Home » State Early Childhood Policy Landscapes » North Dakota Early Childhood Policy Landscape

North Dakota

North Dakota, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 28 percent (24,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 32 percent (29,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

North Dakota’s governor signed the state’s two-year budget for fiscal 2024-2025 in May of 2023. The budget calls for $19.6 billion in total spending over the course of the biennium (a 15.8 percent increase over the fiscal 2022-2023 biennium) and $6.1 billion in general fund spending (a 22.1 percent increase over the fiscal 2022-2023 biennium). The general fund beginning fund balance is projected at $1.2 billion at the start of the fiscal 2024-2025 biennium. Total general fund revenues are estimated to be $4.97 billion, a decline of 3.5 percent from fiscal 2022-2023’s forecasted level. The budget also assumes a general fund ending balance of $71.5 million, while the budget stabilization fund is forecasted to be $914.4 million at the end of the biennium.³

Largest Per Capita Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):⁴

- - Severance Taxes: $2,132 per capita
  - Charges: $1,650 per capita
  - Property Taxes: $1,565 per capita

North Dakota’s largest source of per capita revenue in 2021 was severance taxes, which tax the extraction of natural resources such as oil and natural gas. Severance tax revenue is extremely volatile and can quickly rise and fall with the price and production of natural resources. Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls.

State Budget Rules:⁴

North Dakota uses a biennial budget. North Dakota’s budget process does not include any tax and expenditure limits or limits on authorized debt and debt service.

Political Alignment: Aligned Republican

In 2024, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.⁵

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁶Five

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – An amendment to a state’s constitution that comes about through the initiative process.
- Legislature-Initiated State Statutes – Appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated State Statutes – Earns a spot on the ballot when sponsors collect signatures according to the laws governing the initiative process in North Dakota.
- Veto Referenda – When citizens of North Dakota disagree with a statute or legislative bill enacted by the state legislature, they can collect signatures to force the issue to a vote. If enough signatures are collected, the bill is placed on the statewide ballot.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁷

2024 Policy Progress:

The North Dakota legislature was not in session in 2024.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our lead ally in North Dakota, Foundation for a Healthy North Dakota, works to empower communities in all 53 counties to promote health and wellness. By re-establishing trust at the local level around public health issues, they seek to continue the North Dakota traditions of self-determination, working beyond differences, and wanting the best for one another.

Foundation for a Healthy North Dakota is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Child Care

Child and
Maternal Health

Infant and Child Health

Maternal Health

Family
Supports

Early Childhood Infratructure

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

North Dakota Advocates Are Building A Movement for Child Wellness Through Trust—One Community at a Time

May 1, 2023

The Foundation for a Healthy North Dakota (FHND) and their public interest communications firm have developed a silver bullet strategy for empowering communities to take charge of child wellness and define what community health looks like. They listen. Read how they turned this inquiry into outreach that was responsive to communities’ needs and perspectives and grounded in their unique contexts.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.