Landmark education bill passes

Legislators pass a bill they ve been working on for almost a year and a half on education funding It addresses funding schools more equally by funding on a per student basis It gives nearly 800 million dollars to schools Lawmakers who worked on the bill say it s monumental The bill was to delay a lawsuit between schools and the state North Dakota is the first state to avoid a lawsuit over inadequate school funding by passing legislation Senator Joel Heitkamp talks about why schools in his area don t like the bill Sen Joel Heitkamp D Hankinson A number of the school districts I have have struggled hard to hold the line on property taxes The messages I have from them is why are we being punished for holding the line on property taxes while other school districts haven t enjoyed other benefits that have come from it yet we re the ones that are taking the back seat in the formula Sen Layton Freborg R Underwood We ve come along way I think we ve given a lot of help that we could wring out of that bill for those districts I think there s something in here for everyone we ve helped these districts in different ways transportation without compromising the formula The bill also increases transportation grants increases funding for special education and funding all day kindergarten for schools that offer the program