The subcommittee examined NDIT's EduTech unit and the planned transition of the state's student-information system from PowerSchool to Infinite Campus.

Officials said EduTech performs training and consulting for K-12 schools and collects special-fund revenue for those services. "This group of people... work with about 124,000 students in any given year, 23,000 adult users across all of the schools within North Dakota," Greg Hoffman testified, and he described typical fee structures for training and consulting work.

Committee members pressed why EduTech salaries are largely supported from the general fund rather than charged against the special funds generated by EduTech services. Hoffman and other NDIT staff said the current arrangement was longstanding and designed in part to encourage school participation; agency witnesses said the existing fee levels would not cover full salary costs without increasing fees to schools. "If we did the traditional method of charging them what it cost, many schools wouldn't even use the program," Senator Rather said, explaining why the current hybrid model exists.

PowerSchool transition: Committee members were told the Department of Public Instruction currently transfers about $5.8 million to NDIT to support PowerSchool administration; NDIT expects that transfer to decline as the state moves to Infinite Campus. "As we transition to Infinite Campus... this 5.8 likely won't be in our budget because there isn't going to be the funding from DPI to back that," Greg Hoffman said. NDIT officials flagged potential follow-on opportunities for EduTech staff, such as training tied to digital-equity investments, but cautioned that the DPI funding stream is expected to shrink and that final Infinite Campus contract details were not yet complete.

Ending: Senators requested additional documentation on EduTech revenue, fee levels, and the timing and fiscal consequences of the PowerSchool-to-Infinite Campus transition; the committee did not take action on EduTech funding during the hearing.