An interim subcommittee focused on education-related topics (comprised of members of the Legislative Finance Committee and Education Interim Committee) met for the first time in September to begin work as directed by HB 657 and HB 633.
As a first order of business, the bipartisan subcommittee elected Rep. David Bedey as chair and Sen. McClafferty as vice chair.
HB 657 calls for the subcommittee to study K-12 special education funding, the community college funding formula, and postsecondary career and technical education credit values. Members of the education community including representatives from the Office of Public Instruction, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and community colleges were present and provided input.
Work groups were formed within the subcommittee to better focus on individual topics:
- Special education funding: Rep. Bruce Grubbs, Rep. Moffie Funk, Sen. Edie McClafferty and Sen. Janet Ellis
- Community Colleges: Sen. Dan Salomon, Rep. Llew Jones and Rep. Brubbs
- Career and technical education: Rep. Jones, Rep. Funk and Sen. McClafferty
The subcommittee is also charged with studying the creation of a digital library services account per HB 633. A working group was created to focus on that issue made up of Rep. Bradley Hamlett, Sen. Ellis and Sen. Salomon.
The LFC Education Subcommittee will next meet Dec. 16, 2019. An agenda and meeting materials will be posted on the LFC webpage under the Education tab in the coming weeks: https://leg.mt.gov/committees/admincom/lfc/
The Legislative News.