By Brad Moore

When the legislature meets every two years it can be a stressful time for schools. During the session there are several decisions made that effect schools from changes in the laws to changes in our budgets. The previous two legislative sessions have been beneficial to schools as we have seen increases in our budgets as well as increased flexibility for trustees in utilizing the funds.

We knew going into the 2017 session was going to be tighter on the financial end. If you followed the major newspapers early in the session you will have seen countless articles on potential shortfalls and cuts for public education in Montana due mostly to a much lower fund balance from the economical drop off in oil and gas production in the state.

With the session about 1/3 completed, what has happened so far that effects Big Sandy Schools. At this time, not a whole lot. The major school funding bill, HB191 has seen bipartisan support and has moved through the legislative process quite quickly. At the time of writing this article the bill has successfully passed the House and Senate. HB 191 provides for inflationary increases in our school budget. It is not a huge increase, .50% for FY18 and 1.83% in FY19, which relates to about a $5,000 increase on a 1.78 million dollar general fund budget for Big Sandy. The increase will not cover normal increases in salaries, utilities, and other normal operating expenses, but an increase in any amount is helpful.

Other bills that are of interest and currently being debated include HB385- Provide for the Montana school safety act, which would allow a school employee to legally carry a concealed weapon at school. HB376- Establish public charter schools and HB423 to create special needs education savings accounts are other major bills that are currently going through the process. As with most legislative bills the education bills can be complicated and confusing at times. They also may be amended many times before they ever leave committee and many never leave their committee to be considered by the House or Senate. We are hopeful some of the funding bills pertaining to special education funding and career and technical education funding will successfully pass through the legislative process.

There is a considerable amount of time left in this year’s session and surely a lot to be done in relation to schools in Montana. You can follow all the legislative action at their website at http://www.leg.mt.gov plus updates will be posted on the school district webpage and discussed throughout the session at the monthly board of trustees meetings. In the meantime if you have any questions about the legislature as it relates to Big Sandy schools feel free to stop in or give me a call.