Republican lawmakers and a university president pushed a bill last year that would diminish faculty job protections at two institutions. It failed by a hair, but the State Board of Higher Education has taken up the mantle. Last year, the North Dakota House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that threatened tenure protections. It would have allowed the presidents of Dickinson State University and Bismarck State College to fire tenured faculty members without any review from a faculty committee.
A National Education Association report found North Dakota was last in teacher pay increases last year. Grand Forks teachers have since received a more substantial pay bump.