Gov. Burgum follows through with school choice pledge in budget address

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has called for expanding educational freedom in the state through education savings accounts (ESAs). In his budget address delivered Wednesday, Gov. Burgum reminded North Dakotans that “competition is good” and that he has continually heard “parents want more choice in education.”

Gov. Burgum previously vetoed an education reimbursement bill, stating that it did “not go far enough to promote competition and expand choice in K-12 education” and was “not the comprehensive solution we need.”

His call for ESAs, though, appears to make good on his commitment to expanding choice in the state, as ESAs are currently the most comprehensive and personally customizable education option of existing types of school choice programs.

“ESA programs provide families with a menu of options to access direct services that expand learning, support areas of academic need and provide behavioral health programming, among other pre-approved choices,” Burgum said.

“This is not about public versus private education. This is about ensuring that every student has what they need to support a pathway to career, college or military readiness. We recommend the Department of Public Instruction develop a program that drives an ESA forward to continue putting North Dakota on the map for serving all students — public, private and homeschool.”

There is broad support among North Dakotans for an ESA program, according to an October 2023 survey conducted by Arc Insights on behalf of yes. every kid. Nationwide, ESAs are also widely popular, not only among parents but among public school teachers as well.

North Dakota is one of only two states (Kentucky being the other) without private school choice or charter schools.

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Interested in reading more on the topic? Check out my posts here and here regarding school choice and government regulation.