Archive for K-12 & Higher Ed
Today, the House Appropriations took executive action on a series of Democratic amendments that seek to replace some of the funding that Republicans have taken from our state’s higher education system.
Unfortunately, the Republicans put partisanship over commonsense as they rejected these amendments on a party-line vote.
What makes the Republican cuts even worse is the fact that they are unnecessary. The Governor presented the legislature with a budget that is paid for, without raising taxes on Montanans. These cuts the GOP is pushing through are a statement of their values and today their statement came through loud and clear.
Under the GOP’s education budget, Montana students will face new taxes in the form of tuition increases. Opponents of the GOP’s plan included school administrators from around the state who reminded the committee that the tuition increases would make Montana schools less competitive, and the state would likely see reduced enrollment as students are forced to go to schools in surrounding states. Unfortunately, the Republicans on the committee ignored this testimony and reinforced their education cuts.
Making Schools SAFE
Posted by:Today, the Senate passed Sen. Kim Gillan’s Schools Are For Education (SAFE) anti-bullying bill. This bill seeks to tackle the growing problem of bullying in schools. Over the past year, we have heard several stories of students taking their lives after being tormented by classmates. Under this policy, school districts would be required to establish an anti-bullying policy, so students have a place to turn when they are being bullied. This policy would primarily be left up to the local communities to establish exactly what is in the policy.
This bill has had a tumultuous road to passage. In January, the bill was heard in committee. During the hearing, students who had been bullied, parents who had lost children to bullying, teachers and school administrators spoke in favor of the bill. Members of the committee had some reservations about the bill, so they sent it to subcommittee to make some changes. Then, the bill was not voted out of committee. Sen. Gillan then tried to “blast” the motion, and bring it to a full floor debate and was rebuked. Finally, Sen. Gillan got the committee to approve the bill, and send it to the floor of the Senate, where it received wide bi-partisan support.
The bill will now move to the House for approval.
The road this bill took shows a strong commitment to a bill, that improves the lives of Montanans, can make positive changes for the state.
Courage, Not Cuts
Posted by:Nearly 500 people came to the Montana Capitol today to rally against the GOP’s unnecessary cuts to vital services such as public education, health and first responders.
These cuts are not only disturbing, they are unnecessary. The Governor has presented the legislature with a balanced budget, that fully funds these services. These cuts reflect the values of the GOP legislators, because they are unnecessary.
At the rally, a Montana firefighter spoke about the good work that our public employees such as firefighters, nurses and teachers do. These are the people that protect our communities from disaster and disease and help our children achieve their full potential. Recently, firefighters have come under fire from GOP lawmakers. He also spoke about the need for courage in our budgeting process; not cuts.
As we come closer to the half-way point of this legislature, budgetary debates are likely to heat up even more. It’s important that lawmakers know Montanans don’t support these unnecessary, devastating cuts. These cuts would hurt our economic progress now and in the long-term.
State of Education
Posted by:Superintendent of Public Instruction, Denise Juneau today presented a joint session of the Montana Legislature with her State of Education Address.
During her speech, Superintendent Juneau discussed some of the state’s successes, struggles and priorities for the upcoming years.
She highlighted the fact the National Assessment of Education Progress shows that the math skills of Montana students exceed the national average and continue to climb. In addition, Montana fourth and eighth-graders are among the top five highest scorers in the reading portion of the exam.
Juneau also talked about the challenges that she and all teachers in the state continue to face. One of these challenges is the high school dropout rate. Her Graduation Matters Montana initiative seeks to tackle this challenge. Unfortunately though, the Montana Senate killed one key pieces of this program, a bill that would raise the legal dropout age from 16 to 18 or upon graduation. This bill would have helped ensure the next generation of Montanans have the skills necessary to successfully compete in a global workforce.
She also warned against unnecessary cuts to the public education system. She emphasized that a well educated workforce is one of the keys to long-term economic success. She urged the legislature to give teachers in the state the resources they need to equip them with a quality education, in order to guarantee long-term economic prosperity for Montana.
Reducing Funding for Public Schools
Posted by:The House Taxation Committee today heard one of the “Terrible Ten” unconstitutional bills. HB 397, a bill from Rep. James Knox, seeks to divert funds from our public school system, into private and home schools.
The bill would give tax credits to parents who seek to put their children in private schools or home schools. These tax credits would come out of Montana’s current budget for public schools.
Also, this bill provides no clarification requiring that the private/home schools be accredited. This mean, parents who send their children to unaccredited schools that have to learning requirements could still receive tax credits. The bill also allows parents to receive tax incentives to send their children to private religious schools.
The implications of this bill would be far reaching. This bill would allow public money be diverted into private, sometimes unaccredited and sometimes religious institutions. Also, because our state constitution requires that public schools be adequately funded, the bill would raise the tax burden on local communities to make up for the tax money given to these private institutions.
The committee will take executive action on this bill in the coming days.
"We believe that the current budget, heading to the Senate Floor next week, unnecessarily pits Montanans against, creating winners and losers” 