This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday.
Over the past few months, I’ve spent hours interviewing public education leaders from across the state about the financial challenges they’re facing ahead of the 2024-25 school year. Our conversations have taken us deep into the weeds of school funding in Montana and touched on how local districts are attempting to navigate considerable budget shortfalls. We published an in-depth look at the situation this week, but for brevity’s sake, here are a few key takeaways:
First, while Montana does spend a significant chunk of state revenue on education — a little under a billion dollars a year — the overall amount of money spent on education in Montana still trails the national average by more than $1,000 per student. Schools got a taste of what a more typical funding level would look like over the past three years due to the influx of roughly $600 million in federal COVID-19 relief money, but that short-term stimulus expires this fall. For some larger districts, that’s created a fiscal cliff. School leaders say they’re now being forced to consider cuts that would have been made years ago without the stimulus dollars, even as the pandemic-related academic and mental health needs that federal money targeted continue to require attention and investment.
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What’s fueling this year’s rash of budget shortfalls in many Montana schools?
Recent months have seen a rash of headlines across Montana regarding multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls in many of the state’s largest public school districts. The specter of cuts to staff and resources for students looms large, and local officials are leveraging the harsh financial outlook in their appeals for additional taxpayer support as voters begin casting ballots in the May 7 school elections.
Second, inflation is creating a financial double-whammy, with local officials arguing that the modest increases to state aid made during the 2023 Legislature haven’t kept pace with the rapidly rising costs of utilities, insurance and staff salaries and benefits. That last item is particularly tricky as teachers, counselors, janitors, cafeteria workers and other employees contend with rising costs at home. How much the state contributes to public schools in the future will likely be a major topic of discussion when the Legislature meets again next January.
Third, the demographic complexion of Montana is changing. Data provided by the Montana School Boards Association notes Montana has seen a 30-year downward trend in the portion of its population represented by school-age children. Translation: While plenty of people are moving to Montana, that growth isn’t necessarily being driven by young families. The data bolsters what officials in most large school districts have said about flat or declining elementary enrollment in recent years. And since state funding is based largely on enrollment, that has a direct financial impact.
Finally — and I can’t stress this enough — the current situation can vary wildly from district to district. High-growth areas like Missoula and Bozeman report some common factors underlying their budget shortfalls, but the impacts look slightly different depending on what growth looks like and what financial steps the district has taken in years past. Belgrade, for example, is a major outlier, with enough projected elementary enrollment growth that its school leaders believe it needs to build at least one new school in the coming years.
Varying budget situations from district to district mean the requests voters are now weighing on their May school ballots vary as well. Belgrade, for example, is asking voters to pass a bond that would help build a new elementary school. The Great Falls Public Schools opted not to run a levy in the May 7 school election. Other large districts are running multiple levies — some designed to aid their general funds, some to create new pots of money specifically for safety-related needs. Put simply, while there are broader statewide issues at play, the immediate issues are largely local ones as voters decide whether they’re willing to commit more of their money to their local schools.
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