North Dakota

AMENDMENT LANGUAGE

State Constitutional Provision

·       N.D. Const. art. 8, § 1: “. . . [T]he legislative assembly shall make provision for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools which shall be open to all children of the state of North Dakota and free from sectarian control. This legislative requirement shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of North Dakota.”

·       N.D. Const. art. 8, § 5: "No money raised for the support of the public schools of the state shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school."

RELEVANT CASES

State Courts

·       Gerhardt v. Heid, 267 N.W. 127 (N.D. 1936) (Article 8, Section 5 of the state constitution permits the employment of nuns as public school teachers; neither the wearing of habits nor the contribution of a nun’s income to a religious order transforms a public school into a sectarian school or removes the school from the requisite control of the state. The opinion also provides definitions of “control” and “sectarian school.”)

REPEAL EFFORTS

See the Heritage Foundation website for a list of state contacts.