The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has issued formal guidance on House Bill 1105, including clarification on how school districts may manage enrollment in courses offered by the North Dakota Center for Distance Education (NDCDE)—the state’s only statewide public virtual school.
NDCDE provides North Dakota students with flexible, self-paced online courses taught by licensed teachers. The new DPI guidance outlines what districts can and cannot do when adopting local policies that impact access to NDCDE.
According to the guidance, school districts may:
- Require students to register for NDCDE courses during designated enrollment windows (e.g., a two-week period).
- Set shorter course completion deadlines as a condition of payment (e.g., 15 weeks instead of NDCDE’s standard 20-week schedule).
- Require prerequisites for enrollment in sequential courses (e.g., Spanish I before Spanish II).
To have the cost of an NDCDE course covered by the local district, students must follow these local policies. However, families may still enroll directly with NDCDE and pay independently if they prefer to follow NDCDE’s standard course format or timeline.
Despite these changes, the DPI guidance confirms that districts remain responsible for covering the cost of NDCDE courses—even if a similar course is available locally—so long as students comply with district enrollment rules. Districts are also required to inform families annually about the availability of NDCDE courses.
The full guidance is available at >https://www.nd.gov/dpi/sites/www/files/documents/SAO/Virtual%20Education/Virtual_Education_Guidance_HB1105-%20FINAL.pdf.
To learn more about NDCDE’s course offerings or how this change may affect your student, visit cde.nd.gov.