Charlo School Board considers education coalition
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CHARLO – The Charlo School Board had a special guest during its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18. Mark Lambrecht, Executive Director from the Montana Quality Education Coalition ventured from his Helena office to update the board on current legislation and ask Charlo to become a member of the organization.
The MQEC is made up of school districts of all sizes all over the state of Montana and education organizations including the Montana School Boards Association, School Administrators of Montana, the Montana Rural Education Association and the Indian Impact Schools of Montana.
On Sept. 20, the MQEC Board of Directors voted to pursue court enforcement of guaranteeing inflation for state funding of public schools throughout Montana.
“During the last legislative session the funding bill didn’t keep up with inflation,” Lambrecht said. “The Executive branch intended to provide inflationary funding as well.”
According to Lambrecht, the Legislature intended to provide inflationary funding for schools, as required by law. The two bills involved were House Bill 2, which is a bill that provides the general appropriations for the state, and Senate Bill 329, which is the bill that funded Montana schools for the biennium. A previously vetoed revenue distribution bill that would decrease school funding was attached to Senate Bill 329, taking away precious funding.
Schweitzer allowed House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 329 to become law, which due to a contingency clause that was connected school funding to House Bill 316for schools in Montana is much lower than originally intended.“The Legislature intended to provide inflationary funding for schools. They included it in House Bill 2 (the legislation to provide general appropriations for the state) and Senate Bill 329 (the bill that ultimately funded schools for the biennium). The Executive branch intended to provide inflationary funding as well—as evidenced by the fact Governor Schweitzer allowed these two bills to become law. Yet, because of a contingency clause that connected school funding to House Bill 316—a revenue allocation bill that was vetoed—funding for schools was significantly decreased.
The contingency clause that was passed stated schools would receive 2.6 percent increase in funding, where it actually needed to be quite higher, at 3.4 percent.
“This may seem to be a small percentage, but it’s actually a large amount of money,” Lambrecht said.
Lambrecht said as a result, schools are scheduled to receive funding that is approximately $8 million short of inflation next year.
“We intend to get this money to schools,” he said. “It’s important to fun these kids properly funded to get them the education they need so they have that advantage moving forward.”
Lambrecht encouraged the Charlo School District to join MQEC, which would cost the district $750 per year. Membership fees depend on the size of the district, ranging from $125 a month for small schools to $4,000 for AA schools. Later on, trustees addressed the issue of whether or not to join the coalition.
“I was part of the original case, and I think it’s important to join,” Charlo Superintendent Paul Jenkins said. “I believe it will strongly benefit the students. I’m rather confident we would recoup well more than the $750 fee.”
“I have mixed feelings about it,” trustee Dave Degrandpre noted. “I understand it’s a game, and during the last legislation there was a lot of game playing. But suing the state seems to be a last resort to me.”
Degrandpre suggested the board move the item to next month’s meeting so trustees can weigh the pros and cons and see the other side of the story. The board agreed to wait until next month’s meeting to act on the item.
“Sometimes these things remedy themselves, and sometimes you have to force the hand to see change,” Degrandpre said.
In other business, trustees approved to sign the local agreement to join the Inter local Agreement-Curriculum Co-op in Missoula. The co-op will cost Charlo $2,700 a year for a three-year membership and will help teachers stay on top of the curriculum the state deems most important.
As the meeting drew to a close, middle school math and physical education instructor Susan Petersen gave a brief presentation on what her students have been doing thus far in the school year. Petersen’s eighth grade class recently crafted patterns on old fold-up chairs using colored rope that Petersen donated.
“The kids really got into it,” Petersen said with a smile. “The boys even admitted to liking it when they were alone.”
The next Charlo School Board meeting will be held Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the library.
