MISSOULA — Education is an ever-shifting landscape.
This month's City Club Missoula brought together state and local leaders to see where Montana and, specifically, Missoula County is going forward.
"School finance is complicated and not very transparent," Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) superintendent Micah Hill said.
With the future of the Department of Education in limbo and continued questions around federal funding, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen wants Montana to be in charge of getting funding into classrooms.
"One thing that I have been advocating for is that they return the federal funding and the Office of Education at the federal level to the states," Hedalen said.
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The forum was aimed at providing insights into what less funding would cost schools.
"Title II is one that's maybe most at risk. That is the funding stream that's for professional development," Hedalen noted.
Panelists touched on what inflation and tighter school budgets would cost taxpayers.
"Inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2020 to 2024 rose 21%," Hill stated.
Hill says inflation is the reason voters have been seeing many levies in recent years.
"When the state gives an inflationary increase, it's actually only to 80% of your budget. So, when they say a 3% increase, we actually get around 2.6%," Hill explained. "20% of our budgets come from locally voted levies," he added.
However, down Highway 93 in Lolo, Dale Olinger, Superintendent of the Lolo School District, notes that levies might not be feasible.
"Instability at the federal level makes me a little uneasy," Olinger said. "Asking for $50,000 costs the individual homeowner a heck of a lot more than raising $50,000 in a place that has a tax base like the city of Missoula," he continued.
While panelists shared challenges of the current education environment, like cutting programs due to budget constraints.
"We're put into a position where we're having to cut resources, where we're cutting teachers, we're cutting programs in order to just maintain what we have, and so that's that's significant for us," Hill said.
The forum also highlighted bright spots, like the recently passed STARS Act.
"This was an attempt to move the average starting teacher pay from $38,000 to $41,613. The state put in over $100 million to that effort," Hill detailed.
Montana education officials are working with state and federal partners to secure funding for special education, mental health, and technology programs.
