North Dakota
Port: What a strange time to be Kirsten Baesler
MINOT — It’s no big secret that Kirsten Baesler, who has served as North Dakota’s superintendent of public schools since 2012, is not well liked by our state’s MAGA movement.
Baesler has faced challenges from the far-right nearly every time she’s run for reelection. Last year, her latest challenger, religious zealot Jim Bartlett, succeeded in
wresting the North Dakota Republican Party’s state convention endorsement away from her.
(Superintendent is officially a nonpartisan position, but the political parties traditionally endorse candidates at their conventions anyway.)
When Baesler’s nomination to serve in President Donald Trump’s Department of Education
was announced,
most of North Dakota’s Republican statewide elected leaders congratulated her. The holdout?
Sen. Kevin Cramer,
perhaps Trump’s most ardent supporter in state elected office. It’s traditional that the state’s top leaders congratulate a colleague on moving on to federal service, but Cramer had nothing to say, and the silence was meaningful.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to downsizing the federal government has reached the Department of Education. His administration
announced Tuesday
that 1,315 of the cabinet department’s employees had been fired in addition to 572 who had previously accepted voluntary separation agreements and 63 probationary employees who were let go.
That’s a 47% reduction in the department’s workforce, and Trump has vowed to eliminate the department entirely, though he’ll need approval from Congress to go that far. As a conservative, I’m not sad to see our bloated federal workforce get downsized, though I wonder if Trump’s manic and chaotic approach to that end will prove salubrious to our nation’s well-being.
Time will tell.
What’s curious is seeing moderate Baesler, who enjoyed
the endorsement of North Dakota’s teacher and public workers union
but not the Republican Party, in a central position to dismantling the federal government’s education wing.
Though, in fairness to Baesler, she’s been clear about that objective, if not as blunt as other Trump administration leaders.
“Yes, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet with the Education Transition Team, including Linda McMahon,”
Baesler told me in January
when I was the first to report that she was in talks for a position in Trump’s administration. “We have a shared interest in returning education control back to the states and creating a work-ready focus in education.”
“This is an opportunity to build on the relationships I’ve formed with fellow state education leaders over the past 12 years to implement the changes that will help our students become future-ready citizens,” Baesler said in
a press release
officially announcing her nomination. “I look forward to working alongside Secretary-designate McMahon to deliver on President Trump’s education agenda and return education decisions to the states,”
The U.S. Senate has
since confirmed
McMahon’s nomination to serve as secretary of Education.
I texted Baesler for comment about the Department of Education firings and she did not reply. Dale Wetzel, her state communications director, had indicated that she would have no further comment after announcing her nomination.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that under Baesler’s leadership, North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction has shrunk. In 2013, the first appropriations bill for the department considered by lawmakers under Baesler’s tenure
listed DPI’s workforce at 99.75 full time equivalent employees,
or FTEs.
A dozen years later, as lawmakers in Bismarck
consider budget questions
during their 2025 session, Baesler’s presentation to the Senate Appropriations Committee lists 86.25 FTEs, a roughly 14% reduction.
In 2013, Baesler’s DPI requested total funding, including state and federal funds, of roughly $2.2 billion which, adjusted for inflation, would be north of $3 billion in the 2025 session.
Currently, her department is asking for $2.9 billion for the 2025-2027 biennium, which is actually a decrease in spending after inflation.
Baesler, at least from a fiscal perspective, has always been more conservative than her populist critics have given her credit for.
Even so, it’s odd to see her heading into the MAGA milieu in Washington, where her more temperate and collaborative approach to education policy sticks out like a sore thumb, though Baesler is hardly the first of North Dakota’s political leaders to track that trajectory.
Former Gov. Doug Burgum went from
weeping exhortations for masking
during the pandemic, from
condemning the Jan. 6 riots
and
attending President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration,
to
proclaiming that Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Strange days, indeed.
North Dakota
Wintering Well Series Back For Another Season At McKenzie Co. Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum
For those who are looking for community interaction, interested in learning an old-fashioned skill, or just simply looking for a way to offset those winter blues, join McKenzie County Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum, 904 2nd Ave. SW, Watford City, for another season of Wintering Well: Slow Down & Savor. Classes begin Jan. 2, 2026, and will continue the first Friday of each month through the winter, 5-7 p.m. CT..
The holiday season is a time where many remember and honor past traditions, though it can also be a time where the usual business of life gets ramped up. In this modern word, we are heavily inundated with outside pressures that tell us to “keep busy and work harder”. Technology can be a constant pull, drawing us away from quiet connection.
But, for many of the people who settled and lived in this region before us, life, the holidays and winter in general carried a different feeling altogether. The winter season was often a time that was looked forward to and folks seemed more willing to go along with nature rather than struggling against it. Winter is a time of rest and renewal. A time for life to slow, and strength and energy to be gathered for spring, summer and fall. With the cold winter outside their doors, people were content to sit by the fire, catch up with friends and family, and engage in pastimes that were both fun and functional.
These Hygge style Wintering Well evenings offer an opportunity to slow down and savor this time of year. Bring a crocheting, knitting or embroidery project or start a new one. Even if you have no experience with these skills, bring a crochet hook and some yarn and other participants can help you get started. In addition to learning new skills and practicing existing ones, there is good conversation to share, new relationships to foster and snacks will be served.
These classes are intended for adults, but tweens who want to learn are welcome to come along with their parents. There is no charge to join, but donations are always welcome.
Take a step back from technology and busy schedules to reconnect with the old-fashioned life at these cozy, creative sessions, and Winter Well this season.
For more information, visit McKenzie County Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum’s Facebook page or call them at 701-842-6434.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For help with substance abuse or addiction, North Dakota residents can contact the All of Us In Recovery program at
allofusinrecovery.com
or the North Dakota Department of Human Services at
hhs.nd.gov/behavioral-health
. National help is also available at 1-800-662-4357.
FARGO — A special program for those battling addiction in North Dakota is finding huge successes with a state program called “All of Us In Recovery,” or AIR.
The proof can be found in the lives now changed because of the team approach.
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BISMARCK — Despite stubborn inflation, higher daily costs and
a dip in holiday spending,
most North Dakotans are as committed to charitable giving, according to the latest North Dakota Poll, commissioned by the North Dakota News Cooperative.
A total of 78% of
North Dakota
residents say charitable giving is important to them personally, with 31% indicating it is very important and 47% somewhat important.
Damon Gleave, interim executive director of the Dakota Medical Foundation, which spearheads the 24-hour charity event
Giving Hearts Day
each year, said the results of the poll were consistent with what the foundation has seen with the success of the event.
“Regardless of age or gender or what part of the state people are from, North Dakotans are givers,” he said.
Looking further at the data, however, shows a split in how much people feel they can afford to give.
Asked to describe how much they give each year, 58% gave between $100-$999 annually, while 32% gave between $1,000-$5,000 or more per year. Another 10% declined to answer.
“The fact that folks are still interested in supporting
charitable organizations
during these interesting financial times is certainly encouraging,” said Shawn McKenna, executive director of the North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations.
McKenna said some of the rhetoric coming out of President Donald Trump’s administration has impacted nonprofits and NGOs, though that includes increased giving to some and less to others.
Some smaller nonprofits that saw grant funding dry up because of government efficiency efforts are having a harder time since they lack the staff to solicit contributions, McKenna said.
In another data point from the poll, nearly half of respondents said generosity should be “homegrown,” with 46% saying support for local organizations is their top reason to give.
“It does look like folks are really interested in helping out in their own backyard versus sending it off to whatever the big national type organization is,” McKenna said.
Among the other factors considered most important, 16% said support for faith-based groups was highest on their list of reasons, while another 16% more said giving to causes they have a personal connection to was most important.
A total of 60% of respondents said they give throughout the year, while 23% said they usually give at the end of the year.
“There’s a preference to support local organizations — whose work tends to more directly impact people in a given community — as well as a shift toward donors making larger gifts to a smaller number of charities,” Gleave said. “We think this is a direct result of charities cultivating better relationships with their donors over time, which ultimately leads to more impactful, sustained giving.”
Kim Hocking, board president of the Bismarck Mandan Unitarian Universalist congregation, said the poll data was in line with what he sees in giving habits.
Hocking said one thing that comes out in the poll, and something he sees on a daily basis, is that people are looking for a sense of community. That desire often matches giving habits.
“As a group, we want to be a part of something, and if we know about it, and we see, oh, we could help with that, then we want to be a part of that,” Hocking said. “That goes along with supporting local organizations, supporting causes you have a personal connection to.”
Most respondents do not give a certain percentage of their annual income to charitable causes, according to the poll.
Only 22% say they practice a form of tithing, long a traditional practice in Christian, Islamic and Judaic faiths.
The low number of people who budget a certain percentage of income, as well as the high number of people that only give up to $1,000 annually, is concerning to some.
Bishop Craig Schweitzer of the Western North Dakota Synod-ELCA, said giving has been “pretty flat” over the past decade, but he was surprised that over half of people gave so little each year.
“That’s shocking to me a little bit because that’s obviously less than 1% of average income in North Dakota,” Schweitzer said.
“I mean, I look at it as a person of faith, the entry level to be a follower of Jesus is 10%, and then my offering is above and beyond that 10%,” he said. “If we’re spending money on things that aren’t a reflection of our faith, how does that reflect who we are as people of faith?”
Schweitzer brought up how important local organizations like churches are in times of need and stress, giving the example of the wildfires in northwest North Dakota in the fall of 2024.
“The church was huge,” he said. “It stepped up and made sure people were cared for and probably gave beyond anything they imagined they would give to something like that before, financially and physically.”
The North Dakota Poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida, from Dec. 10-13 2025. A total of 625 North Dakota adult residents were interviewed statewide by telephone. The poll has an error margin of + or – 4%.
The North Dakota Poll is the only regular, nonpartisan statewide survey of eligible North Dakota voters and consumers.
The North Dakota News Cooperative is a nonprofit 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.
This story was originally published on NewsCoopND.org.
____________________________________
This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
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