news:education
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Montana Public Education News Summaries
SD2 proposes converting Washington Elementary into high school 'Innovation Center'
Washington Elementary in Billings could be converted into a campus for high school students focusing on early college and technology careers next year.
Garcia explained that Washington students would be moved next fall to Miles Avenue, Broadwater and Newman elementary schools. Teachers and support staff from Washington would also move with the students.
The district would then convert Washington to house two new programs, one aimed at providing college credits to high school students and the other offering intensive classes for those pursuing technology jobs.
The Early College High School program would enroll students in joint high school and college classes, allowing them to graduate as seniors with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree. It would be the first in the state, Garcia said.
Garcia explained that Washington was chosen as the venue because it has a steadily declining enrollment and now has the lowest enrollment of all 22 district elementary schools. As a result, the school is the most expensive per student to run.
The elementary school district is running on a $3.5 million budget deficit. Using Washington for high school classes would allow SD2 officials to move $1.5 million from the high school district budget into the elementary district, helping to reduce the elementary deficit, Garcia said.
Other financial challenges adding to the district’s woes are the increasing costs of providing health insurance for employees and Montana having the lowest pay in the nation for starting teachers, Garcia said.
Garcia said his proposal is an “administrative decision” not requiring approval of the nine-member school board. However, he said, he does not intend to move forward without the trustees’ support.
Billings Gazette: SD2 proposes converting Washington Elementary into high school 'Innovation Center'
Bozeman schools raise double amount needed to clear 2023 lunch debt
The Bozeman Schools Foundation received more than double its goal to clear all student lunch debt in December.
In the past, Bozeman Public Schools has been able to clear out meal debt after each semester using unsolicited donations from the public, but an increase in negative balances in June made a public campaign necessary, according to the foundation.
In a December interview, district food services director Brittany Selvig told the Chronicle it could cost up to $1.25 million for the district to fund free meals by itself.
At least eight states have passed free school meal legislation. Montana lawmakers introduced a similar bill last legislative session that would have done just that, but the House Education Committee tabled the bill in April.
Schools where 25% of students qualify for free or reduced price meals are eligible for free meal funding under recent changes to the National School Lunch program. About 20% of Bozeman students meet the requirements for free or reduced meals, Selvig previously told the Chronicle.
Montana Right Now: Bozeman schools raise double amount needed to clear 2023 lunch debt
New state law allows nonresident students to apply for Bozeman Public Schools
The 2023 Montana Legislature passed House Bill 203 which opens enrollment to people living outside their desired school district.
“Bozeman Public Schools has typically had closed boundaries due to lots of growth, rapid growth for our resident students,” says BSD7 Superintendent Casey Bertram. “Open enrollment has occurred across the state. It's been a district-by-district decision.”
Superintendent Bertram says the application process for nonresident families wishing to attend Bozeman School District for the 2024-2025 school year is now open.
“There's a percentage built for each district. And so the taxpayers in one district, in essence, pay the taxpayers in another district for educating that student,” says Bertram.
KBZK: New state law allows nonresident students to apply for Bozeman Public Schools
Belgrade School District to ask for additional funds to build new school
In 2019, Belgrade voters approved a bond that would build two elementary schools and repair its middle school. But as construction costs have risen in the past four years, the school board is preparing to vote for an additional bond to complete construction.
KBZK: Belgrade School District to ask for additional funds to build new school
Donors have limited window to support schools and get dollar-for-dollar tax credits
A Montana taxpayer, estate, trust, or business may donate up to $200,000 for the Innovative Education Program tax credit to benefit public schools, or the Student Scholarship Organization (SSO) tax credit to benefit private schools. Each program is allotted $5 million.
Tax credits are on a first-come, first-served basis. Schools are tasked with entering donors' information through an online portal to reserve tax credits for taxpayers. The portal opens at 10 a.m. Jan. 17.
Questions about the equitableness of the tax credit programs, have been raised by school officials when the portal opened in January 2022 after significant changes were made to House Bill 279 by the 2021 Legislature. At the time, $1 million was up for grabs statewide and there wasn’t a limit to how much money one school district could receive. Within minutes, the Innovative Education Program tax credits were claimed by less than a dozen districts.
Some school officials also contended that large school districts, or ones in affluent communities, had a leg up in garnering donations as opposed to smaller districts or ones located in rural communities.
Under House Bill 408, a school district cannot keep donations exceeding either “the greater of $50,000 or $15% of the district’s maximum general fund budget,” or “20% of the total aggregate amount.” Donations exceeding a school district’s limit will be redistributed to other school districts.
Helena officials to consider putting new public safety mill levy to vote in 2024
As the Helena valley population and subsequently calls for service to local law enforcement agencies and fire departments continue their unprecedented growth, Helena leaders are considering putting a new public safety mill levy on a 2024 ballot.
It has been more than 20 years since the city and its voters passed a tax hike benefiting HPD, and Petty said the department has fielded “basically the same number of officers” during that time period.
“I feel pretty strongly we have a higher likelihood of being successful in a June election,” City Commissioner Emily Dean said during the Dec. 13 admin meeting. “If we want people to actually pay attention to what we're asking for, it helps to not be competing for their attention with a whole bunch of things on the ballot.”
Andy Shirtliff, said during the Dec. 13 meeting he is concerned about the timing of a mill levy vote with the likes of Helena Public Schools and Helena Regional Sports Association also likely attempting to get mill levies on a ballot in the future.
Helena IR: Helena officials to consider putting new public safety mill levy to vote in 2024
County, GFPS officials discuss May school election
The district has contracted with the county elections office for years to run school elections that have been successful in the past, but “this last year had some difficulty from our perspective,” Moore said.
GFPS has a contract on file for the county to conduct the May 2024 election.
The school board will consider a request for the county elections office to conduct the May 2025 election and once the board makes the formal request, the county will review it.
Grulkowski asked Biddick what they know about school board elections and their ability to conduct the May election.
Biddick was working in the elections office during the May 2023 school election.
She said her concerns would be staffing and costs.
The elections office has hired more staff since the May 2023 school board election and conducted a June library election and a November municipal election.
Patrick reminded the county that the costs are passed on to the school district for the election.
GFPS has estimated the cost of their May election to be $45,000.
Commissioner Joe Briggs said, “we have a contract that we need to honor that covers this election.”
Electric: County, GFPS officials discuss May school election
Less than 25% of districts taking advantage of state money to boost teacher pay
Just 99 of Montana’s 399 school districts increased starting teacher salaries enough by the start of this school year to receive the state’s financial incentive for doing so. That’s down from 109 districts last year.
Larger school districts — those with total populations above 6,500 residents — must also ensure base pay is no less than 70% of the average teacher pay in the district to be eligible.
Montana has the worst starting teacher pay of any state in the country and Washington, D.C., according to an April 2023 National Education Association report. First-year teachers earn an average of $33,568, which is between $6,000 and $13,000 less than neighboring states. Average pay for all teachers isn’t much better. Montana ranks 44th with an average $53,628, according to the same report.
“This is not acceptable,” Rep. Linda Reksten, R-Polson, said in the Jan. 9 Education Interim Committee Meeting. “Something has to be done here. You can’t live off that.”
The slow trickle of change is perhaps best illustrated by the relatively small number of districts and counties who determined that the TEACH Act financial incentive is worth the cost of upping teacher pay.
Across all the four-year campuses in the Montana University System, only 644 bachelor’s or graduate degrees were awarded in education in the 2023-2023 academic year, the lowest in the last decade and an 18% drop from 2013-2014.
Helena IR: Less than 25% of districts taking advantage of state money to boost teacher pay |
State education entities seek to address low reading scores
Less than half of Montana third-graders are able to read at a grade-appropriate level, a distressing indicator for the future of many students in the state.
Educators agree that reaching third grade-level proficiency is a key milestone in the overall trajectory of a student in the classroom and beyond.
Yet the educational landscape for the youngest Montanans is pretty bleak. Montana is one of only six states in the country without a public preschool program; it’s widely considered a child care desert with just 43% of demand for early education met by current care capacity; and funding to support the education of early childhood educators continues to dwindle.
[HB 352] tasks BPE with creating a methodology to determine whether a 4-year-old is on track to reach proficient reading levels by the third grade; developing a framework for summer jumpstart programs to close literacy gaps for elementary students; and recommending a home-based program operated by an outside nonprofit that parents can use in the household.
It also allocated $1.5 million to the future programs, calling for close collaboration between BPE, the Office of Public Instruction and local school boards.
Local school districts would use these benchmarks to screen students at parents’ request. Districts would be empowered to tailor the tools used for the assessment to their specific student population.
Helena IR: State education entities seek to address low reading scores
MT Supreme Court rules Missoula school mask mandates did not violate 'fundamental rights'
Mask mandates implemented by three school districts in Missoula did not infringe upon the rights of parents or students during the COVID-19 state of emergency, according to a Montana Supreme Court decision issued on Dec. 12.
Rather, Missoula County Public Schools, Target Range and Hellgate Elementary — the school districts named in the 2021 lawsuit — had a “legitimate interest in preventing infections among teachers, staff and volunteers to ensure sufficient staffing levels are available for the schools to function properly,” and mask-related policies bore a “rational relationship” to that interest.
Additionally, the court concluded mask mandates did not impair the right of parents to make decisions regarding the care of their children.
Helena IR: MT Supreme Court rules Missoula school mask mandates did not violate 'fundamental rights'
news/education.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/14 20:14 by lmuszkie