One of the issues the new state superintendent of public instruction will be facing is the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers.
Levi Bachmeier has been named DPI superintendent, replacing Kirsten Baesler, who is joining the federal Department of Education. Bachmeier had previously served as the business manager for the West Fargo School District. He says North Dakota has great teachers, and the state ranks near the top in student outcomes. But he says there probably isn’t a “silver bullet” for teacher recruitment and retention.
"There will be some dynamics that will be changing in a couple of weeks, that we actually have the first decline in student enrollment in the state's history," Bachmeier said. "That is going to change how we talk about planning for the future."
Bachmeier says there will be a lot of important conversations that we need to have. And he said the state needs to recruit and retain quality teachers.
"Pay is an important part of that," Bachmeier said. "But that's not the only piece."
NATIONALIZATION OF THE ISSUE
Gov. Kelly Armstrong said the two biggest criticisms he has of the "nationalization of politics" is in education and law enforcement.
"It's about resources, it's about pay and all of that," Armstrong said. "But nobody goes into being a law enforcement officer to get rich, and nobody goes into being a teacher to get rich."
But Armstrong said we're teaching the next generation of North Dakotans to not want to go into those professions.
"If you ask what i would do as a governor to help Levi, we are going to hyper-localize law enforcement, and hyper-localize teaching," Armstrong said. "We do a good job here in North Dakota."
Former Gov. Doug Burgum had appointed a “teacher retention and recruitment” task force, to look at the issue.
