For Immediate Release – Monday, February 18, 2008
Contact: Duane Sand, (701) 223-9887

Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota Exposes the Truth about State Funding of Education

Bismarck, ND – Americans for Prosperity of North Dakota, a taxpayer advocacy group, has issued a brief summary of state funding of education.

“There has been a lot of talk in recent years that the state has not done its part in funding education in North Dakota. If the actual facts are taken into account, we see on a per pupil basis education funding today is at record levels – even when adjusted for inflation. Since the historical low reached in 1992, state funding of education has increased drastically – over $1,400 per pupil after inflation” state director Duane Sand stated.

It is important to keep in mind that in this time span, enrollment in K-12 education has decreased by over 25% (from 130,000 to 95,000). Current Department of Public Instruction projections point to a further decline of enrollment to just over 87,000 students by the 2016-2017 school year.

With fewer students enrolled each year, it is important that local officials take the proper right-sizing measures to assure that funding is focused on teacher pay and other classroom costs rather than administrative overhead. Only West Fargo School District has seen an actual increase in enrollment over the last 10-years.

Appropriation figures can be found at the North Dakota Legislative Council’s website at: http://legis.nd.gov/fiscal/biennium-reports/60-2007/budget-analysis/legislative/pdf/legislativebudget/dpihistorical.pdf.

However, because the $76.2 million increase in funding was paid from the “state tuition fund” rather than the general fund, these dollars must be added to the per pupil funding in the above link. The number of students in the state in 2007 (95,697) was found at the Department of Public Instruction’s website: http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/finance/resources/rollup.pdf.