My name is Jim Bartlett and I am running to be the ND Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

North Dakota schools are failing at their constitutional requirements of teaching intelligence, integrity, morality, truthfulness, temperance, purity, and work ethic.  It seems like a good time for something new that worked in history.

For background, I went to public schools and colleges then met my wife while in graduate school at NDSU in Fargo, where I taught engineering for 17 years. I directed the North Dakota Home School Association for 6 years, helped start Christian ministries, schools, and colleges, and now operate Bartlett Farms. 

I saw how public education has been institutionally captured by the far left and was being used to advance secular agendas.  Through educating our own four boys, we discovered and used many effective solutions to the education issues we face. 

I would take a different approach to what is currently being done in the North Dakota public schools.  I believe that parents should be directing the education of their children, that the influences from the Department of Public Instruction and federal controls, which interfere with the best education, should be reduced to better serve the parents and taxpayers as the customers. 

The ND Superintendent of Public Instruction can do a lot to improve education by rooting out secularism, marxism, and postmodernism when setting the strategic vision, making policies, supervising content standards, setting test standards, and setting teacher qualifications.

We cannot just keep throwing more money at our education system and hope for different results. We currently have a one-size-fits-all approach with top down controls.  This approach often fails to truly add value to student learning and life. 

We can no longer tolerate the indoctrination which has led to diminished academic proficiency, work ethic and character. The North Dakota Constitution was ratified in 1889 and reflects a Christian cultural context. This is made evident by Webster's 1828 dictionary definition for morality, which is the opposite of the moral relativism taught in schools today. Simply returning to the ND Constitution is the fix. This includes letting parents direct the education of their children locally and funding schools from the legislature instead of immoral property taxes.  

Why not try something better that will quickly root out evil, encourage the good, and get parents and taxpayers back in control. This will result in happier and healthier students and teachers. I believe that what the children are learning in school, with a few tweaks, can make North Dakota the happiest state, because God always rewards these kinds of efforts. Rooting out the bad ideas will give much more time for students to reach the highest standards for the 4 R's - Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and Reality.

Your vote on Tuesday, June 11th is critical to get on the November ballot. Write letters to editors, be a surrogate, put signs up, tell everyone at church, school, work, and groups.  Host events, discuss on social media,  walk parades, visit neighbors and more.  Details at BartlettSPI.org or call me at 701-480-9311.