Superintendent candidate Foss supports teacher bonuses as temporary fix, not long-term solution

Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tracy Foss supports annual bonuses for teachers, but sees the proposal as a temporary fix that does not address underlying education and teacher retention issues.

Foss, who received support from the Democratic-NPL Party, responded Wednesday to a proposal announced this week by Superintendent Levi Bachmeier and Republican lawmakers to establish an annual teacher bonus.

The proposal, which the lawmakers said they plan to introduce in the 2027 session, would award annual bonuses to public and private school teachers from a portion of the earnings of the Common Schools Trust Fund.

Annual bonuses proposed for North Dakota teachers to improve recruitment, retention

Foss said she does not believe the bonus program will solve the state’s teacher retention problem on its own.

“Not having enough teachers is a symptom of underlying issues within our education system that are causing teachers to leave and individuals to choose other professions,” Foss said during a press conference.

One of those issues, she said, is teacher pay, but burnout and extra duties imposed on teachers also play a large role in educators leaving the profession.

The bonuses do not address the larger issue of fully funding the state’s public school system, she said. 

“We need to fully fund public schools, and I do not want anything getting in the way of that responsibility,” Foss said. 

She added first-year teachers, teachers who took time off the previous year and teachers who took an alternative route to teaching would not be eligible under the bonus program. According to the proposal, teachers must be licensed and have completed a full teaching contract during the previous school year to qualify for the bonus awarded in the fall.

“Unfortunately, the current bill is just a Band-Aid to the teacher retention and recruitment problem and not a solution,” she said. If elected, Foss said she would work with lawmakers to tweak the bill to address some of her concerns before January.

Foss said she does not believe private school teachers should qualify for the state-funded bonus program.

The superintendent position is on the Nov. 3 ballot. While the race is nonpartisan, Foss received a letter of support from the Democratic-NPL Party and Bachmeier has said he identifies as a Republican.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Michael Achterling can be reached at [email protected].