North Dakota
AmeriCorps cuts hit rural North Dakota schools, communities
BISMARCK — Bryon Rosene is in his ninth year as a paraprofessional in the Elgin-New Leipzig Public School system, and was, until recently, an AmeriCorps participant.
Sweeping cuts of around $400 million in grants by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency on April 25 ended Rosene’s work and that of dozens of other AmeriCorps members across the state.
AmeriCorps participants in North Dakota primarily worked in schools, child care and community- capacity building in rural parts of the state where recruiting extra assistance can prove challenging.
Besides his regular duties, being part of AmeriCorps allowed Rosene to work closely with 10 of the school’s seventh and eighth-grade students. This is done during a structured period outside normal class time dedicated to improving math scores that had slipped following the pandemic.
While that number may not sound like a lot, for a school with only 160 students from K-12, Rosene said was able to serve a significant portion that needed extra help through his AmeriCorps participation.
“There’s an absolute improvement, the quality of work, the quality of thinking,” Rosene said.
“Everything with it has been beneficial to them.”
Rosene was somewhat skeptical about joining the AmeriCorps program initially, he said, but saw how well it worked after becoming involved.
“Some federal programs get thrown out there and don’t stand up to the test of time, but this one, it stands up, and it has the data to prove it,” Rosene said. “The program works, and it’s kind of a shame to see it cut.”
AmeriCorps was formed under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, but has roots in similar federal programs spanning back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of 1933.
Its direct forerunner was the Volunteers in Service of America program that sprang from the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.
Participants are often students or recent graduates and qualify for awards to cover education costs, loans or student loan deferments, the latter of which Rosene was able to take. Older volunteers get stipends and supplemental health insurance, or apply educational savings costs to younger family members.
Elgin-New Leipzig Public School superintendent Sherlock Hirning said the school system had three paraprofessionals who participated in the AmeriCorps program who won’t be able to continue providing those services outside of their regular employment.
One was focused on K-3 reading, another on K-6 math, and Rosene who worked with older middle school kids on math.
Three North Dakota programs receiving federal grants in the state were affected, including the South East Education Cooperative (SEEC), Cooperstown Community Activities Authority (CCAA) and the Souris Basin Planning Council (SBPC), which had two grants.
Grant terminations impacted 84 slots for AmeriCorps participants facilitated by the state’s Department of Commerce and the state service commission, Serve ND. Another nine slots were cut under an SBPC program directly paid out by the federal AmeriCorps Agency.
While the total grant amount was expected to be around $432,000 for all the programs cut, some did not use all the funding.
For example, the North Dakota Professional Corps that Rosene took part in was allotted over $24,000 for 40 participants.
This program ended up only recruiting 11 paraprofessionals at rural schools across the state and costing an estimated $7,000 in grant funding total, said Kerri Whipple, director of literary services at SEEC.
Direct AmeriCorps Agency funding for 187 other participants across the state is not currently impacted. This includes another SEEC Reading and Math Corps group, and programs operated by Strengthen ND and Jamestown Parks and Recreation.
Other than some of the minimal material costs covered by AmeriCorps, the salaries of the paraprofessionals were already being covered by the Elgin-New Leipzig school district, Hirning said.
“They kept the one that’s costing them money and cut the one that doesn’t cost them any money that the district is already paying for,” Hirning said. “Now how is that in the vein of saving the billions of dollars they claim they’re saving by doing this whole thing across the country make any sense?”
Whipple was also confused by the cuts.
“The one that is most cost-effective is the one they cut,” Whipple said, echoing Superintendent Hirning. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to who got cut, who got cut partially,
who got cut completely, who was left alone.”
The SEEC program that was cut and that Rosene participated in was especially important for small rural communities, Whipple said. It allowed schools to already use hired staff at the school instead of trying to tap into a limited pool of candidates available in many communities.
“There’s not a lot of people sitting around hoping for volunteer opportunities that aren’t already engaged somewhere,” Whipple said of the situation in smaller towns.
The cuts are particularly devastating to the community of Cooperstown, where the CCAA lost six AmeriCorps participants as well as the ability to work with a pool of dozens of other AmeriCorp-leveraged volunteers in the community.
The AmeriCorps members the CCAA facilitated served in after-school programs, in a community daycare, and at a community gym program.
For these positions under the Kidz Count AmeriCorps Program, federal funding covered around two-thirds of the cost, with local funding picking up the rest.
“We’ve been able to get these programs to run because no one has the funding to have these
services themselves,” said Michelle Zaun, who ran the Kidz Count program.
“The daycares that my members worked in with younger children who are developmentally behind, who are socially behind, no one can pay for the services themselves,” Zaun said. “Our community is small, there’s not enough funding to provide these services.”
CCAA had slots for 10 participants and had been looking to bring on more, but finding people is a challenge as is making sure they pass background checks, Zaun said.
The other organization impacted, Souris Basin Planning Council, had two grants canceled. One grant came directly from the federal government and the other federal grant was facilitated by the Department of Commerce and Serve ND.
In a statement, SBPC’s executive director Briselda Hernandez said the organization was “deeply troubled by the abrupt notice” of the funding cuts.
The SBPC lost grants for over $263,000 to cover 33 AmeriCorps participant slots.
Hernandez stated that SBPC supported nonprofit and community capacity-building efforts statewide by deploying AmeriCorps participants. Briselda got her start after college as an AmeriCorps VISTA participant herself.
“That year of service deepened my commitment to public service, inspiring me to pursue a master’s in public administration and dedicate my career to economic and community development in North Dakota,” Briselda said.
The future of other AmeriCorps programs is also uncertain.
A reported 75% of AmeriCorps Agency staff were placed on leave in the late April efficiency orders, leading some to believe deeper cuts are coming.
“We typically know about next year in March or April, and we haven’t heard anything,” Whipple said about the continuation of other programs past this year.
The North Dakota News Cooperative is a non-profit news organization providing reliable and independent reporting on issues and events that impact the lives of North Dakotans. The organization increases the public’s access to quality journalism and advances news literacy across the state. For more information about NDNC or to make a charitable contribution, please
visit newscoopnd.org.
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
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