[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6080069,"mediaKeyId","2952032-620b8fd828b3462c0970d6d10b769088","parentId",2952032,"title","Bank of North Dakota, DPI warn administrative, timeline and cost hurdles for education savings account bill","audioSeconds",137,"startMs",1662000,"endMs",1799000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2952032-620b8fd828b3462c0970d6d10b769088&start=1662&end=1799","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2952032-620b8fd828b3462c0970d6d10b769088/thumbnail_1662000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6080069/North-Dakota/Bank-of-North-Dakota-DPI-warn-administrative-timeline-and-cost-hurdles-for-education-savings-account-bill","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6080069-9511d86a3e813e0cb4fcdd597c61d197/orig.mp4?Expires=1770400915&Signature=TMUDnCmYRBmVukED6jxVl~vY-zbAn5gzqIn4RpZLOAt3QNGAjQdiVoCPyDXUcaRZp4l8-c4r6xslkNlQOhkX74hFY6xtTBX5Fs32ABplz78mTeRwsHTdBO3aVp~LffExBPPbtJbAqkUIyxOojBwdNNICzHcKxUaiBqKWEzkId3wZtoi0dQ1hPM9yIZ3OHnQkWGi-~eAeeEBGmurtnoR59p2PsDDfb4RVS2SDxsRXJvIiUpr~nixx6yyrmFAprb0QfmWoZ3bWa5AHsx9Dm6c01j34g-NeFwxjfWGXUrICn8o0JMUdyVNo5hUL7mPbSN2eElhOikDpPSSOMiWAnmpsxw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","North Dakota State Legislature","date","2025-04-10T00:00:00Z","article","Bank of North Dakota officials and the Department of Public Instruction told the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division on Oct. 12 that a proposed education savings account program in Senate Bill 1540 would require substantial administrative work, a third-party program manager, auditing oversight and more time than the bill’s current schedule allows.

Kelvin Hull, the Bank of North Dakota’s chief business development officer, told the committee that administering the program is \"way outside of sort of our mission at the bank\" and that the bank would hire a program manager rather than build the full operating capacity internally. Hull said the bank reviewed the bill and proposed language changes to clarify the roles of a program administrator and program manager and to shift operational responsibilities, including parent notifications and appeals procedures, to the program manager.

Allison Lisonbee Anderson, chief banking and innovation officer at the Bank of North Dakota, said the fiscal note for the administrative components prepared with the Department of Public Instruction is currently about $5.1 million. She said implementation would likely require a consultant with education-savings-account expertise, a program manager/vendor to supply software and call-center support, and at least 12–15 months for software and portal development after vendor selection. \"It would be very difficult to implement this on the timeline,\" she told lawmakers, noting standard procurement and major IT project processes would add time.

Adam Tesher, school finance officer at the Department of Public Instruction, flagged data and assessment issues: the department does not currently collect family income data tied to state assessments and recommended removing a requirement to desegregate assessment results by family income level unless a collection method is established. Tesher and bank staff also discussed auditing procedures, proposing the state auditor be contracted for annual audits and that the attorney general be notified when audits suggest misuse of funds.

Senators discussed means-testing language. Senator Shively presented an amendment that would add a 300 percent of poverty-level means test; Senator Scheibe introduced an alternative tiered approach (starting with a 200% tier) intended to limit initial fiscal exposure while leaving eligibility definitions unchanged so future legislative changes would not require altering the bill’s core definitions. Tesher said the state currently tracks the 200% threshold and estimated just over 700 qualifying students in nonpublic schools at that level; the committee heard that about 8,000 private-school students exist statewide in a related context.

Committee members also discussed program costs reported from other states and vendor estimates. Bank staff said vendor implementation costs were estimated at about $750,000 and that program-manager fees are often structured as per-student licensing plus a percentage of dollars flowing through accounts. A vendor named Odyssey was identified in research, and bank staff said there are at least two or three other potential marketplace vendors.

The committee did not take final action on SB 1540. Members agreed to separate consideration of administrative clarifications requested by the Bank of North Dakota and DPI from the policy questions on means testing. The panel said it would reconvene after session to further review amendments and fiscal math before making a recommendation.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Appropriations - Education and Environment Division Thursday, Apr 10, 2025 9:43 AM - 10:51 AM","oneSentenceSummary","Bank of North Dakota and Department of Public Instruction officials told the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division that implementing the education savings account bill in its current form would require outside vendors, auditing, additional staffing and more time than the bill’s timeline allows.","taxTitle","Appropriations - Education and Environment Division, Senate, Legislative, North Dakota","taxId",28899,"location","North Dakota","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6080074,"Committee converts House Bill 1329 to study amid implementation concerns",762,883000,1645000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2952032-620b8fd828b3462c0970d6d10b769088&start=883&end=1645","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2952032-620b8fd828b3462c0970d6d10b769088/thumbnail_883000.jpg","/articles/6080074/North-Dakota/Committee-converts-House-Bill-1329-to-study-amid-implementation-concerns","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6080074-5f3cf3802ef2f064aaa6444534d339f3/orig.mp4?Expires=1770400915&Signature=V2Jp80r0IUwtylSA4LNIEtUhL8gpSOg7Od9TwVmGTwqyX--3tqYiy4qduseUqiV1biwLtD9YwRfuW0GRvdBNowueK91gsvG66hR426Jg3WTMVbUx1Vl8YJ8Gg0ViFtBTrrSAeZBAg7zsM6WTIYxFeMMiepKQKPP7pIQ25Zu7wQZPurIa~61gWeklHd71KFZ-j8DTk~67~QBcTqXG0vS~2z8sPtPu8-BCdXh135IC17tERMejjTOwPDM86i6FHs3PIfF6hI1o3n5On-BXG35in0DDlFtXUz36N4NvOtQgNRuKViA-hDysPyyLwIf3oQIOsX1D2m-K~gdZourML0r4vQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division on Oct. 12 voted to advance House Bill 1329 as amended, converting the proposal for a statewide school spending transparency database into a study after lawmakers and IT advisers warned the project would be technically complex and costly.

Proponents said the bill would create a public database and website showing how school funds are spent. \"They want to create a ... transparency database of information of, you know, how schools spend their money,\" a committee member said while describing the bill’s intent. The original bill requested $500,000 for initial database and website work.

Lawmakers and staff told the committee that the $500,000 in the bill would cover only initial web/database development and would not solve how districts would submit data or how the systems would interoperate. \"You need to determine what data points you want to collect,\" one committee member said, warning that districts use many different financial systems and that protecting individual information would be an additional, substantial task. That speaker said discussions with the director of IT indicated full implementation would likely cost several million dollars across multiple bienniums.

Senator Shively moved an amendment (02004) to convert the bill into a formal study; the amendment was seconded and, after discussion, approved by the committee on a recorded vote (Aye 4, No 1). Later, the committee voted to give HB 1329 a \"do pass as amended\" recommendation. Chairman Sorvaugh cast a second for the motion to move the bill forward; the final committee tally on the due-pass motion was unanimous in favor.

Supporters of transparency said easier public access to spending information could help constituents understand how taxes are used, although several senators cautioned the study was necessary to avoid imposing large compliance costs on districts. \"Transparency is always a good thing,\" one senator said, but added the committee needed to understand \"what we're walking into\" before allocating additional funds.

Committee discussion highlighted several implementation questions the study should address: which data points to collect; how to standardize and transmit data from roughly 168 unique school districts; how to protect personally identifiable information; whether the state should require districts to purchase or adapt software to transmit data; and an accurate multi-biennium cost estimate to achieve the bill’s stated goals.

The committee left the record open to obtain clearer cost estimates from the state's IT director and to refine what specific information lawmakers want published, then moved the bill forward as amended to a study so those implementation questions can be investigated.

For now, the amendment converting HB 1329 to a study and the committee's do-pass-as-amended recommendation are the formal outcomes recorded in committee minutes.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Scheible, was informed the panel would carry the bill forward in amended form following the study and further negotiations in conference as needed.","The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division voted to advance House Bill 1329 as a study after members and IT officials raised questions about costs, data standards and local district burdens for creating a statewide school spending transparency database.","actionData","errors"]

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Bank of North Dakota, DPI warn administrative, timeline and cost hurdles for education savings account bill

Committee converts House Bill 1329 to study amid implementation concerns