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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.
news.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/04 05:22 by lmuszkie