With many Montana districts facing budget woes, school funding is a hot topic this year. We asked the three candidates vying to be Montana’s next state school chief whether they’d advocate for change.
byEric Dietrich
Many of Montana’s large school districts are facing budget crunches — and many of their leaders are arguing publicly that the state’s school funding formula hasn’t kept up with the high inflation of recent years. As such, school funding is almost certain to be a major discussion topic heading into next year’s session of the Montana Legislature.
The state superintendent of public education — the elected head of the Montana Office of Public Instruction — is among the central figures in K-12 education policy. With incumbent state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen termed out after eight years in office, voters have the task of picking her successor this year.
That new superintendent could, if they choose, play a vocal role in advocating for legislators to allocate additional state dollars to K-12 education or could, alternatively, lend their tacit support to those who argue Montana schools instead need to make do with the dollars they currently receive.
Among the key debates will be changes to the Legislature’s practice of making inflationary adjustments to the per-student payments that are among the most important components of the state’s school funding formula at a rate of 3% a year. As consumer inflation has outstripped that rate in recent years, clocking in at 8.0% in 2022 and 4.1% in 2023, the Legislature’s decision to maintain that comparatively slow pace of funding growth has become a source of frustration for some lawmakers and school officials.
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As part of our 2024 Election Guide project, Montana Free Press asked the three state superintendent candidates, two Republicans and one Democrat, whether they believe the state needs to update its school funding formula. Here’s how they responded via a written questionnaire. These answers were lightly edited for grammar but are otherwise presented verbatim and were not subjected to fact-checking.
WHAT WE ASKED
Do you believe changes to Montana’s school finance system are necessary to ensure locally administered school districts have the funding they need to meet their constitutional obligation to provide students with a quality education? What if any changes would you advocate for over the next four years as state superintendent?
Susie Hedalen
Townsend School District superintendent, Republican
Montana’s school funding formula has not been critically studied in a decade. Next year, state education leaders and legislators will begin a new study of the school funding formula. As state superintendent, I plan to play a substantial role in examining what is working and what is not working in how we fund education. We must ensure that school funding directly supports students and makes its way to classrooms while minimizing administrative costs. This will allow education dollars to stretch further and put the focus where it should be: educating students.
The school funding formula study Hedalen mentions is a once-a-decade review of the education funding system required by state law and was last conducted in 2015 and 2016. The next review is scheduled for the period between the 2025 and 2027 legislative sessions.
Sharyl Allen
Former Harrison Public School principal/superintendent, Republican
Yes — I would advocate for a simplified and transparent system that ensures equity and elements that address the critical needs of rural Montana districts differently than our larger systems. The second thing I would advocate for is a change to the inflation methods for public schools. Lastly, I would advocate for marijuana dollars for public schools that is guaranteed, not like the lottery for schools that waned.
Allen goes a step further than Hedalen, who she will face in the June Republican primary, in endorsing an unspecified “change” to “inflation methods” — an apparent reference to the 3% inflation guidance.
Shannon O’Brien
State senator, Democrat
The state’s school funding formula has not been updated in years and consequently, schools are not getting the adequate resources they need to operate. Over the last 11 years, I have built relationships with key stakeholders in statewide education including legislators on both sides of the aisle as well as school leaders. I will work with the Montana Legislature in meeting their obligation to update the formula as required by law and as mandated by our state Constitution. In addition, the 3% inflationary cap has to be increased to keep pace with the inflation rate today.
My other priorities include early childhood education, recruitment and retention of teachers, helping districts meet their building and technology needs and returning the Office of Public Instruction to a respected agency that is responsive to school administrators, teachers and parents.
The 3% inflationary “cap” O’Brien mentions isn’t enshrined in state law as an explicit cap but is rather a guidance statute that suggests the rates set by the Legislature for per-student school budget allowances be increased at 3% a year.
Curious about other candidates who, if elected, will be part of the school funding discussion? MTFP put a similar school finance question to legislative candidates and candidates running for governor, including current Gov. Greg Gianforte and likely Democratic nominee Ryan Busse.
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ABOUT MTFP
Eric came to journalism in a roundabout way after studying engineering at Montana State University in Bozeman (credit, or blame, for his career direction rests with the campus's student newspaper, the Exponent). He has worked as a professional journalist in Montana since 2013, with stints at the Great Falls Tribune, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and Solutions Journalism Network before joining the Montana Free Press newsroom in Helena full time in 2019.More by Eric Dietrich
