HELENA – School choice advocates said Wednesday they are determined to make charter schools, tax credits for scholarships and education savings accounts part of Montana’s education system.
Hundreds gathered for a rally in the freezing temperatures outside the Montana Capitol. Leaders of conservative groups such as the Montana Family Foundation and Americans for Prosperity spoke to the crowd, while U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Office of Public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen sent letters of support.
“We’ve got a way to go, but we know that in the end we’ll win,” said Montana Family Foundation President Jeff Laszloffy. “And when we do, school choice will become a permanent piece of the educational fabric in Montana.”
Three school choice bills have been requested this legislative session. One by Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, to allow charter schools to operate in the state, has failed in previous sessions.
A second measure would expand a 2015 law that allowed tax credits for donations to private school scholarship programs, an alternative to a school voucher program. The 2015 law is in court over a Department of Revenue regulation that barred tax credits from being claimed for donations to religious schools.
A third bill would create education savings accounts for special needs children, essentially taking money that would have been spent on public education and allowing parents to use it instead for private schools.
Democratic House and Senate leaders oppose all three measures, saying they don’t support any policy that diverts funding from public schools.
“That’s not going to happen,” said Sen. Tom Facey, D-Missoula.