The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division reviewed the North Dakota University System (NDUS) Office budget and discussed differences between the outgoing Burgum administration’s recommendation and Governor Armstrong’s proposal.

Nut graf: Committee staff and NDUS officials walked members through operating changes, salary and health‑insurance adjustments, shifts from general fund to the State Investment Fund (SIF) for one‑time projects and the elimination of ongoing dual‑credit scholarship funding in the Armstrong proposal. Members requested one‑page summaries and supporting appendices to help compare large line items across proposals.

Mister chairman, the NDUS summary on the purple schedule showed Burgum’s recommendation at about $208 million total funding (including $142.5 million general fund) and Armstrong’s recommendation at about $214.5 million total (with a $136.7 million general fund component), a net increase driven largely by other funds shifts to SIF and one‑time items, staff told the committee.

Key changes discussed by staff and NDUS presenters included:
- Personnel and base: The base FTE rose from 162.83 to 168.83 following State Board approvals; salary and health‑insurance adjustments were included differently across proposals (Burgum used a 4%/3% salary package; Armstrong proposed 3%/3%).
- Dual credit scholarship: Burgum proposed one‑time general fund support of $1.5 million; the Armstrong budget removes ongoing funding for the dual‑credit tuition scholarship (previously funded in part by Bank of North Dakota profits), a change staff flagged for committee review.
- One‑time SIF shifts: Several one‑time items in Burgum’s plan (challenge grants, enterprise resource planning and professional student exchange increases) were either reduced or shifted to SIF in the Armstrong recommendations; for example, a $30 million Burgum SIF challenge grant was increased to $50 million under Armstrong, while a $10 million ERP ask in Burgum did not appear in Armstrong.
- Dakota Digital Academy (DDA): The DDA’s prior Burgum funding of $450,000 was not included in Armstrong’s proposal; NDUS staff explained the DDA supports campus projects and statewide AI strategy development and asked members to consider its systemwide role.
- Nursing Education Consortium: Funding was moved from UND/other general fund lines to SIF for simulator purchases; NDUS said the consortium supports campus simulation equipment for nursing programs across the state.
- Core Technology Services: NDUS requested inflationary increases and described $47.4 million in core technology funding covering shared administrative systems (student information, PeopleSoft ERP, finance, security and the statewide network). Tom Danford, NDUS Core Technology Services, described shared services, cybersecurity and software licensing as central to operating efficiencies.

NDUS staff emphasized that several one‑time and grant items are described in the committee packet's appendix and that binders include tables of contents to help members find supporting data. Senators asked for single‑page summaries of each institution’s optional requests and a breakdown of square footage as it relates to tiering in the funding formula.

Ending: NDUS officials promised additional materials (square‑footage reports, online course detail and one‑page request summaries). Committee members did not take any formal vote during the presentation and signaled plans for follow‑up hearings focused on the formula and institution‑level requests.