Schools Watch Legislation - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Schools Watch Legislation

The legislative session means some extra highway-miles for the superintendent of Minot's schools.

Mark Vollmer has been in Bismarck lobbying for bills related to school funding.

In addition, he's been supporting a specific bill - House Bill 1261 - that would provide millions of dollars for building projects for schools with rapidly-growing enrollment.

Vollmer says the Minot district has grown by about one thousand students over the past six years, but since the growth has been gradual, the district has not qualified as a "rapidly-growing" district.

However, he says the definition has been changed now, meaning Minot may qualify.

And if it does, it would mean a big boost to the effort to build more school buildings to handle the growth that's expected to continue.

(Mark Vollmer, Minot Superintendent) "Grant money from the state or low-interest money from the state would be a huge benefit for us to take some of the burden off the local taxpayer for building these projects. So we're watching some of those bills pretty closely right now and seeing what all is being said there."

Vollmer says there are currently 750 children in kindergarten in Minot and only 440 high school seniors.

As those young students move up to higher grades, he says there will be a big need for more building space in the district.