News Releases for March 2003
March 24, 2003
For further information, please Contact the Governor's Office
Hoeven Continues Push For Increased K-12 Education Funding
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today continued to call on the Legislature to increase funding for K-12 education in line with his executive budget proposal. The Governor is holding news conferences today in Bismarck and Fargo, and will speak by radio statewide to press for restoration of $11.5 million in state funding for schools.
According to new projections prepared by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), 130 of the state’s 217 school districts will receive less funding in the next biennium than they are getting in the current biennium under the education bill passed by the Senate and now under consideration in the House.
“Without the funding level that we’ve proposed in our executive budget, more than half of the state’s school districts will get less support - fewer actual dollars -- in 2004 and 2005 than they are getting right now,” Hoeven said “That just isn’t acceptable.”
“We’ve made real progress this biennium in not only increasing support for education, but also increasing teacher pay and helping to take the pressure off property taxes,” Hoeven said. “We need to continue that progress. That’s why it’s so important that we fund education at the level I’ve requested, and why we must make sure that the money gets to teachers. We can’t afford to go backward.”
Hoeven said a teacher salary increase could be accomplished through a teacher compensation package, or through Foundation Aid with a link to teacher pay, but the state needs to provide a higher level of support for education.
“Last session, I pushed for - and the Legislature passed - legislation that represented a new commitment to K-12 education,” Hoeven said. “It provided more money to school districts, helped reduce the pressure on property taxes, and most importantly, got more money to teachers to ensure quality education for our children throughout North Dakota.”
At the same time, Hoeven said, he has worked to improve school funding equity. Hoeven’s executive budget proposes increasing the supplemental payments and the per-pupil weighting factor in the Foundation Aid formula from 75 percent to 100 percent. In addition, the Senate has proposed increasing the mil levy deduct in the formula.
“These steps all move us toward greater equity, but at the same time we must include increasing the level of state funding support for education,” Hoeven said.
E-mail comments to the Governor
