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Over the past four years, I’ve spilled a lot of digital ink on the myriad challenges, changes and controversies faced by Montana’s public K-12 school system. Much of that coverage has involved the state’s lead education agency, the Office of Public Instruction, and its Republican leader, state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen.
Arntzen entered the office eight years ago amid a string of statewide GOP victories, ushering in the first Republican administration at OPI since the 1980s. As MTFP reported in an extensive article this week, it’s been a tenure marked by both praise and condemnation. For reasons attributable both to Arntzen and outside forces, the education agency looks far different today than it did at the start of her two-term run, which closes at the end of the year.
As the state teacher’s union commented amid one spat early in Arntzen’s tenure, “Elections have consequences,” and her conservative political philosophy began to show almost from day one. Save for certain funding matters, she quickly distanced OPI from taking firm policy stances at the Legislature, frustrating Democrats and school advocates who were accustomed to having the agency as an ally in the Capitol. Despite that approach, there’s been at times notable friction between OPI and lawmakers, including some of Arntzen’s fellow Republicans. One such dispute emerged this spring around the agency’s beleaguered rollout of new education laws passed in 2023, a situation rooted in conflicting legal interpretations that were ultimately resolved by a state court.
Arntzen’s aversion to direct agency promotion of particular policies hasn’t stopped her from taking a public stand when hot-button conservative causes intersect with the education system. On the Capitol steps and in the Rotunda, she’s shared a lectern with individuals and organizations advocating to expand school choice and restrict how public educators can discuss sexual orientation and gender identity. She’s also encouraged Montana’s involvement in national lawsuits resisting expanded federal protections for transgender students. Responding to the bipartisan criticism of her handling of the 2023 laws, Arntzen decried the rebuke as “political persecution” of her conservative values as she tried to fight against bureaucracy and a “radical transgender agenda.”
Arntzen’s political philosophy goes a long way in contextualizing the changes at OPI. She has defended attempts to relax state-mandated staffing ratios in public schools as an embrace of local control and couched the shrinking of OPI’s physical footprint into a single building in Helena as a successful reduction of government spending. She points to an agency-led teacher residency program and increased emphasis on career-based education as evidence of her efforts to enhance the academic lives of educators and students alike. One of the few statewide elected officials to routinely make herself available for interviews with reporters in recent years, Arntzen also argues her administration’s steady stream of public announcements and OPI “roadshows” are a testament to her push for government transparency.
As for Arntzen’s friendliness toward school choice and other conservative perspectives on education, that’s perhaps best explained by her belief that “parents are the first teacher,” a belief she said she hopes her successor, who will be selected by voters statewide next month, carries forward. She acknowledges the OPI she’s handing off is markedly different — younger, especially, given the wave of retirements that contributed to the total 268 staff departures since she took over — but insists that change is for the better.
READ MORE: Elsie Arntzen’s OPI.
—Alex Sakariassen
Your Two Cents
Among the big issues I’m covering as this year’s ballot heads to voters is Constitutional Initiative 128, an abortion rights measure backed by Planned Parenthood of Montana and other local and national reproductive rights supporters. If approved by voters, the initiative would insert broad protections for pre-viability abortion in the Montana Constitution and also allow for post-viability procedures when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
Advocates of the initiative have been outspoken about their views on CI-128, in part through the robust signature-gathering campaign they launched to put the proposal on the ballot. The opposition has, so far, been more loosely organized, less well-funded, and less open to media interviews, making it a challenging movement to cover.
Recently, I’ve heard about pastors, priests and prominent members of church communities that have begun explicitly talking about CI-128 within their congregations. If this is a trend happening across the state, I think it’s an important development for us to reflect in our coverage.
Journalism is strongest when news outlets seek out input from people with a diversity of viewpoints. With that in mind, I’m looking to hear from churchgoers in Montana who have had recent conversations with other congregants or church leadership about CI-128, favorable or otherwise. I’d like to ask a few questions: Have those conversations swayed your opinions about CI-128 or mobilized you to get involved before Election Day? How have you felt about having conversations about a political issue in church? And finally, do faith or religious teachings influence your perspective on this measure?
If you’re up for having a conversation, over email or phone, drop me a line at [email protected]. I’d like to interview as many people as possible and use that material for future stories, but I’m also happy to talk “on background” — meaning I’ll listen even if you don’t want to be quoted. I’m grateful for the input, whatever the format.
—Mara Silvers
Fire Watch 🔥
Smoke from central Idaho wildfires has continued to drift across Montana’s skies since the end of last week, reducing air quality across the southern half of the state. Montana’s active fires, the largest of which are located near the Idaho border, have also contributed to the bad air, which appears as a mass of color on air quality maps.
West-central Montana has experienced some of the worst Air Quality Index readings during the ongoing bout of smoke. Great Falls and Helena’s index exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for “unhealthy” five days out of the last seven. Eastward winds swept smoke from Bozeman to Billings, neither of which has seen an index reading lower than 50, the EPA’s “healthy” standard, since Oct. 4.
According to Jenn Kitsmiller, a National Weather Service meteorologist based out of Missoula, bad air in autumn isn’t a major anomaly.
“There are definitely some years where we can have fire season go into October, but it’s not typical,” Kitsmiller said. “Usually, by the time we hit the end of September, we’re going downhill as far as fire activity.”
Kitsmiller noted that 2024 has had something of a dual-peaked fire season. After a dry July and August, early September’s heavy showers slowed wildfire growth, including the four major fires still burning in western Montanas: the Sharrott Creek, Johnson, Daly and Railroad fires.
But, Kitsmiller said, limited statewide precipitation since mid-September has seen fire season pick back up.
The four major western Montana fires continue to burn at a total of 20,000 acres, an increase of 3,000 since last Friday. Central Idaho’s fires have now burned more than 100,000 acres this year, with wind now pulling their smoke directly toward Butte, Helena and Great Falls.
The coming week could, however, bring the cold and wet necessary to put the 2024 fire season to bed.
“There is confidence building that we’re going to have a pretty good pattern change next week,” Kitsmiller said, adding that the weather could shift as early as Oct. 17. “It looks like we’re even talking about the potential for some snow in the mountains.”
—Zeke Lloyd
Happenings 🗓️
Indigenous Peoples Day, the holiday that honors the history and heritage of the many Native nations and communities across the continent, falls on Monday, Oct. 14, this year. According to a compilation by Western Native Voice, a Montana-based advocacy group, events commemorating the holiday this year include the following:
- In Billings, events will begin at Boothill Cemetery at 10 a.m., then move to Big Horn Resort at 12 p.m. for a free lunch with speakers and demonstrations. Free music and a comedy show are also planned for 6 p.m. at Big Horn Resort.
- In Bozeman, an event is planned from 5 to 7 p.m. at Peets Hill.
- In Great Falls, an event featuring speakers, a fry bread contest and kids activities is planned from 3 to 7 p.m. at Great Falls College’s Heritage Hall.
- In Missoula, the annual Beartracks Celebration Powwow will open with a grand entry at 1 p.m. at Caras Park.
- In Butte, a celebration is planned from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse
- In Glendive, a variety of events are planned at Dawson Community College between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Glad You Asked 🙋️
Earlier this month, just a few weeks after the Public Service Commission opened its official review of a new rate hike requested by NorthWestern Energy, the commission sent out a press release touting lower power bills. Two sitting commissioners — James Brown, who is running for state auditor, and Jennifer Fielder, who is running for reelection to her PSC seat — were quoted applauding the $6.13 reduction bound for the average NorthWestern electricity customer’s monthly bill.
One of our readers, confused about how the release squared with the company’s rate hike request, wrote in. How, he asked, should he make sense of the promised reduction?
The answer hinges on how regulated power utilities like NorthWestern and Montana Dakota Utilities structure their rates. The billing methodologies they negotiate with the commission involve two basic buckets.
One collection bucket is the “rate base,” the formula utilities use to recoup their investment in owned infrastructure such as power plants, transmission lines and natural gas compression stations. In the new rate increase request, NorthWestern is asking for a 26% increase in its rate base, largely as a result of the company’s approximately $310 million Laurel gas plant coming online.
The other collection bucket deals with something called the Power Costs and Credits Adjustment Mechanism, or PCCAM, which accounts for fluctuating expenses such as power plant fuel and the power NorthWestern purchases from other companies when its in-house generation falls short of its customers’ demand. The PCCAM calculation also credits customers when NorthWestern’s generating capacity puts it in a position to sell power to other utilities.
While the commission has NorthWestern forecast fuel costs, market purchases and market sales in electric bill calculations, those forecasts are inevitably imperfect. As such, the commission lets the company adjust later bills accordingly. If the company didn’t bill enough to cover its fuel and market power costs, it’s allowed to raise bills over a later period. Conversely, if the company ends up overbilling, as has happened recently, customers get a period of lower bills.
Which gets us back to this month’s announcement. As it squared its books, NorthWestern determined it had overcollected $1.5 million over the 12-month period ending in June. That will result in a decrease reflected in the “residential deferred supply” charge on customer bills.
For more information on the rate request that is currently winding through the PSC, dive into “Four things to know about NorthWestern Energy’s newest rate hike request.”
—Amanda Eggert
Campaign Trail
Absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 general election should be en route toward Montana voters who are registered to vote by mail as this newsletter goes to print. Over the last two weeks, MTFP published several election stories aiming to make sure voters have access to in-depth information before they cast their votes:
Montana’s U.S. Senate race, where longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester faces a challenge from Republican Tim Sheehy, has major stakes for both national politics and, with Tester the last Democrat standing in a statewide office, considerable consequences for the future of the Montana Democratic Party. Tom Lutey analyzed Tester’s efforts to appeal to split-ticket voters with conservative policy positions at the risk of losing support from his Democratic base.
Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, won his first term as Montana’s state executive in 2020 on a jobs-jobs-jobs campaign platform. As he runs for reelection against a challenge from Democrat Ryan Busse, Eric Dietrich reports that the state economy under Gianforte’s tenure has proved to be a double-edged sword for Montana residents — bringing the rising prosperity he promised and surging housing costs he didn’t.
Voters in three of Montana’s five Public Service Commission districts will elect commissioners for the state’s utility regulation board this year as the power sector grapples with federal policy, court rulings and market forces that are shifting the electric grid toward renewable energy. As Amanda Eggert reports, two districts have open seats and a third has an independent candidate challenging an incumbent Republican.
There’s more to come over the next week, as well. And, as always, we have our comprehensive 2024 election guide available for your ballot research.
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
Montana’s State Library Commission is worried about whether “young adult” books are age-appropriate for younger Montana teens. Alex Sakariassen reported that the group had a spirited discussion on the topic this week but didn’t take formal action.
Remember Montana’s much-debated COVID-era law banning discrimination based on vaccine status? As Mara Silvers reports, a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling issued this week reversed a 2022 court order that had blocked the law from applying to health care settings.
The Montana Supreme Court ruled this week that Republican-backed abortion restrictions passed last year will remain blocked while litigation over them continues. Mara Silvers reports that the 2023 regulations include limits on Medicaid funding for abortions and restrictions on the most common abortion technique for pregnancies after the first trimester.
On Our Radar 
JoVonne — With Indigenous Peoples Day on the horizon, it’s exciting media is representing Native folks, history and culture in many ways. One that I found as a delightful surprise was hearing the voice of “Reservation Dogs’” Paulina Alexis, who is from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, appear in a recent episode of Bob’s Burgers.
Matt — Public radio affiliates in Florida offered text-only versions of their news sites that could load with minimal internet bandwidth during or after Hurricane Milton. WUSF is one example. I’m sure I’m not the only one who prefers the internet this way.
Jacob — NASA completed a crucial step for its Artemis mission to return astronauts to the moon this week with the first uplink of its Low-Cost Optical Terminal, a laser-based orbital communications system that allows for much higher bandwidth than radio waves. At 200 gigabits per second, it’s around 200 times faster than the fastest internet available to most folks here on Earth, which will allow Artemis astronauts to beam back large amounts of scientific data.
Zeke — This side of the fall equinox brings the sound of dry leaves rustling in the wind and the sight of long shadows stretching across cold sidewalks. Montana’s eerie autumn evenings set the perfect scene for a night by the fire listening to “Suspense,” a thriller radio series initially broadcast during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s that is now available wherever you get your podcasts. “The Whole Town’s Sleeping,” a short episode showcasing Ray Bradbury’s talent for sinister stories, is a good place to start.
Mara — Sometimes Montana journalists don’t spend enough time giving each other digital high-fives. So here’s one for Carly Graf, the health reporter over at Lee newspapers, for this sharp piece on how abortion is playing into the outcome of the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Jon Tester and Tim Sheehy.
Eric — Increasingly, I’m finding that the best way to understand seismic news stories from elsewhere in the country is to skip national outlets in favor of what’s being reported locally by journalists who live and work at the scene. As an example, here’s how North Carolina’s Post and Courier newspaper covered the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
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