news:education
Table of Contents
Montana Public Education News Summaries
Guest column: Understanding how education is funded
The “95 mills” we’ve heard about recently are the mechanism to equalize funding across the state so that kids get a quality education regardless of their zip code.
This setup has worked well in the past, but the cost of living has dramatically increased, especially in places like Bozeman. The 2022 median taxable value of a Bozeman home was $448,650, while the median price of a Fort Benton home was $124,450. So how does that impact schools? Labor costs more in places with elevated cost of housing, but as the costs of running schools has increased, the funding for education has not.
The law is holding schools like Bozeman’s back from being able to pay competitive wages. The formula for funding education can’t keep up with inflation when the law caps inflation-based increases at half the average of the 3 previous years. That means when inflation went over 7%, the state funding formula provided only a 2.7% increase across the state for all school budgets. With their hands tied for income, school districts suffer funding levels far lower than the reality of growth, with no way to raise more.
Under these conditions, school budgets are effectively shrinking, with less and less available to fund all the needs of a district like maintenance, utilities, supplies, and teacher salaries.
Bozeman Chronicle: Guest column: Understanding how education is funded
Great Falls high school students create diversity clubs
And as Black History Month continues, a pair of diversity clubs at the schools are coming together and doing their part to promote those ideals.
“With both clubs, we really try to promote diversity and inclusion and try to get everyone involved and make sure everyone feels seen and heard,” said C.M. Russell High School senior Shy Rae Yellow Owl. The club’s advisor is Principal Jamie McGraw.
The Great Falls High group goes by “I M Bison.” Their advisor is Luis Carranza.
“We created this group mainly because there is a lot of minorities here in Great Falls that we wanted to reach out and let them have their voices heard and so we wanted to be very inclusive, but not only just for minorities and culture, but for all different types of backgrounds that may get judged,” said Great Falls High School senior Mariyah Hicks.
KRTV: Great Falls high school students create diversity clubs
GFPS board hosting meet and greet; interviewing superintendent candidates
On Feb. 15, the school board is conducting interviews with the candidates at the district office.
The board is scheduled to make a superintendent selection during a special meeting on Feb. 20.
The application deadline was Jan. 16 and the applicants for superintendent are Heather Hoyer, current assistant superintendent at GFPS, and Steven Mayhue, superintendent of Froid Public Schools in northeastern Montana.
District staff worked with MTSBA to create a superintendent advertisement. The board budget committee met Dec. 5 and reviewed current AA superintendent salaries and recommended the salary range be $175,000 to $185,000.
Electric: GFPS board hosting meet and greet; interviewing superintendent candidates
Montana superintendent candidates ramp up campaigns, report earnings
Democrat Shannon O’Brien, an educator and earlier policy advisor to former Gov. Steve Bullock, raised more than twice as much money through the end of the year as Republican and Townsend superintendent Susie Hedalen.
O’Brien raised $52,343 in the most recent quarter compared to Hedalen’s $20,175 for the primary election, according to the most recent reports filed with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices.
Also in the race for superintendent, Republican Sharyl Allen raised $1,450. Allen, former deputy superintendent for the Office of Public Instruction, has a history of controversial departures from education positions including petitions for her termination.
Daily Montanan: Montana superintendent candidates ramp up campaigns, report earnings
Charter schools are coming to Kalispell
Flathead and Glacier high schools are moving forward with charter school rollouts after gaining approval from the Montana Board of Public Education in January.
Both charters will share staff with Flathead and Glacier high schools.
Each charter needs to enroll a minimum of 41 students to receive basic entitlement funding from the state.
Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and is open to students statewide, with preference given to in-district students. Under state public charter school requirements, a lottery is held if more students enroll than can be accommodated.
Flathead Pace, which stands for “Personalized Academic and Career Exploration,” will take a career-path, work-based learning approach, as the name implies. The academy will be open to 10th- and 11th-graders in the first year and then 12th-graders thereafter.
Rising Wolf Charter School’s focus is providing students with scheduling options that mirror Montana Western’s Experience One, or X1, experiential learning model. Using this model, students will take one class in a two-and-a-half to three-hour block for about 24 days before moving on to the next class.
The charters fall under House Bill 549, which authorizes public charter schools in Montana.
The public charter schools would operate under the school district and be governed by the district’s board of trustees whom taxpayers elect. The state board will monitor the charter schools’ performance. Publicly funded, the charter schools would be tuition-free.
Additionally, Rising Wolf Academy will create a board of directors made up of one or two school board trustees and community members with backgrounds in education. The group will serve as a link between the full school board and the charter. PACE Academy will create a parent and community advisory council, a leadership management team and select community project liaisons.
While it wasn’t impossible to create a charter school before HB 549, a key difference is in the additional funding schools receive.
Helena school board to unveil master plan drafts and budget reduction list
The Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees meeting is set for Tuesday, Feb. 13, where SMA Architecture and Design will present drafts of its facilities master plan and the budget consensus committee will present budget reduction ideas.
The drafts will contain two schools of conversation on the consolidation list: Hawthorne and Broadwater.
In May, a budget consensus committee was formed to allow parents, teachers, administrators and community members to have a voice in the process of creating budget reduction ideas for the board of trustees.
Watson, with the help of financial administrative staff, compiled a budget shortfall during the committee gatherings to show possible outcomes of where the budget will stand dependent on what levies pass in May and other financial factors in the district.
The best-case scenario, according to the committee, would put the budget shortfall at $660,000, if all levies pass in May for the district.
“Trustees will consider the committee’s recommendations over the course of multiple meetings. As always, we encourage the public to attend either in person or online and to participate in the public comment periods,” Weltz said.
Helena IR: Helena school board to unveil master plan drafts and budget reduction list
Bozeman schools, HRDC work together against rising food insecurity
Amidst continually rising food insecurity, the Bozeman Schools Foundation has started its annual fundraising drive to support buying meals for students.
The money raised through the foundation’s Pack the Sack program will go to the Human Resource Development Council’s Healthy KidsPack Program, which seeks to raise awareness of food insecurity and send students home with food on weekends.
HRDC is delivering an average of 725 meals each week right now, around half of which go to Bozeman Public Schools students, according to the release.
Last year, the program was averaging about 450 packs each week, HRDC’s Child Nutrition Programs Coordinator Olivia Smart said.
In December, the meal debt was over $20,000 for the fall semester alone. In June, it cost about $35,000 to clear out the debt from the spring semester. The foundation was able to clear both semesters’ debts using donations.
Brittany Selvig, director of food services at the district, said this semester’s lunch debt has reached $8,900, as of Feb. 7.
Bozeman Chronicle: Bozeman schools, HRDC work together against rising food insecurity
Plaintiffs ask court to find ‘community choice school’ act unenforceable, request summary judgment
In September, a district court judge partly stopped a “community choice school” act the legislature approved in 2023 because it is likely unconstitutional — and plaintiffs asked the court this week to find House Bill 562 is in fact unconstitutional and unenforceable in a request for summary judgment.
The Lewis and Clark County District Court judge found HB 562 sets up a commission that likely interferes with the authority of the Board of Public Education to oversee schools, and that the schools the bill would set up have characteristics of private schools even though they’re described as public. For example, the judge said, teachers aren’t required to be certified, as they are under the Board of Public Education.
The request for summary judgement filed by Upper Seven Law said the bill “euphemistically describes its system of unregulated schools as ‘community choice schools.’ In fact, it creates an extra constitutional privatized school system that mimics the existing public school system’s structure, uses public dollars to subsidize unaccountable private education, and excludes community members from exerting any influence at the ballot box.”
The plaintiffs include the Montana Quality Education Coalition, the League of Women Voters, and eight teachers, parents, voters and taxpayers.
Montana already authorizes charter schools within the public school system, and a separate bill, House Bill 549, made it easier to start those schools under the authority of the Board of Public Education. Last month, the Board of Public Education unanimously approved 19 different charters proposed through their public school districts — after considering 26 proposals, many more than board members said they expected.
The state has 21 days to respond to the request for summary judgment.
Safety audit finds 'inconsistencies' in security, BPS to place school safety levies on May ballot
Billings Public Schools’ trustees plan to place an elementary and high school safety levy on the May 2024 election ballot.
The safety audit informed the district of its pressing needs to better boost school safety and security. Areas of concern the audit identified, which the levies could fund, include personnel and practices in prevention, intervention and communication, and various infrastructure resources.
The current recommendation from district administration is for both safety levies to be permanent in duration, and for both to include a dollar amount that ranges from $2 million to $3 million annually.
“Research has shown most school-based targeted violent attacks are preceded by threats or concerning behaviors,” stated SEC. “The ability to identify behaviors and intervene can prevent attacks and provide opportunities to help and support students in need.”
Gianforte talks internships, work experience at Glacier High School
The 2023 legislative session saw a handful of bills regarding education pass, including House Bill 257, sponsored by Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, a Kalispell Republican. Gianforte signed the legislation, which boosts the money available to students looking to explore career fields through hands-on internships and work experiences, into law last year.
Schools everywhere should be doing this, said Assistant Superintendent Peter Fusaro. It brings more joy, more opportunities, and more voice and choice to students, he said.
Glacier High School has 44 kids in internships this semester, according to Mike Kelly, the district’s work-based learning coordinator.
Daily Inter Lake: Gianforte talks internships, work experience at Glacier High School
news/education.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/14 20:14 by lmuszkie