Teacher retention, wages hot topics at meeting of state education officials

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 workforce entirely. Murgel’s data came from a study c...