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A recent agreement between two Bozeman area nonprofits is poised to stabilize the future of certain childcare resources for families in the Gallatin Valley region, after changes to state-issued child care service contracts this year thrust that future into question. The Greater Gallatin United Way announced Tuesday it will be absorbing several early childhood learning and advocacy programs currently spearheaded by the Bozeman-based nonprofit Child Care Connections, which is closing its doors at the end of the year following a loss of state...
In addition to a slate of federal and statewide races, Montana voters next month will be asked to weigh in on a pair of proposed amendments to the state Constitution rewriting the very process by which they choose their elected officials. Taken together, Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127 would amend the Montana Constitution to alter the face of even-year elections from start to finish. CI-126 would jettison the state's separate party June primaries in favor of a single multi-party primary...
Montana lawmakers this month have trained a critical eye on funding for public schools, proposing new enhancements to the state’s education funding formula and raising concerns about the handling of federal school funds by Montana’s statewide education agency. The latter initially arose last week when state auditors in Helena presented legislators with a scathing report questioning the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s handling of $67.5 million in federal money for Montana schools. Auditors specifically noted that the agency had not maint...
As of Aug. 1, the Office of Public Instruction’s employment portal listed 853 active job postings for licensed public school positions in Montana. The postings include openings for teachers, counselors, administrators and paraprofessionals in school districts across Montana, and may capture some redundant listings or positions that have recently been filled. With the start of the 2024-25 school year approaching, Montana schools of all sizes are once again contending with the state’s ongoing teacher shortage. Challenges finding qualified app...
One year ago, the Office of Public Instruction debuted a new system and a revised set of regulations designed to ensure that Montana’s more than 800 public schools meet a state-mandated threshold of educational quality. Now state and local education leaders are taking stock of those accreditation changes and identifying areas for ongoing improvement, a conversation that will continue to shape how Montana holds its K-12 schools accountable to state laws and the students they serve. TK Under the new accreditation rules, OPI reported this month t...
Thousands of signatures for constitutional initiatives are in legal limbo after Montana’s top election official abruptly changed the standard for determining which voters are eligible to sign a ballot petition. The move to not permit signatures from voters listed as “inactive” comes as county election administrators around Montana are vetting stacks of signed petitions submitted by the sponsors of three distinct proposals that could appear on the November ballot: CI-126 and CI-127, which deal with statewide election reform, and CI-128, which...
While litigation continues, the Montana Office of Public Instruction can continue administering a new education savings account program for students with special needs. A state judge in Helena last week denied a request to block the new law that authorizes the program. That request was presented earlier this year by the Montana Quality Education Coalition and Disability Rights Montana as part of a lawsuit challenging House Bill 393, which established the savings accounts and was passed by Republican lawmakers in 2023. The two organizations argu...
Discussing likely areas for future policy improvement in Montana’s K-12 school system at a meeting in the state Capitol last week, officials with the Office of Public Instruction highlighted teacher retention as a continued challenge across the state, noting that Montana public schools lost 2,039 educators to attrition during the 2021-22 academic year. According to the presentation, given by OPI Chief Operating Officer Julie Murgel during a meeting of key lawmakers and education officials in Helena, more than half of those teachers left the w...
In a highly anticipated ruling last week, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's finding that four laws passed by the 2021 Legislature violate the fundamental rights of voters outlined in the Montana Constitution. The court's 125-page opinion closes out an appeal filed in November 2022 by Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen seeking the reinstatement of laws struck down by a district court judge in Billings. Those laws ended same-day voter registration, enacted new vote...
A wave of major budget cuts is hitting public schools across the state - a situation officials from four of Montana's largest districts attribute to declining enrollment, inflexibilities in the state's school funding formula, and a funding cliff facing schools as pandemic-era federal relief money runs out. District leaders from the Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman and Missoula public schools, meeting with reporters in Helena Friday, also said increased property values and the rising cost of living in the state are major factors impacting their...
Montana’s Department of Administration last week partially restored the Office of Public Instruction’s authority to independently award contracts for third-party goods and services, stating that the agency has made “significant progress” in correcting deficiencies identified earlier this year. The restoration of procurement authority at OPI, which oversees Montana’s K-12 public education system, came on the heels of a second compliance review conducted last month. OPI initially lost its authority to enter into contracts valued above $10,000 i...
Under a new law signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, school districts across Montana will begin working on the creation of a statewide insurance trust aimed at driving down the cost of health benefits for teachers, administrators and other public school employees. House Bill 332, sponsored by Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, directs $40 million in one-time funds into establishing that trust, provided that a minimum of 150 school districts with a collective pool of 12,000 employees agree to participate. The bill, which passed the 2023 Legislature with...
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court Tuesday challenging the rulings of a district court judge who overturned four election administration laws passed by the 2021 Legislature. The notice marks the continuation of a legal battle that began in April 2021, just a day after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed two of the bills into law. Three separate lawsuits were eventually consolidated into a single case featuring a coalition of plaintiffs that included... Full story
State lawmakers, county election administrators and the Montana Association of Counties have established an unpublicized informal workgroup to examine Montana’s current election processes and discuss opportunities to enhance the election system ahead of the next legislative session. The group has met twice to date, most recently in late April, and has grown to include Republican and Democratic legislators from both chambers, as well as a representative from Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office and Commissioner of Political Pra...
During a special meeting Thursday, the Montana Board of Public Education combed through more than 130 public comments submitted on proposed revisions to state teacher licensing regulations — one of the final steps toward adoption of the changes next month. The process kicked off last June when a 24-member task force began poring over rules surrounding educator certification in the state, including the types of licenses available and the requirements necessary to obtain them. Proposals from the task force then passed to Superintendent of Public...
An effort to call a special session of the Montana Legislature via lawmaker poll failed to gain majority support last week. According to the results compiled by the Montana Secretary of State’s office after the 5 p.m. deadline, 44 legislators voted for the proposal and 60 voted against it. Forty-five lawmakers did not submit votes. The proposed session would have focused on whether to create a special legislative committee to investigate election security in Montana. Ten Republican legislators submitted the poll request to Secretary of State C...
A pair of public school board trustees from Missoula and Kalispell emailed a letter to state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen Tuesday refuting recent criticisms of her leadership of the Office of Public Instruction and praising her "steadfast support" for local school boards, parents and teachers. The letter, penned by Missoula County Public Schools Trustee Michael Gehl and Smith Valley District 89 Trustee Jim Riley, commended Arntzen, a Republican, for aiding parents in "resisting superintendent...
On November 30, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Michael McMahon struck down provisions of Montana's new "constitutional carry" law that apply to college campuses, ruling that the law violates the constitutional authority of the Montana Board of Regents. The board filed the lawsuit against the state in May. In his order, issued shortly after the latest round of oral arguments in the case, McMahon said the Montana Constitution grants the Board of Regents (BOR) sole power to determine...
MISSOULA — Leaders of Montana’s K-12 and higher education systems convened on the University of Montana campus Friday to discuss strategic goals and ongoing challenges to improve the quality of education for students across the state. Addressing an in-person meeting of the State Board of Education, Gov. Greg Gianforte gushed about the scenes he’s witnessed firsthand this year in classrooms from Frenchtown to Glendive. He lauded the passage of a new law in the 2021 Legislature that provides incentives for schools to increase starting teach...
County election officials are once again expressing grave concerns about Montana's readiness to transition to a new election software system, even as Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's office contemplates implementing that transition on Jan. 3, 2022. In letters and emails sent to Jacobsen throughout this fall, a group of election administrators has repeatedly and explicitly said the proposed timeline for making the switch from the current Montana Votes system poses a threat to the integrity o... Full story
Tammy Wham can't get her hands on canned corn or whole grain muffins. Both are staples in the public school kitchen in Ennis, where Wham serves as kitchen manager - or, she quips, "head lunch lady." Wham and her staff serve breakfast and lunch to roughly 340 K-12 students daily, but numerous menu items and ingredients have become difficult or impossible to acquire this fall due to national food shortages and supply chain complications. "I've been here since 2001," said Wham, who also serves as...
Last fall and spring, Montana's public school system reported notable declines in student enrollment attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that trend appears to be reversing as K-12 schools across the state have returned to in-person instruction despite the continued presence of the virus. According to preliminary data from the Montana Office of Public Instruction, statewide enrollment this fall is at 151,765 students, an increase of 6,133 students, or 4.2%, over fall 2020. The total, which...
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate approved a $1.2 trillion spending plan aimed at addressing critical national infrastructure needs. The bill is poised to inject billions of dollars into Montana’s highways, bridges, water systems and broadband, and the fate of that funding now rests with the U.S. House of Representatives, which began debating the proposal’s path this week. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester was among the bill’s chief architects, working alongside four other Senate Democrats, five Senate Republicans and top White House aides in close...
The Montana Department of Labor and Industry this week offered guidance to government agencies and private businesses on how to adhere to a new state law barring discriminating against people on the basis of vaccination status. The agency's guidelines also outline the complaint process for incidents involving such discrimination. "This guidance will help Montana employers and businesses stay in compliance with the law and help ensure that Montanans do not face discrimination due to their...
Over the past six weeks, two review committees convened by the Montana Office of Public Instruction have begun discussing potential revisions to state regulations governing educator licensure. So far their deliberations have focused on bolstering recruitment and retention in the midst of a teacher shortage and providing a clearer pathway for school counselors to become administrators — all in hopes of removing roadblocks to certifying the people charged with educating Montana’s youth. For OPI and the Board of Public Education, the process is a...
