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DPI outlines program grants, superintendent grant pool and pass‑through items included in HB1013
Summary
State Superintendent Kirsten Basler reviewed multiple program grants and pass‑through items in House Bill 1013, including the superintendent grant pool (leveraging senior year and AP exam fees), ND First intervention funding, school food processing, summer EBT match funds and a tribal history textbook printing request.
State Superintendent Kirsten Basler reviewed multiple state program grants and pass‑through items included in the agency portion of House Bill 1013 and answered legislators’ questions about scope, past funding and intent.
Basler said the superintendent grant pool consolidates small program lines to reduce repeated hearings and allow DPI to administer targeted grants; the pool currently includes Build Leveraging Senior Year (college course equivalency in high school), AP exam fee coverage for general‑education AP exams (math, English, science, computer science), and family engagement. Basler said the Leveraging Senior Year work has saved families roughly $1.45 million in college course costs and that program‑related AP exam fee payments have helped North Dakota families save an estimated $23.06 million in college tuition costs by enabling students to earn college credit in high school.
Other program and pass‑through items Basler reviewed include:
- School food processing: a pass‑through to let the state purchase processed commodity foods on behalf of schools to lower district costs; DPI requested $2,000,000. - ND First (intervention for schools on the chronically low‑performing list): DPI requested $1.5 million to implement post‑federal planning interventions established by 2023 legislation, with the department potentially using contractors or an FTE if ongoing need is established. - Summer EBT match funds: $150,000 in state match to access federal summer EBT benefits for eligible households. - Tribal history textbook printing: $650,000 one‑time to print updated North Dakota tribal history textbooks for 4th and 8th grades (copies already available to schools electronically; printing provides hard copies for classrooms). - CLSD literacy grant continuation: request for spending authority to cover years 2 and 3 of the Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant after emergency authorization of year 1.
Basler also walked the committee through other state program items (adult education matching funds; dyslexia training; Grow Your Own paraprofessional‑to‑teacher funding; science of reading and math pilots; National Board Certification supports; AMIRA funding that was previously forward‑paid from ESSER). She noted the superintendent grant pool was intended to reduce repeated small hearings and to return unused funds to the general fund when programs end.
Several lawmakers asked for clarifications about base amounts, whether governor or prior budgets included certain items, and whether some line items were one‑time or ongoing. DPI supplied some numbers (for example, noting the school improvement contract previously funded at about $1.287 million in the base and a governor add of $700,000), and said it would provide supplemental budget detail as requested.
No committee votes were taken during the hearing; DPI provided written packets to the committee and committed to follow‑up answers by email for specific line‑item questions.
(Reporting note: figures and attributions are drawn from DPI testimony in the hearing transcript.)
