We began this debate over Constitutional Measure 1 between Grafton businessman James Kerian and North Dakota Watchdog Network director Dustin Gawrylow by asking why voters should—or shouldn't—raise the threshold required to amend the state constitution. "The whole point of having a constitution in our form of government is to have something that is a little more stable, a little more firm at the foundation of our state government," Kerian, who was selected by the pro-Measure 1 group Strong ND to represent the affirmative side, said. "Measure 1 protects our constitution and those constitutional rights by ensuring that, going forward, any changes to the state constitution will have the support of at least six out of every 10 voters." Gawrylow, an activist who has worked on initiated measure campaigns for over a decade, argued that changing the threshold upends the core function of the citizen petition process. "The constitution exists to limit government, not to limit the people," Gawrylow, who was selected by the anti-Measure 1 campaign to represent their views in this debate, said. "When you increase the threshold from a simple majority to 60%, you are empowering the minority—the 40% plus one—to have a filibuster over the 59%." This debate was part of a series of Plain Talk debates between candidates for U.S. House, superintendent, agriculture commissioner, public service commissioner, as well as proponents and opponents of Measures 1 and 2. All of the debates will be available as they release on WDAY Xtra, the Plain Talk YouTube channel, as well as podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A major clash in the debate centered on out-of-state political spending. Kerian pointed to the millions of dollars pouring in to defeat Measure 1 from The Fairness Project, a Washington, D.C.-based progressive organization. "They tell us in their fundraising letters to their own donors that constitutional ballot measures are how the progressives, how their left-wing agenda, stays on offense in red states," Kerian said, arguing the group has targeted states like Missouri, Montana, and Nebraska and is now eyeing North Dakota. "Voters should ask themselves: Why is all this money coming from an out-of-state organization to attack Measure 1?" Gawrylow agreed that out-of-state money in ballot campaigns is a legitimate concern, but argued Measure 1 does nothing to stop it. If anything, he argued, raising the threshold to 60% will simply require campaigns to raise even more outside cash to run statewide TV air wars, while freezing out regular North Dakotans who lack national funding networks. He also claimed that Strong ND is operating as a dark-money fund backed by establishment political leaders. "The folks that were behind those property tax elimination measures didn't have a bunch of money coming in from out of state," Gawrylow said. "We're going to punish the people that are not part of that process because of the bad actors." When asked whether the measure was a solution in search of a problem, the participants reviewed historical election results. Over the past 20 years, North Dakota voters have approved 19 constitutional amendments, and 15 of them passed with more than 60% of the vote—including the 2022 term limits measure. Kerian argued that data shows 60% is a reasonable and proven bar for popular, broad-consensus policy. "Good ideas, as your reporting demonstrated, can easily clear that number," Kerian said. "That's not some change that makes it impossible to change the constitution." Gawrylow countered that the push is the latest in a 15-year pattern of the Republican-controlled Legislature trying to insulate itself from voter accountability. He cited legislative efforts to impose single-subject rules, create legislative vetoes over citizen measures, and require constitutional amendments to pass across two separate elections. "The Legislature does not like the citizens telling them what to do," Gawrylow said, describing the citizen initiative process as a crucial "pressure-relief valve" for voters. The debate also addressed whether Measure 1 is driven by social issues like abortion. Kerian acknowledged that outside groups have used constitutional amendments to expand abortion access in other red states, but maintained that Measure 1 is about fundamental stability rather than a single policy topic. Gawrylow argued that proponents are leaning heavily on culture-war advertisements regarding abortion and transgender issues to convince conservatives to surrender their own initiative rights. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. #northdakota

We began this debate between Superintendent of Public Instruction Levi Bachmeier and his opponent Tracy Foss by asking about the teacher bonuses initiative — the Support Teachers and Youth Succeed or "STAYS" legislation — Bachmeier recently announced alongside Rep. Mike Nathe and others.

"When I talk to high school kids all across our state and ask them what would it take for you to consider going into a great occupation like education, pay has been the first thing out of their mouth 100% of the time," Bachmeier said.

"People who are working in education are making 20% less than those who hold a bachelor's degree in North Dakota," he added. "So I think we have an obligation to do something."

But Foss said that the bonuses, while nice, don't solve the challenges teachers are facing. "I agree that money is one of the reasons why teachers are leaving, but it's not the only reason," she said. "$3,400 at the moment is a nice bonus, but it's not going to get them financially stable.

"Our average is 60,000," she continued, referring to teacher salaries. "The minimum of living wage is 65, and our starting salary is 45. So that isn't even close to a living wage."

This debate was the second in a series of six Plain Talk debates between candidates for the U.S. House, Superintendent, Agriculture Commissioner, Public Service Commissioner, as well as proponents/opponents of Measures 1 and 2. All of the debates will be available as they release on WDAY Xtra, the Plain Talk YouTube channel, as well as all of the podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The candidates agreed that North Dakota is falling behind in terms of funding K-12 education. "I know what not fully funded looks like," Foss, a classroom teacher taking a year off to campaign, told us. "It looks like not enough paras in the classroom. It looks like me spending $1,000 on supplies a year. It means that we don't have enough bus drivers."

"The percentage of the state's budget going directly into our school districts has been going down over the last several years and that's disappointing," Bachmeier said.

The candidates also agreed that a push to get cell phones out of schools by Gov. Kelly Armstrong has paid dividends in classrooms, but both said there needs to be more scrutiny on other technology in schools, including school-issued computers.

"If technology is not having kids think harder, if it's not having them engaged in being active, and if they're just sitting back and passively consuming, that's a problem," Bachmeier said.

The candidates did find some disagreement over standardized testing. Foss supports regular benchmark testing, but says statewide tests promoting teaching to a score. "My issue is with that final test that we have to take for the state, we don't really use that data for anything in the school," she said. "A test given to a student can only tell you how well that student did on that test that day."

"When we hyperfocus on that, it does change how education is done," she continued. "We tend to want to make sure that we're doing well on this test, so we go back to somewhat teaching towards this test."

But Bachmeier pushed back, arguing that parents and policymakers need data to evaluate school performance. He says schools can aim to both do well on the statewide tests while also addressing important intangibles. "We can block and tackle with foundational literacy and math skills and we can also do so many other important things that we can't assess really well right now like collaboration, like critical thinking," he said. "All these skills that are going to be AI-proof in the future."

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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