Nearly 50 North Dakota lawmakers to attend legislative retreat on education

North Dakota Superintendent Kirsten Baesler speaks during a meeting of the state's Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force held in Bismarck on Feb. 22, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

North Dakota lawmakers will gather in Bismarck on Monday and Tuesday to attend a retreat on education issues hosted by the Hunt Institute.

The two-day event was organized in partnership with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and will be held at the Bismarck State College National Energy Center of Excellence.

Kirsten Baesler, superintendent of North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction and Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellow with the Hunt Institute, said the retreat is designed to gather input from legislators on education issues they see in their districts and to introduce them to educational experts and ideas that have worked well in other states.

“The issues are decided from what legislators want to learn more about and then I work with the Hunt Institute and their team … and we bring in both national, local and regional experts to provide information on those issues,” Baesler said.

One issue planned for discussion during the retreat will be students continuing to struggle with mathematics.

Baesler said some students have been moved through math courses without mastering the underlying skills, which can cause difficulties in later courses.

She also said lawmakers are interested in getting away from the “pay and pray” method of education spending and learning about how to get better, measurable results for students with the state’s tax dollars.

“It’s where they pay local school districts the foundation aid and pray that it works,” Baesler said. “There was some significant interest from our legislators on how they might be able to ensure that the money they are investing in K-12 education is getting the movement and the progress that they need.”

She added there are also some social events on the agenda to network lawmakers and education professionals.

No per diems will be allocated to the lawmakers for attending the retreat, Baesler said, and the cost of the event will be covered by the Hunt Institute.

All 141 members of the North Dakota Legislature were invited to the retreat and nearly 50 members said they are planning to attend, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.

Javaid Siddiqi, president and CEO of the Hunt Institute, said the retreat is designed to give lawmakers the knowledge they need to be able to make more informed decisions on the state’s education system.

“Anytime we can have conversations with lawmakers outside the confines of the legislative session, or the committee structure, it allows us to really put on our learner hats … and really grapple with these heavy policy matters ,” Siddiqi said.

The retreat is closed to the public and members of the media, according to event organizers. Siddiqi said he expects the event to be more workshop-like and hopes lawmakers bring their education questions.

He also said the Hunt Institute will hold eight of these educational retreats in different states and each of the state co-chairs craft their agenda for the event in their state, so each retreat may be different.

“They are the ones really setting the agenda and we just help with leveraging our network and bringing our network to bear,” Siddiqi said. “We’re conveners.”

Siddiqi said the organization is not lobbying the lawmakers for any specific piece of legislation, but instead trying to create a learning experience for them to get answers to difficult questions.

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