Missoula school district budgets increase teacher pay, avoid major cuts

The Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees last week approved elementary and high school budgets for the upcoming school year that include new state funding to increase teacher salaries and minimal cuts, despite declining enrollment. 

The elementary budget totals $77.6 million, a 7.4% increase from last year’s $72.2 million budget. The high school budget increased about 9.7%, from $57.7 million to $63.4 million. 

“I feel good about where we’re at,” Superintendent Micah Hill told Montana Free Press. “We were able to give significant [wage] increases to certified and classified staff, in large part thanks to the STARS Act, which was initially meant to increase starting teacher pay for Montana but also had the effect of trying to right-size the lack of inflationary increases from the last three to four sessions. In a lot of ways, things are pretty good, not saying there aren’t still remaining issues and challenges, but overall I think we’re in a good spot.” 

The STARS Act, which state lawmakers passed earlier this year, nearly doubled the “quality educator payment” MCPS receives from the state. The elementary district received $1.6 million more than last year, and the high school district received an additional $1.2 million. That money, along with inflationary increases in state funding, will help pay for wage increases outlined in new bargaining agreements and for non-union staff, Denise Williams, the district’s executive director of business and operations, told MTFP. The Missoula district’s starting teacher pay is now more than $50,000, which is “really good,” she said. 

The district’s budgets were hit by a drop in taxable value from legislative changes to tax rates, meaning the district’s mills are worth less and the number needed increased, Williams told trustees last Tuesday. The elementary district will levy 7.92 more mills than last year, and the high school district will levy 2.49 more. Most homeowners will likely see a decrease in local school taxes because of the legislative changes, Hill said. 

Local levy funding makes up about 40%, or $31.1 million, of the elementary district’s budget, according to documents presented to trustees at Tuesday’s meeting. About 36%, or $22.9 million, of the high school budget is levy funding. 

For both elementary and high school, the general fund makes up about 61% of the total budget. The state’s school funding formula sets the district’s general fund maximum budget, largely based on enrollment. The state supports 80% while the district is responsible for generating the other 20% through measures like operational levies. 

In May, voters approved the elementary and high school operational levies and the elementary safety levy. The $1 million high school safety levy failed. The levy revenue would have covered the cost for school resource officers and safety measures paid for by the general fund, freeing up that money for other uses, Hill said. 

The total local levy funds for the elementary district increased by about $1 million over last year and increased by about $1.4 million for the high school district. That includes the general fund as well as transportation, technology, building reserve and other funds for specific purposes. 

The biggest change in elementary levied dollars is a $370,260 increase in the tuition fund. That money will pay for students who live in the MCPS district but choose to attend school in another district, as required by a state law passed in 2023. Most of those students attend Target Range School District or Hellgate Elementary School, Hill told trustees Tuesday. Both elementary and high school budgets include a new bus depreciation fund to raise money to eventually replace buses purchased earlier this year for new routes, Williams said. 

The general fund was increased by bringing in programs partially covered by other funds last year, including the Teach Academy and Connect Academy charter schools, Williams told MTFP. Since those charter schools were new in 2025, they were partially paid for with other money until the enrollment numbers could be determined for this school year, she said.  

The district’s early literacy program grew and added staff this year, Williams said. This year, 209 4-year-olds are enrolled in the program, up from 148 last year, Hill said. Not counting that program, the district’s number of K-12 students decreased, he said. 

“Early literacy from a financial standpoint kind of saved our bacon on the elementary side,” Hill said. “Not just on the funding side because of ANB, but when we were making reductions at another grade level, we were able to move a teacher into teaching there.” 

The district’s general fund budget is largely built around ANB, “Average Number Belonging,” the average number of students in classrooms as counted on two fixed days during the previous school year. Hill said the ANB is not the same as the actual enrollment and is usually higher. 

Many grades are seeing declining enrollment, with 457 students set to start kindergarten, down from just over 500 at the end of last year, Hill said. First grade has 487 students while fifth grade has 619, he said.  

“It’s not insignificant,” Hill said. “As those students matriculate through, keeping in mind class numbers increase, the number of teachers needed in fifth grade … is going to go down.” 

Earlier this spring, several teachers and parents voiced concerns about potential teacher layoffs and changes to class sizes. Hill said while the district did not cut any teachers, some had to move to teaching a different grade because of the enrollment decline. 

About 13 to 15 K-5 classrooms have more students than the minimum, but no more than two extra, Hill said. Those classrooms will have paraeducators to support teachers, he said.

“It’s going to be a great year,” Hill said. “We’re going to make the best of it.”

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