A House committee is considering two different Constitutional amendments to deal with the state’s foundation aid stabilization fund.
The fund was created to guard against cuts to funding for schools in down economic times. It prevents allotments. But the fund has grown with the influx of oil revenue. And the sponsors of both measures say the fund probably won’t need all the money it has.
One proposal would be to limit the fund to 10 or 15 percent of what the state spends in aid to local schools. The rest of the money would be used to shore up the unfunded liability of the public employees’ retirement system.
"One of the biggest things when we go and listen to economists, or when we have economists come here and talk, is they say that the scariest thing in all government entities is the unfunded liability in their retirement plans," said Rep. Jeff Delzer (R-Underwood), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the amendment's sponsor.
Education groups don't like it.
"It's just totally unrelated to education, and we don't see the connection there at all," said Bev Nielsen of the North Dakota Council of Education Leaders.
A second proposal would take the excess money – and put it in the Common Schools Trust Fund. Nielsen likes that alternative much better – because it keeps the money in education.
The House Judiciary Committee is considering both ideas.
