21.   The other statewide race of interest is for the nonpartisan superintendent of public instruction.

22.   The school system is overseen by an independently elected state superintendent of public instruction.

23.   The schools were ordered to resubmit a random selection plan by the state department of public instruction or be denied access to the program.

24.   The superintendent of public instruction announced Thursday that she was resigning to head a Washington, D.C.-based school-reform think tank she founded.

25.   Three times as superintendent of public instruction, Ms. Paulus supported statewide tax increases, only to have voters reject them.

26.   Voters also will decide state races for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, treasurer, insurance commissioner and controller.

27.   Howard Snortland, who is a former state superintendent of public instruction, was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the North Dakota Senate last year.

28.   Nancy Keenan, state superintendent of public instruction, is seeking the Democratic nomination.

29.   The quickest answers were at the ministries of public instruction and post and telecommunications, which picked up after one ring.