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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.
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.
READ MORE: What’s fueling this year’s rash of budget shortfalls in many Montana schools?
—Alex Sakariassen, Reporter
Following the Law ⚖️
Montana’s first-in-the-nation effort to ban social media platform TikTok, passed at the urging of Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen, has been blocked by a federal judge for months in the midst of ongoing litigation brought by the company and a group of users.
But this week, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, signed a federal bill that could implement a similar TikTok ban nationally.
The new law, technically called the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” passed Congress as part of a broader measure that also provides foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to shut down TikTok within roughly a year unless it sells the platform to a company without ties to foreign nations the U.S. government considers adversarial.
TikTok’s critics, Knudsen among them, have argued the app’s potential to share data on American users with the Chinese government makes it a threat to national security. While Knudsen is a perennial critic of the Biden administration, he said this week that he believes the president “did the right thing” by signing the national ban.
“It’s good to see our leaders in Washington follow Montana’s lead to keep American’s (sic) safe and secure,” Knudsen said in a written statement released Wednesday. “The Chinese Communist Party is using TikTok to spy on American’s (sic), collect personal data, and show young kids harmful content.”
TikTok, which previously argued Montana’s ban violated First Amendment protections for free speech, has said it is committed to protecting user privacy and pledged to fight the federal ban in court.
“The freedom of expression on Tiktok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video posted to the platform this week.
—Eric Dietrich, Deputy Editor
Public Comment 🗣️
Montana lawmakers allocated $300 million last year for reforms intended to fix much of the state’s fractured behavioral health system. The specifics were delegated to a commission that is now pondering a tentative list of specific proposals drafted by the state health department.
The commission — made up of lawmakers, department director Charlie Brereton and other members appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte — will discuss and revise the proposals over the next month. Individual items don’t yet have price tags, which Brereton said will come at a later date.
Here’s a look at some of the health department’s proposals as they currently stand:
For services to help adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities:
- Expand current Medicaid waivers that cover residential and day services for adults and apply for a new waiver to help fund services in small, four-person group homes
- Reestablish evaluation and diagnostic clinics that were closed after 2017 budget cuts
For mental health and substance use treatment reforms:
- Create a “care transitions program” for people leaving inpatient institutions, including the Montana State Hospital, with the goal of reducing readmissions
- Expand mobile crisis teams, especially in eastern Montana
- Create “Crisis Stabilization and Receiving Centers” around the state, including some for youth and adolescents, to help decrease the reliance on hospitals for behavioral health crises
- Boost services for people with mental illness and substance use disorder who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability
- Create a paid-in-advance option for people who rely on their own cars to access non-emergency health services
- Invest in school-based mental health services and screenings
- Create a tuition reimbursement plan for behavioral health care providers
- Invest in educational training for behavioral health workers and consider developing a “community health worker” program
Members of the public can tell the commission what they think about the possible system changes by emailing Brett Carter at Brett.carter2@mt.gov before the group’s next meeting on May 20. There will also be a time for live public comment at that time.
You can also read more about the specifics of each of these proposals on the health department’s website. And don’t hesitate to let us know what you think about these ideas, too.
—Mara Silvers, Reporter
Wildlife Watch 🐺
An incident involving a Wyoming man who spent hours displaying a wolf he’d injured with his snowmobile in a small-town bar before shooting her drew international attention last month. Now, wildlife and animal rights groups are citing the situation as they ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore endangered species protections for wolves. In a notice of intent to sue issued Tuesday, six groups argue that the Sublette County incident demonstrates that Northern Rockies states cannot be trusted to responsibly manage wolves.
In February, USFWS declined to restore Endangered Species Act protections for wolves, finding that “wolves are not at risk of extinction in the Western United States now or in the foreseeable future.” That finding has already been challenged in two lawsuits brought by environmental and conservation organizations.
In the April 22 letter to USFWS, Animal Wellness Action, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Footloose Montana and other groups signaled they intend to bring a third lawsuit. The groups argue that the agency failed to properly analyze “the effect of manmade factors such as politics” and “anti-wolf sentiment brewing in Western states” on the species’ continued existence. Wayne Pacelle with Animal Wellness Action told Wyofile this week that what happened in Sublette County is representative of “everything that’s wrong with Wyoming’s handling of wolves” and was a “trigger” for the lawsuit.
In a press release about the pending lawsuit, the groups make a connection between the charges brought against the man, Cody Roberts, and broader anti-wolf sentiment. Animal Wellness Action argues that Roberts, who was fined $250 for live possession of wildlife, should have been charged with animal cruelty under a section of state law dealing with animal abuse. The group said that section of Wyoming law includes an exception for the “hunting, capture, killing or destruction of any predatory animal,” but argued that the exemption shouldn’t apply to the “torment and torture of the wolf in the intervening hours between capture and killing.”
“States have proven they cannot be trusted to sustain the wolf species,” Footloose Montana Executive Director Jessica Karjala said in a release. “Wyoming is turning a blind eye to the heinous acts of Cody Roberts.”
Like Wyoming and Idaho, Montana wishes to keep wolves under state management. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is expected to adopt a new wolf management plan sometime this year.
—Amanda Eggert, Reporter
By the Numbers 🔢
Deadline for the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip to comply with a new Mercury and Air Toxics Standard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted Thursday.
That piece of a sweeping EPA’s rules package governing power plant operations is expected to reduce the emissions of materials like mercury, a neurotoxin. It’s also anticipated to have major implications for the continued operation of Montana’s largest power plant due to the investments Colstrip’s owners would have to make in the nearly 40-year-old plant to come into compliance with the rule.
Last year, the power plant’s operator submitted a comment to the EPA estimating the cost of upgrades for compliance with pollution standards would be $600 million. Colstrip co-owner NorthWestern Energy said in a 2023 annual report that the draft rules forwarded by the EPA would make Colstrip “uneconomic” to run.
The EPA’s rule package also mandates aggressive reductions in carbon dioxide emissions for fossil fuel plants and implements stronger requirements for coal ash pond cleanups.
The rules are widely anticipated to be subject to lawsuits. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen Thursday pledged to sue over EPA’s new rules. NorthWestern Energy, a shareholder-owned utility that serves approximately two-thirds of Montanans, said in a release Thursday that it is “exploring options” to challenge the new EPA rules.
—Amanda Eggert, Reporter
On Our Radar 
Amanda — The new EPA power plant rules are absolutely beastly pieces of policy, encompassing more than 1,000 pages of rules that have major ramifications for coal plants. Frankly, they’re hard to get your arms around. I therefore appreciated the New York Times’ “5 things to know” treatment.
Alex — For all the national attention trained on former President Donald Trump’s trial over alleged hush-money payments, the public hasn’t had much physical glimpse inside the Manhattan courtroom where it’s all taking place. Politico attempted to fill that void this week in a lengthy Q&A with reporters about the atmosphere around the proceedings.
Arren — The Texas Department of Public Safety is now claiming that a television station photojournalist a trooper arrested at a pro-Palestine demonstration on the University of Texas at Austin campus this week hit an officer with his camera. In an interview with another TV news station, the photojournalist disputed that account. “They said that I hit an officer. I didn’t hit an officer. They were pushing me. They were pushing me,” the reporter said. “This never happened to me, you know what I mean? I was just covering things … I told them I was press.”
JoVonne — An American Indian Arts Institute student from Crow Agency, KamiJo White Clay, was recently selected as one of the two finalists to create artwork for an upcoming Nike project, according to Four Points Press.
Mara — With the trails around Helena drying out and seeing more recreational traffic, I’m hoping that every runner, biker and hiker zooming by me (from Helena and beyond) thinks about the sacred rules of trail etiquette. Here’s a refresher, you hooligans.
Eric — As spring drags on, I’ve been itching for the arrival of garden-planting weather. Unfortunately, the local ag extension agent tells me the safe planting date here in Helena if I don’t want frost killing my darling vegetable sprouts here isn’t until — drumroll, please — roughly June 1. If you’re curious about dates for your part of the state, here’s Montana State University Extension’s official frost-freeze statistics table.
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