Levi Bachmeier, appointed last year as North Dakota's Superintendent of Public Schools, says that it's bogus to suggest that passing a school meals ballot measure means the state will have to reduce funding for K-12 education.

"That's a totally a false choice," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. "Voters should make their decision about what they what they believe is best on the ballot."

"We should continue to invest in our public schools," he continued. "Our public schools are an investment in our future, in our state's future. I don't know that this has to be an either-or conversation when we're talking about these two topics."

Bachmeier also said that the state is falling behind on teacher pay, and needs to invest more in it, and he doesn't believe that would require any tax increases.

"I'm a big believer in it comes down to great teachers, and going backwards in average teacher pay, that's a problem," he said. "School districts getting two applicants when they have two open teaching positions, that's a problem."

"I don't believe we need to raise taxes. I want to be abundantly clear, we have the resources that we need," he continue. "It's how do we have a conversation about what are our priorities are, and again...how much would you put into K-12? How much would you put into the pockets of teachers to make sure that they are continuing to choose a really, really hard profession to support kids?"

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss dangerous medical advice being spread by a state lawmaker, and a candidate who would like to be a state lawmaker.

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683: 'Going backwards in average teacher pay, that's a problem'