The president of the union that represents North Dakota’s teachers says contract negotiations will likely be somewhat difficult this year.
Nick Archuleta said that’s because the 2025 Legislature only approved two-and-a-half percent increases in state funding for schools in each of the next two years. Archuleta said that’s much less than the early indications given to the interim Education Finance committee, of the potential of four percent increases per year.
"But we didn't get there," Archuleta said. "We didn't even get to three-and-three."
Archuleta said two-and-a-half percent per year increases in state funding will make the negotiations process harder.
"But when it comes to things like negotiating salaries, I hope people understand that our fight is not between teachers and administrators, or teachers and school boards," Archuleta said. "Our fight is, we need better funding from the state of North Dakota."
Archuleta said between 2013 and 2024, teacher salaries only increased by about one-point-seven percent per year. He said North Dakota ranks 40th in the nation when it comes to teacher salaries.
"That's a combination of us not investing more into public education," Archuleta said. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful — we do spend just over a billion dollars a year on K_12 education, and we're very happy for that. But we're not keeping pace with what other states are doing."
And Archuleta said some teachers are leaving the state, because they can make more money in other states.
