How candidates for North Dakota’s top K-12 job would address teacher recruitment, retention

Candidates for superintendent of public instruction have different takes on how to improve North Dakota teacher recruitment and retention.

The North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board has for the past three years declared critical shortages in all teaching areas. The shortage prompted former Gov. Doug Burgum in 2023 to create a task force to recommend potential solutions.

The superintendent of public instruction, which is up for grabs in the 2026 election, plays an important role in supporting North Dakota’s public K-12 system.

Three candidates are running for the office this year: incumbent Levi Bachmeier, Grand Forks educator Tracy Layne Foss and Republican activist Charles Tuttle. The position of superintendent of public instruction is nonpartisan, though candidates can seek endorsement letters from state political parties.

Bachmeier and Foss, who both have teaching backgrounds, said they consider increasing teacher pay key to addressing workforce issues at K-12 schools.

A recent report found North Dakota teachers made on average $60,704 for the 2024-2025 school year. That put North Dakota in 41st place in the nation for teacher salaries last year — one rank lower than the state placed for the 2023-2024 school year.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kelly Armstrong in his April proposal for the 2027-2029 state budget recommended keeping the K-12 funding formula the same as it is in the current budget. Citing the volatile oil market, Armstrong recommended reducing most larger state agency budgets next biennium.

Foss and Bachmeier both said they appreciate that Armstrong didn’t propose cuts to the K-12 budget, but that if elected superintendent, they would advocate for more money for schools.

Bachmeier was appointed superintendent of public instruction in fall 2025 after former  Superintendent Kirsten Baesler left office to join President Donald Trump’s administration.

Previously, Bachmeier was the business manager for the West Fargo School District. He also worked as a policy adviser for Burgum. 

Bachmeier started his career as a high school social studies teacher. He said when he was in college in the early 2010s, his adviser warned him that he could end up competing against 100 people for a single teaching position.

Now, many North Dakota schools are grateful to get just one applicant for an open job, he said.

Task force adopts recommendations to better recruit, retain teachers

“The problem is so bad that we’re going to need to try to attack this problem from multiple angles,” Bachmeier said.

Bachmeier said North Dakota can help teachers by looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary regulations.

“If you talk to teachers, especially in high burnout areas like special education, there’s a lot of paperwork, there’s a lot of bureaucracy,” he said. 

Bachmeier also pointed to the federal Title I program for low-income schools as another area where the amount of paperwork participating schools must file is burdensome.

Bachmeier is a Republican, but did not seek a letter of endorsement from the North Dakota Republican Party for his campaign. 

Foss, who has worked as a teacher for more than two decades, said she’s experienced firsthand how the North Dakota schools’ recruitment and retention challenges affect classrooms.

“I taught a couple years out of my field — in science — in Hatton, because they didn’t have a teacher,” she said.

Foss also said the larger class sizes that result from hiring constraints affect the quality of instruction students receive. 

She works as a technology and engineering education teacher at Valley Middle School in Grand Forks. Foss said that her sixth grade classes have more than 20 students, which limits her ability to give one-on-one instruction. 

Foss said if elected, her first goal would be to consult with educators affected by the problem.

“I don’t think we’re spending enough time looking at what the teachers are saying and why they’re leaving,” she said. “So I think we’re missing the boat on not looking for the root causes.”

Foss also said she’d be open to readjusting the K-12 funding formula.

“I’d kind of like to re-look at how we fund education and look at more of, ‘This is what the needs are, and this is how much it’s going to cost,’” she said.

The North Dakota Democratic Nonpartisan League voted to endorse Foss at its state convention in March.

Tuttle, the other candidate for superintendent of public instruction, said he’s skeptical that North Dakota schools are struggling to hire teachers. He said he doesn’t believe they’re underpaid.

Tuttle expressed skepticism that teacher retention and recruitment is a serious problem in North Dakota. He said that the superintendent of public instruction should focus on finding ways to improve student achievement instead.

“I want to talk about students,” he said.

If elected, Tuttle said he would also look for ways to improve the Department of Public Instruction’s finances.

Tuttle previously ran for the position in 2020, losing in the primary. He also unsuccessfully ran for North Dakota secretary of state in 2022 and for U.S. House in 2018. Tuttle participated in the NDGOP state convention but did not seek a letter of support from the party.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Mary Steurer can be reached at [email protected]