Most of the recommendations from an education improvement panel led by Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple were approved Tuesday.

The Commission on Education Improvement will ask that the Legislature to give a number of education initiatives about $110 million next session, including pre-kindergarten, professional development for teachers and an increase on state spending per student in the state.

The panel, also made up of legislators, school district administrators and state Superintendent Wayne Sanstead, could not come to a consensus on recommendations to create new requirements for high school students to graduate, Dalrymple said.

The recommendation would aim to create new diploma requirements for students, such as an academic honors diploma that would require four math credits instead of two and three credits of foreign language study instead of one.

Some panel members sparred over whether the foreign language requirement was too high, among others, Dalrymple said.

"There's very little disagreement, it's kind of just secondary issues," Dalrymple said, adding the panel will meet again early next month to finalize its decision for the high school requirements and to finalize its report to the Legislature.

The state would provide about $3.5 million for pre-kindergarten classes, which was increased from $2 million because the panel figured the demand would be high for the program, Dalrymple said.

The state also would increase spending per student to $7,293 over the next biennium, with $3,519 coming from the state and the rest from local entities.

House Speaker Rep. David Monson, R- Osnabrock, who sits on the commission, said some funding recommendations will likely face some tweaking next session.

"We'll have some who will think the money is too much and there will be others who will think it's not enough," Monson said.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com.)