North Dakota
With North Dakota schools facing 'an impending cliff,' lawmakers consider ways to help fund rebuilding
GRAND FORKS — North Dakota’s K-12 schools are getting old. Some state lawmakers say many buildings need major infrastructure updates or entirely new construction to educate children safely.
But many small districts can’t afford to pay for replacements if a critical system breaks. Just ask Anna Sell, superintendent of Oakes Public School District. Her district’s high school turned 100 last year and the elementary school was built 63 years ago. The district is home to nearly 500 students.
“We actually had a terminal breakdown of our chiller (last year). We spent months and months trying to figure out a way to replace it but the system is so old, about 50 years old, that to retrofit it would cost around $400,000-$500,000. We don’t have that kind of money,” she said. “We’ve been asked, ‘What’s plan B?’ We don’t have a plan B because we don’t have enough money for a plan B.”
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Oakes Public School District is preparing for a $14.84 million bond referendum on March 14 to support essential investments to address critical building and infrastructure needs. Those needs include a new chiller, a similarly aged boiler that needs replacing, and the replacement of 100-year-old sewer pipes running under some buildings, among other items.
“Our referendum is for four things — HVAC and windows, kitchen, plumbing and ADA-compliant bathrooms at the high school,” Sell said.
Contributed
If a group of North Dakota lawmakers have their say, the state soon will create a funding mechanism that they believe will stave off a looming problem in the state’s education system.
A proposed state-backed construction assistance plan would have defined criteria for assessing two points — the need for a new school versus refurbishment and addition, along with determining how a school district would qualify.
An initial proposal presented by the North Dakota Education Committee’s school funding task force includes a sliding scale based upon a district’s number of students, the value of a mill in the district and its access to federal funding. The scale for funding ranges from 5-95% of the total project cost and all districts must have money in the process. Funding of less than 25% requires the use of state-approved plans, bulk purchasing and construction management. The proposal would preserve local control for finishes and some exterior design, limited to preserve cost savings.
Labor costs could be controlled by awarding school construction to firms willing to manage these costs, but there is a reality of increased labor costs based upon a district’s location. The assessment criteria for additions and/or refurbishments versus new construction would be set at 60% of the cost of new construction. A triage building schedule would be used based upon the needs either due to enrollment increases or engineering reports demonstrating unsafe conditions that preclude continued use of the building.
The task force is awaiting survey details from 100 districts on their physical plant needs to help frame the process and the scale of the program.
The need, according to some lawmakers, is great.
“I think we have an impending cliff happening in North Dakota that will impact more rural schools — inadequate buildings that should no longer be used to educate children and the inability to replace them,” said Rep. Eric Murphy, a Republican from Grand Forks.
While it’s a statewide problem, Oakes’ issues may provide the best current example. For instance, the HVAC system and new windows are predicted to run close to $12 million, and replacing 65-year-old appliances and updating the district’s kitchen will cost about $2 million, Sell said. The district’s operating budget doesn’t come close to being able to fund these projects.
The district’s building fund can generate up to 20 mills, an amount approved by voters in the 1990s. That fund generates $440,000 typically for the district, and even with diligent saving there’s no possible way the district can afford to make those fixes, Sell said.
Contributed
“If we don’t have our HVAC and we lose our boiler, or we lose any other part of that system, we won’t be able to hold school at the high school,” she said. “The kitchen is 65 years old and the structure underneath, the electrical, is in bad shape. We’re getting by; we’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
The worst-case scenario for Oakes? Losing the ability to use the kitchen and having to send all the students to surrounding districts.
“What public school district would be able to absorb those 500 kids?” Sell asked. “This is so detrimental to the town if we lose our school. We know what happens to the towns in North Dakota if they lose their schools. They cease to exist.”
School Funding Task Force
Across the state, school districts are helping lawmakers come up with a funding proposal for legislative action during the 2025 session. The intent is to allow state-funded construction to supplement local resources for public schools in North Dakota. Examples of current school district funding assistance needs include:
- In Valley City, an estimated
$37 million is needed
to fix electrical, plumbing, safety issues and more across the district. The average age of the district’s buildings is 66 years and part of the high school was built 105 years ago.
- In Devils Lake, new boilers are needed at two schools in the district and air conditioning is needed at four schools. Other needs include additional classrooms at an elementary school, parking lot paving at two schools and ADA-compliance updates within the district.
Addressing aging infrastructure is just one need that districts have. Another is finding room to teach the increasing populations in growing metro areas.
Williston Basin School District has a $35 million bond referendum that will be put to voters April 17 to address its growing enrollment. Williston expects to add 1,000 more students over the next five years. The bonds will provide funds to “help construct and equip a new elementary school, purchase land for the construction of the school, and otherwise improve, renovate, remodel, construct and equip school property and make site improvements to the property.”
In September 2023, West Fargo voters defeated a $147 million referendum request that included nine projects in total. That district’s School Board is now developing strategies to engage stakeholders to create solutions that will address the rapid growth in the district.
At a Feb. 22 Education Committee meeting in Bismarck, the state’s school funding task force committee shared data collected during a survey of North Dakota schools to determine the extent of the needs.
Murphy said during this process he has looked at three other states using different funding models. Kansas uses a sliding scale to help districts with construction and renovation costs, allocating from 5-95% of the funds needed. In Wyoming, the state owns all the schools and is responsible for their maintenance and upkeep. Murphy doesn’t think the Wyoming model would work for North Dakota, where the emphasis is on local control. Minnesota’s program includes a look-back, which helps reimburse districts for certain infrastructure costs, another program Murphy’s not a fan of.
“In Grand Forks, we’re looking at building a
new school at the Air Force base
and that process taught me something important – you just can’t give people an open checkbook. A $45 million project is now approaching $90 million for about 350 children,” he told the committee. “We need to think about how we’re going to control costs. In Grand Forks, we’re good about referendums, which isn’t the case across the state.”
The first challenge the task force is addressing is determining the extent of the problem.
“We don’t know what that is yet,” Murphy told the Grand Forks Herald. “It could be somewhere around $1 billion. We have way too many schools and it’s not mismanagement, it’s not overpaid administrators. The tax base (of some districts) just doesn’t support a new school.
“A lot of our schools are very old. Times have changed and the state has changed. When it comes to the state Constitution, it’s clear – we have a responsibility to educate every child in a place that’s safe. This is what we deal with in the Legislature,” he said.
Another challenge: The value of mills varies from district to district. Data presented during the committee meeting shows the majority of school districts, 129, have mill values between $5,001 and $50,000. Bismarck has the highest value mill at $575,472 with an average daily membership (ADM) of 14,340 students. The lowest value mill (not including Grand Forks Air Force Base or Minot Air Force Base) is Twin Buttes, at $39, with a 50 ADM. Schools on Native American reservations also have access to other federal mechanisms for funding school construction.
“If the state needs to have a school construction program, how will school districts with a low value per mill ever possibly replace aging and, in many cases, dilapidated schools?” Murphy asked the task force.
“We’re going to be at a tipping point in the next few years. Building inspectors will condemn a school. How do you deal with that as a town?” Murphy asked.
Dr. Richard Faidley, superintendent at Williston Basin School District, asked the task force to analyze the upcoming referendum votes and look at funding sources.
“We have the need to build two elementary schools and the cost of construction now is astronomical in Williston. What’s $55 million today, four years ago was $32 million. The prices aren’t going to go down. We need to look at funding sources, have collaborative conversations together as a Legislature, and ask K-12 to come up with creative ways to deal with these challenges,” he said. “We’re not asking for pie in the sky. It’s a long-term situation we’re all faced with.
“There are a lot of differences in how districts receive their revenues that cause many challenges to school construction conversations. For those like West Fargo, there needs to be a solution and when it comes forward, it needs to make sure it takes care of all districts in the state. It’s a monumental task and will require additional in-depth analysis and conversations with our districts,” Faidley said.
The author of this story, Carrie McDermott, is editor of Prairie Business, a magazine published by the Grand Forks Herald. Digital subscriptions for Prairie Business are free and can be found on the Herald’s website.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
On this day in 1943, two North Dakota army officers, Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz and First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson, were killed in separate medium bomber training crashes in Florida and Georgia.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Army Plane Crashes Kill Two N. D. Men
Two North Dakota officers in the army air forces were killed Sunday in bomber crashes during training flights, Associated Press dispatches revealed Monday.
Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz of Harvey (Wells county) was killed with 10 others from the Avon Park, Fla., army bomber base when two medium bombers collided during a routine formation flight. Both planes crashed and there were no survivors.
First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson of Warwick (Benson county) was one of six killed when a medium bomber from MacDill field, Tampa, Fla., crashed near Savannah, Ga. Lieutenant Anderson was co-pilot of the plane.
None of the other victims of either accident was from the Dakotas or Minnesota.
Lieutenant Kuntz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kuntz of Harvey, was graduated from the army air force navigation school at Hondo, Texas, as a second lieutenant last October, and received his wings as a navigator.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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