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

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…