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Summary:

North Dakota offers families very few school choice options.  The state does not support private school choice.  The Education Commission of the States reports that North Dakota has enacted a voluntary inter-district open enrollment policy.  The Center for Education Reform reports that North Dakota is one of only 10 states that have not yet passed a charter school law.

Recent Developments: No new developments.

Click here for detailed information on North Dakota's public school system and see below for school choice contacts and a history of school choice legislation in North Dakota.

State Contacts

North Dakota Home School Association
Gail Biby, Publications Editor
1854 107th St NE
Bottineau, ND 58318
Phone: (701) 263-3727
Fax: (701) 223-4081
Website: www.ndhsa.org
E-mail: office@ndhsa.org

North Dakota Policy Council
Curly Haugland
P.O. Box 3007
Bismark, ND 58502
Website: www.policynd.org
E-mail: curly@recsupply.com

State Association of Non-Public Schools
Mr. Thomas Frei, Director of Catholic Schools
5201 Bishops Boulevard
Fargo, ND 58104
Phone: (701) 356-7907
E-mail: tfrei@fargodiocese.org

 Archived History, Pre-2006
Background/Footnotes: The North Dakota Division of Independent Study (NDIS) has provided distance-learning opportunities to students since 1935. The NDIS currently offers courses, many of which are available on-line, for students in grades 4 through 12. Students submit work by mail, fax, e-mail, or on-line and may earn a state-accredited diploma through the distance-learning programs.[1] The state's dual-enrollment law allows high schools to form partnerships with colleges and universities to offer college course credit for high school students. Students are responsible for the cost of tuition.[2]

In 2002, North Dakota legislators introduced House Bill 1182, which would have forced home-schooled students to meet state standards and take state tests. In January 2003, H.B. 1182 was defeated in the House by a vote of 87 to 2.[3]

In 2003, State Representative C. B. Haas (R-36) introduced H.B. 1361 to amend the state's open enrollment law. The bill would have allowed school districts to deny transfer applications if the applications would change the enrollment of the district by more than 20 percent. It also would have required districts to allow students from the same family to transfer in order to attend school in the same district. The bill was passed in the House but lost in the Senate.[4]

Governor John Hoeven signed H.B. 1086 into law in April 2003. Under this bill, parents may apply to transfer their child to a school in a neighboring district if the child has been the victim of a violent incident, if the superintendent has declared the school unsafe, or if the superintendent has determined that the school requires "program improvement for six consecutive years." The sending district is responsible for transportation.[5]

[1] For more information, see North Dakota Division of Independent Study Web site at www.dis.dpi.state.nd.us/

[2] Education Commission of the States, "Postsecondary Options: Dual/Current Enrollment," July 2001, at www.communitycollegepolicy.org/pdf/ECSDualEnrollStateNote.pdf.

[3] See North Dakota Legislature Web site, at www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/, and Home School Legal Defense Association, "Legislation Threatens Home-School Freedoms," The Home School Court Report, March/April 2003, at www.hslda.org/courtreport/V19N2/V19N2ND.asp.

[4] See North Dakota Legislature Web site at www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/.

[5] Ibid.