Tracy Layne Foss

Background

Foss is a Grand Forks educator who teaches technology and engineering at Valley Middle School. She has more than two decades of classroom experience spanning middle school through college students and is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2026.

Sources: North Dakota Monitor, 2026 superintendent candidate debate coverage, North Dakota Monitor, 2026 superintendent race coverage

What the candidate has said

Statements are attributed to the linked sources.

• Teacher pay

  Foss said teacher bonuses could help temporarily but would not address the underlying need for salaries that provide financial stability; she also cited burnout and heavy workloads as reasons educators leave.

  North Dakota Monitor, 2026 superintendent candidate debate coverage

• School funding

  She said the state should fund K-12 schools adequately so school boards and administrators are not forced into difficult annual choices, and argued that the state should have planned for the expiration of federal pandemic funding.

  North Dakota Monitor, 2026 superintendent candidate debate coverage

• Classroom technology

  Foss supports locking up cellphones during the school day. For classroom laptops and other technology, she favors balancing educational benefits with concerns about addictive use and considering limits for younger students.

  North Dakota Monitor, 2026 superintendent candidate debate coverage