North Dakota closes schools to in-person instruction for the remainder of the year


On Friday afternoon, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced that schools in the state would remain closed to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools in the state had been closed to in-person instruction indefinitely since March 16.

Forty-five states have closed schools to in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year. Those states account for 93.4% of the 50.6 million public school students in the country. The five states that have not are Connecticut, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, and Wyoming.

Of the five states that have not announced that schools will close for the remainder of the year, two have Democratic trifectas, one has a Republican trifecta, and two have divided governments.