Committee: Education Interim Committee
Author: Pad McCracken
Posted on April 3, 2018
The Education Interim Committee met in Helena on March 22-23 and determined to dive more deeply into several issues as the conclusion of the 2017-2018 Interim approaches. Those issues include special education funding and state financial aid programs for higher education.
The meeting began Thursday morning with an update from the Montana Arts Council and updates from committee staff on issues related to attendance and school safety. The Office of Public Instruction then shared with the committee information on implementation of Montana’s new accountability system under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, commonly referred to as ESSA, as well as OPI efforts to support school safety and teacher/administrator professional development. The morning concluded with a presentation on state preschool policy considerations by Dr. Matt Weyer of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Siri Smillie, Gov. Steve Bullock’s education policy advisor, updated the committee on the new STARS Preschool Grant Pilot Program.
Following lunch, committee staff facilitated a work session on the basics of K-12 funding in Montana. This was followed by a presentation by Frank Podobnik, director of special education at the OPI, on issues related to special education funding as part of the committee’s House Joint Resolution No. 1 study. Committee staff then presented a number of options for changes to funding for students with special needs. The committee decided to explore several changes to special education funding, including an increase to the state payment that directs more money to special education cooperatives, adding the special education payment to other funding components that are adjusted for inflation, and allowing districts that are members of cooperatives to levy for the costs of revenue assessments required by the cooperative.
The afternoon concluded with a panel presentation on innovations in career and technical education (CTE) related to work-based learning. Representatives from the OPI, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, and the Department of Labor and Industry were joined by school officials from Billings, Three Forks, and Helena in describing efforts to partner with industry to provide work-based learning experiences aimed at helping students better see the application and relevance of school coursework and ensuring that students are well-prepared for both college and career. The committee expressed interest in examining whether any statutory barriers could be removed to better allow for these work-based learning partnerships.
Following a visit to Shodair Children’s Hospital and its accredited school Friday morning, the committee continued its collaborative discussions with the Montana University System, focusing much of the conversation on the state’s multiple financial aid programs, a number of which are not currently funded. The committee decided to form a subcommittee tasked with bringing back options for revisions to these programs to the full committee. The subcommittee will be chaired by Sen. Facey with Sen. Salomon and Reps. Anderson and Bachmeier also serving and plans to meet the afternoon of April 25, 2018, at the Capitol.
The meeting concluded with a work session during which the committee directed staff to prepare several bill drafts related to technical cleanup of school funding statutes and requested additional information on comprehensive school and community treatment programs for student mental health services at its June meeting.
Video, audio, and minute logs of the meeting are available via www.leg.mt.gov.
The committee will hold its next meeting on June 14 and 15 at the Capitol. For more information visit the committee’s website or contact Pad McCracken, committee staff, at padmccracken@mt.gov or 406-444-3595.
