The Legislature is Over: You Made the Difference By Alex Rohr, NDU Communications
The legislative session has ended, and despite our service during the most challenging year of our professional lives, public education and public employees faced unprecedented attacks on the work we do every day, our benefits, and our pay. With your thousands of contacts to your legislators, a robust lobbying effort led by President Nick Archuleta, and a targeted multimedia campaign, NDU successfully secured increases to education funding and public employee salaries. We fended off a last-minute broadside against our pensions and defeated several pieces of legislation, including three voucher bills, that would have harmed our schools, classrooms, and benefits. 10
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ND United Voices
However, some legislators succeeded in passing a bill deliberately attacking academic freedom on our university campuses and another that chips away at teachers’ right to bargain in what could be the beginning of a disturbing trend. Following their success this session, we can expect opponents of public education and public employees to double down in future sessions, and we need to be ready. That said, all of us at ND United thank you for your outstanding advocacy in support of great public education, great public service, and the incredible public employees who provide them. TOGETHER, WE SECURED INCREASES TO K-12 FUNDING As usual, education funding came down to the last days of session. After often contentious negotiations, the legislature
