HELENA — Republicans gathered Thursday in support of a bill they said would bring opportunities to Montana by revising school funding and making inflationary adjustments.
Democrats said the bill provided the “bare minimum” and ignored students with special needs and said they have a much more comprehensive package, the Great Falls Tribune reported .
However, Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said the Republican bill funded kindergarten through 12 grade as required by law and the other issues would be discussed later in the legislative session.
House Bill 159, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Grubbs, R-Bozeman, would provide a .91 percent increase to rising costs in 2020 and a 1.83 percent increase in 2021.
“This will also help to give our students a quality education, which is guaranteed in the state Constitution,” he said.
Fellow Republicans from the House and Senate stood with Grubbs during a news conference outside the House chambers.
Elsie Arntzen, state superintendent of public instruction, said the bill would add stability for public schools.
“I want to thank the Legislature for putting students first,” she said, adding she hoped the bill would be on Gov. Steve Bullock’s desk “as fast as possible.”
Those at the news conference said they did not know if anyone opposed the bill or what the opposition might be.
Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, head of the House Education, said it was a priority to get the bill out of committee as soon as possible and get it to local school boards. The bill had a Jan. 16 hearing before his committee and was expected back soon.
According to a fiscal note, the net impact on the general fund balance would be about $24 million in fiscal year 2020 and $75 million in 2023.
House Minority Leader Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, said the GOP bill did not do enough and said it provided the “bare minimum that this body could actually do to help schools. I’m disappointed not talk about innovations or to help with teacher recruitment or how to help our earliest learners. And they completely ignored our students with special needs education.”
He said House Bill 225, proposed by the Democrats and carrying items backed by Gov. Steve Bullock, would be more comprehensive and would represent “the real needs of the education community moving forward.”
Bullock’s $10.3 billion biennial budget, unveiled in November, would spend $30 million on early childhood education and freeze university system tuition
It would have an inflationary increase for special education and address teacher loan repayment.
He said Republicans have a disconnect with what the state of Montana thinks is essential. But he did say it was good to get done early to help school districts budget.
“I don’t think the approach is any different, I think they are off-base on what they think is essential to the people of Montana regarding the education of their kids,” Schreiner said.
Jones said education for special education would be addressed in House Bill 2, the state spending plan.
He said in the past there has been concerns by lawmakers of automatic funding of programs and that Legislatures traditionally review special education funding and how much to increase.
Jones said the bill provides some matching funds for infrastructure and all of the issues beyond the financing of schools would be done in later debates during the session. And he said the Republican plan gives schools earlier notice so that they can begin their budgeting process.
Schreiner said he thought the Democrats’ plan would end up playing second fiddle.
“My guess is that they will wait until they get theirs across the finish line before they give us — our comprehensive package — an opportunity,” he said.
He said it would be better to handle the school funding issues at once.