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North Dakota United
| North Dakota United | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Bismarck, North Dakota |
| Type: | 501(c)(5) |
| Top official: | Nick Archuleta, President |
| Year founded: | 2013 |
| Website: | Official website |
North Dakota United (NDU) is a 501(c)(5) nonprofit organization in North Dakota. The organization is a union representing the state's K-12 teachers and school staff as well as the state's public employees.[1]
Background
The organization was founded in February 2013, when the representative assemblies of the North Dakota Education Association—then affiliated with the National Education Association—and the North Dakota Public Employees Association—then affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers—voted to merge their unions. The merged organization is affiliated with both national groups.[1] North Dakota was the fifth state where NEA and AFT affiliates merged, following Florida, Minnesota, Montana, and New York.[2]
As of September 2025, the organization described its mission as:[1]
| “ |
Working together, we will continue to grow, to mobilize, and to make our voices heard. More importantly, your collective action increases the likelihood of success in our efforts to improve the working conditions of our members.[3] |
” |
Leadership
As of September 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at North Dakota United:[4]
- Nick Archuleta, president
- Alicia Bata, vice president of education
- Gary Feist, vice president of public employees
- Brenda Seehafer, NEA director
- Chad Oban, executive director
As of September 2025, the following individuals sat on North Dakota United's board of directors:[5]
- Angel Lindseth
- Michelle Strand
- Aaron Flynn
- Ernst Pijning
- Josh Standing Elk
- Dana Mork
- Darby Hart
- Bruce Schonberger
- Sarah Lerud
- Alexis Rasset
- Karen Askerooth
Work and activities
Lobbying efforts
North Dakota United conducts lobbying efforts on issues it says will advance its mission. As of September 2025, the organization took the following policy stances:[6]
Property Taxes
In 2012, North Dakota voters decisively rejected a proposal to eliminate property taxes, recognizing it as the wrong approach for our state. If such a measure were to pass now, North Dakota would become the only state in the nation to completely eliminate property taxes. Given that this is a constitutional measure, reversing it would be nearly impossible if approved.
The property taxes you pay are critical to the development of your community as they fund the public services available to you as a resident. If this measure passes, North Dakota would have to pay approximately $1.329 billion more per year to make up for lost property taxes that provide vital public services, including schools, police and fire protection, snow removal, libraries, etc.
Proponents of the measure claim that we can continue to have great public services, a few of which are listed above, while simply not having to pay property taxes. They often claim that we can use the Legacy Fund (current balance around $9 billion) and eliminate pork and waste. The specifics on these funding sources are limited and come painfully short of making up the shortfall.
No Plan Forward
The current ballot measure lacks a concrete plan to compensate for the lost funds. The State of North Dakota would need to raise an additional $1.3 billion in taxes or cut the same amount in services each year to cover for the absence of property taxes.
The End of Local Control
This measure would strip local communities of their voice in determining their needs. Local governing bodies, such as city, county, school, and park boards, are more accountable to residents and better equipped to respond to local issues.
Repealing property taxes would undermine the ability of local governments to address community problems, making them dependent on state legislators sitting in Bismarck. Local governments understand community needs better than the state legislature.
Additionally, the law would take effect on January 1, leaving no time to plan how to fund local budgets for 2025.
Ending Property Tax is a Smoke and Mirrors Tax/Fee Shift
Replacing property taxes with higher taxes elsewhere is not a viable solution. If this measure passes, local budgets would be frozen at 2024 levels, forcing the state and local governments to seek other revenue sources, leading to increased taxes and fees in other areas.
For example, increasing the state sales tax to offset the loss of property tax revenue would make North Dakota one of the states with the highest sales tax rates in the nation. Ultimately, residents would still bear the cost, as eliminating property taxes doesn’t resolve community funding needs.
This shift would adversely affect the elderly, lower-income residents, and renters, as current exemptions would be replaced with higher fees or taxes. Repealing property taxes would inevitably result in a scramble to find replacement revenue, likely leading to higher sales taxes and special assessments.
Public Services
Property taxes fund essential local services, including schools, law enforcement, fire protection, road maintenance, snow removal, parks, and libraries. Eliminating property taxes would jeopardize these critical services that ensure safety and infrastructure.
Rural healthcare, schools, and public safety would be at greater risk, especially in areas where other taxes and fees are scarce. Contrary to some beliefs, political subdivisions do not have broad authority to impose and collect fees. Property taxes contribute 30-40% of school budgets and are a fundamental revenue source for townships, cities, counties, school districts, and special entities.
Without this revenue, local governments would struggle to make new investments in community projects.
Bad for North Dakota Residents
Should the measure pass, state dollars currently benefiting all North Dakotans would be reallocated and cut. Out-of-state property owners would enjoy services without paying taxes, benefiting the most from the elimination of property taxes. Residential, agricultural, and commercial properties owned by out-of-state interests would no longer contribute to the infrastructure and public services they benefit from.
Vouchers
While we have always supported school choice, we also believe that we must keep public dollars in public schools so that teachers and students, particularly in rural communities, receive the resources they need.
There are currently two bills circulating the ND Capitol this legislative session that threaten the integrity of our public education system. These bills aim to divert taxpayer dollars to private and religious schools, which are not held to the same transparency, accountability, or accessibility standards as our public schools. Here is a list of the bills:
No matter what these bills are called—education savings accounts, scholarship programs, or otherwise—if they divert public dollars to private schools, they are vouchers.
Public funds should remain in public schools, where they serve all students, regardless of ability, background, or financial status. Our public schools are the foundation of our communities, and instead of diverting resources away from them, we should be investing in smaller class sizes, support staff, mental health resources, and competitive wages for educators.
North Dakota students, families, and educators are counting on us to stand up for fully funded, equitable public education. Let’s make sure every public dollar stays where it belongs—in public schools.
Pension Security
North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System’s (NDPERS) and Teachers' Fund for Retirement (TFFR) are defined-benefit pension plans that are a valuable recruiting tool for North Dakota job growth and provide stable retirement savings for our public workers and educators.
Ensuring that NDPERS’ defined benefit pension plan stays in place is an issue we have been tracking and working on continually, while the Legislature has been ignoring it since 2011.
In the 14 months leading up to the 2023 legislative session, a study was conducted on how to close the plan to new hires. The study found that closing the plan will result in the fund becoming unstable over time unless significant additional contributions are made by the state and/or the employees in the plan. The Legislature’s actuary told the interim committee that closing the plan would be the biggest waste of taxpayers’ money.
In spite of this finding, members of the legislature disregarded the facts and chose to vote ideologically, based on numbers from a think-tank instead of an actuarial report provided by NDPERS.
Because of this, HB 1040 passed and will close the defined benefit pension plan to new employees. There were some changes made at the last minute and we will keep monitoring the situation. We will continue to keep the heat on legislators about their decision now and when the true cost becomes apparent during the next legislative session.
TFFR, the pension plan for educators, remains intact. However, when asked about the potential of shutting down TFFR, Legislators like Jeff Delzer said "anything was possible".
Raises for Public Workers and Educators
While there were notable funding increases in 2023 for public workers and educators, we still fell short of where our state needs to be. ND United is a strong advocate for increasing investments in educator and public worker salaries. This ensures that students get access to qualified teachers and North Dakotans receive the quality services they rely on.
During the 2023 ND Legislative session, ND United asked for 8% and 8% increases for both education and public employees.
After this past election, we knew that getting necessary funding increases would be an uphill battle. K-12 funding ended with a 4% and 4% increase in the per pupil payment with an added 0.5% increase for special education funding. Additionally, section 11 of SB 2013 requires that 70% of the increased funding must go toward non-administrative salaries.
Public employees and higher education funding ended at 6% and 4%. While these are closer raises to what we asked for and what is needed, they are still not up to par with our current economic environment. We must continue to pay close attention to the actions of our elected officials as we head into another election season.
Childcare Affordability
Access to affordable child care is essential for parents to stay in the workforce. Many communities across North Dakota lack accessible and affordable child care to meet the demand for our state’s working families.
The issues of childcare and early childhood education are of high importance to all North Dakotans, including the members of North Dakota United. We know that the ongoing shortage of childcare providers is preventing parents from joining or rejoining the workforce at a time when there are more than 18,000 unfilled jobs in North Dakota.
A recent study by North Dakota Kids Count has revealed that for full-time infant care, families can expect to pay between $7,600 and $9,500, which is roughly what it costs to pay the tuition for an undergraduate at UND or NDSU.
Fourteen counties in North Dakota meet less than 60% of the demand, and eight of these counties also experience high unemployment or poverty. Parents that need care during non-traditional hours find even fewer options.
Only 3% of licensed programs are open during the weekends, 4% open during evenings, and 25% open during early morning hours. For families that do find care, the cost is often out of reach.
At the same time, child care businesses struggle to stay open and often must sacrifice worker pay to continue operating. Child care workers earn $24,150 per year if working full-time at the median wage of $11.61, just barely hovering above poverty level for a family of three.
Legislative Outcome
After defeating Senate Bill 2301, a necessary $36 million dollar investment to stabilize North Dakota’s childcare workforce, the House introduced a more expansive childcare relief bill in House Bill 1540.
The bill provides investments in childcare assistance for working families, infant and toddler care, childcare employer cost-sharing, worker training, and additional needed relief for North Dakota families and childcare providers. The bill was introduced as a delayed bill on April 17, 2023. It passed through the House and Senate, and was concurred in the Senate. It was signed by the Governor on April 28, 2023.
School Meals
When students participate in school meals programs, their behavior, comprehension, and attendance improve.
School meals are critical to student health and well-being, especially for low-income students—and ensures that students have nutrition they need throughout the day to learn. Research shows that students who participate in school breakfast programs have improved attendance, behavior, academic performance, and academic achievement, as well as decreased tardiness.
Legislative Outcomes
During the 2023 Legislative session, the House introduced HB 1494, which prevents stigmatization or penalization of a student for having an unpaid lunch debt. Practices like withholding meals, using lunch tokens, placing a child’s name on a list of those with lunch debt, or limiting participation in school activities are no longer allowed.
With more states passing universal free school meals legislation, North Dakota legislators followed suit by introducing HB 1491. The bill began as a $90 million dollar appropriation to cover all costs of school lunches, making them free of charge to public school students. After a series of amendments in the House Education committee, HB 1491 was whittled down to a mere $6 million dollar bill to cover costs of meals for students whose parents or guardians make less than 200% of federal poverty, which equates to $60,000. After passing 80 yea, 11 nay, 3 absent in the House, the bill failed in the Senate on a 23-24 vote: one vote short of passing.
After an incredible outpouring of messages to legislators from North Dakota United members and partners like the AFL-CIO, the final language of HB 1491 was inserted as an amendment to SB 2284 by Representative Schreiber-Beck and seven other members of the House Education Committee. Senate Bill 2284, a broad K-12 education funding bill, then passed through both chambers.
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.
Affiliations
North Dakota United is affiliated with both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.[1] The ND United Foundation is an affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[7]
Finances
The following is a breakdown of North Dakota United's revenues and expenses from 2014 to 2024. The information comes from ProPublica.
| Year | Revenue | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $4.0 million | $3.6 million |
| 2015 | $3.8 million | $3.6 million |
| 2016 | $4.0 million | $3.5 million |
| 2017 | $4.7 million | $4.4 million |
| 2018 | $4.9 million | $4.2 million |
| 2019 | $4.8 million | $4.4 million |
| 2020 | $4.7 million | $4.4 million |
| 2021 | $5.1 million | $4.7 million |
| 2022 | $4.8 million | $4.7 million |
| 2023 | $4.8 million | $5.1 million |
| 2024 | $5.2 million | $5.2 million |
See also
External links
- North Dakota United official website
- North Dakota United on Facebook
- North Dakota United on X
- North Dakota United on Instagram
- North Dakota United on YouTube
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 North Dakota United, "About ND United," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ Education Week, "More Mergers for NEA, AFT Affiliates," February 19, 2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ North Dakota United, "Our Leaders," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ North Dakota United, "Board of Directors," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ North Dakota United, "Our Issues," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ North Dakota United, "ND United Foundation," accessed September 23, 2025
