously. Originally HB 1238 also lowered the requirement to 20 years, but after some debate and amendments in the committee process, the bill passed with a 25-year requirement and Governor Armstrong signed it into law.

5. Passed Special Education Study Bill, HB 1530

A bill that came about because of the work of our members, HB 1530 provides for a legislative management study on the circumstances and needs of special education teachers and the related special education teacher shortage. It was passed and signed by the Governor without significant opposition. North Dakota United members in the Special Ed Collective worked tirelessly to address this important issue and get this bill passed.

Actions Taken:

4,788

We had 4,788 people submit an action alert this session.

  • 1,652 ND United members

  • 3,136 community supporters and allies of public education and public service.

Emails sent:

28,000+

NDU members continued to advocate through emails to their legislators as bills moved through the legislative process. Many also shared our action alert links with their networks through social media and other channels. Because of this, we had over 28,000 emails sent through our system. While this number is impressive, we know there were additional emails sent directly that aren't included in this count, so the real number is likely higher.  

Testimonies Submitted:

259+

Our members made a huge impact through submitting online testimony in support of or opposition to bills when they were in the policy committees. Because of the limited time allowed for submitting testimony, this was an especially impressive feat.  

Our current count has 259 pieces of testimony submitted by NDU members on various bills! Because so many members took this step, we are still working to gather the final numbers so stay tuned for that report! 

Lobby Day Attendees:

50+

North Dakota United brought over 50 members to the Capitol for two Lobby Day events, where members had the chance to tell legislators the real problems facing North Dakota’s classrooms.