Between January first and June thirtieth of every even-numbered year, NDCC 15.1-07-26 requires that the Board of each school district to invite the public to participate in a planning process that addresses the effects of demographics on the district for the next three and five years. The planning process must specifically address potential effects on:
Holding an open public forum is one way to meet this requirement. It is recommended that the District provides frequent and ample notice of the forum to its patrons. The notice of the planning meeting, at a minimum, should be published in the district’s official newspaper. Open meeting laws will need to be followed if a quorum of board members is present at the open public forum.
School boards are also required to prepare a report, publish a notice in the official district newspaper indicating that the report is available, and make the report available upon request at the conclusion of the planning process. The report does not need to be submitted to the Department of Public Instruction; however, districts will need to acknowledge compliance with this requirement in STARS.
The NDSBA has created a Three and Five-Year Plan template to assist districts comply with this obligation. The template can be found here or can be requested by calling our office at 1-800-932-8791.
