North Dakota governor announces task force on higher-ed governance Study ranks

States On Letting Workers Keep What They Earn

A new study ranks South Dakota good, Minnesota better and North Dakota best in discretionary income.

The Trove Technologies, Inc., study is based on data from the Tax Foundation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Council for Community and Economic Research.

BISMARCK — Gov. Doug Burgum unveiled a task force to examine the governance structure of North Dakota’s higher education system on Nov. 7, a move he said was intended to ensure the state is keeping up with rapid workforce changes.

Burgum will chair the task force and appoint its 15 members, who will represent “the interests of students, faculty, the business community and all branches of state government,” according to a news release. The governor signed an executive order creating the group at the Capitol while flanked by legislators, State Board of Higher Education Chairman Don Morton, Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle and others.

Burgum hopes to call the first meeting by mid-December. The task force will eventually produce recommendations for the Legislature to consider during the next regular session in 2019.

It’s unclear how extensive the potential changes may be, but Burgum said the recommendations “may end up touching on the need for” statutory or constitutional amendments. The first-term Republican said he’s coming into the process with an open mind.

Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, said he’s not looking for wholesale changes to the current system. He hopes to retain the relative autonomy higher education has now.

Burgum traced the current system’s structure to former Gov. William “Wild Bill” Langer’s attempt to fire seven North Dakota Agricultural College employees in 1937. A constitutional amendment, promoted as a way to prevent political meddling in higher education, was later approved by voters.

“We’ve had a similar model in place for 80 years,” Burgum said.

Burgum’s announcement came three years after North Dakota voters soundly rejected a proposal to replace the higher education board with a three-member, full-time commission appointed by the governor. Nearly 75 percent of the electorate sided against Measure 3 in 2014.

“Three years ago, that particular measure failed. That’s all that tells me,” Burgum said. “The world’s a different place than it was three years ago.”

The current State Board of Higher Education consists of eight part-time members appointed by the governor. The Council of College Faculties and staff senate each appoint one person to serve as an adviser who can participate in meetings but not vote, according to state law.

State law gives the higher education board “full authority” over the 11 institutions it controls. But state lawmakers also hold a significant amount of power through the budget-writing process. Burgum said the task force isn’t a response to any controversies in the higher education system.

“This is not really about the past, it’s about looking forward,” he said. PB

“The Trove Discretionary Income Study is the first of its kind to incorporate data that reflect regional differences in salaries, cost of living and taxes to most accurately reveal the take home pay of American workers across 778 occupations,” Trove reports.

In the study, the state of Michigan ranks No. 1 among all states for discretionary income. While salaries across all occupations in Michigan are 1.2 percent lower than the national average, housing expenses are 32.4 percent lower and non-housing expenses 8.2 percent lower, the study reports. The discretionary income level that results is high.

In the study, North Dakota –ranked 6th out of 50 – earns an “Excellent” rating, thanks to the state’s high level of discretionary income after average-to-low taxes and expenses. Minnesota’s rating is is “Very Good,” while in South Dakota, weighing the state’s average expenses and very low taxes against its lower-thanaverage salaries results in a “Good” rating. PB