Statewide School Funding Road Show Kicks Off in Kalispell
The meeting, meant to gather information for the School Funding Interim Commission to consider during its decennial study process, consisted of a presentation with a survey at the end to offer feedback
By Mariah Thomas
What skills do Montana’s young people most need to thrive? And what should Montana’s education system prioritize to best prepare young people for the future?
Those questions drove much of the conversation at the National Center on Education and the Economy’s (NCEE) first road show series stop in Kalispell Wednesday. The road show is part of the process of the School Funding Interim Commission’s work on the state’s decennial study, which can make recommendations for future legislatures to consider when it comes to school funding.
NCEE has been tasked with examining the state’s education systems and comparing them with high-functioning systems nationally and globally, in an effort to inform the commission’s work. The group’s research and involvement serves as a new step in the decennial study process this year.
This year’s decennial study has come with a push for recommendations to change the school funding formula, as many educational leaders agree the current system of school funding in the state isn’t working. However, the solutions they’re calling for differ.
Kalispell teachers at an event preceding the road show said they wanted to see the state adequately fund schools by making better inflation adjustments and funding schools to their maximum budgets, rather than to the Base Amount for School Equity. At least one legislator and another education advocacy group have pondered the idea of a statewide sales tax, meant to fund education. And in a pair of dueling editorials, Sens. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, and Sue Vinton, R-Billings, suggested simplifying the formula and reducing tax burdens, while the officers of the Montana School Boards Association argued for increasing funding and targeting it at student groups, like low-income students, to eliminate achievement gaps.
The road show’s stated purpose was to gather information for the commission to consider, Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, told the Beacon. Bedey chairs the School Funding Interim Commission. NCEE’s stop in Kalispell attracted a crowd of teachers, administrators, school board members, state representatives, advocacy groups and members of the public.
In practice, Wednesday’s event consisted of a presentation with small group discussions scattered throughout. The presentation began and concluded with a survey. Those in attendance received an opportunity to offer the commission written feedback via an online form at the presentation’s conclusion.
Janice Case, NCEE’s western region director and a former special education teacher, facilitated the event.
Much of Case’s presentation focused on young people. She highlighted the speed with which the world they live in is changing. Technological advancements and the skills employers are looking for in their hiring processes are quickly shifting.
“That’s important, because at our core, we are developing people who are going to go into our workforce and fuel all the business and industry and innovation that keeps your community running and thriving and communities across the world, right?” Case said.
She pointed to a World Economic Forum report that highlighted the skills in high demand. While reading, writing and arithmetic remain important, other skills — analytical thinking, leadership, flexibility, technological literacy — top the list nowadays.
She asked those in the room to consider the implications that might have regarding education systems that best support students. Then, she offered up a “blueprint” of an education system that would theoretically meet students’ needs:
- Prepare young people for long-life learning
- Cultivate high capacity, forward thinking educators
- Join forces to ensure learners thrive
- Think differently about system leadership
However, Case said the blueprint doesn’t necessarily serve as a harbinger of what’s to come. She told attendees “it’s a way to look at all of this through the lines of a body of research.”
The road show will make its next stop in Havre on Sept. 18, followed by stops in Billings on Sept. 22. For those who couldn’t make it to a road show stop in person, there will be a Zoom option on Sept. 24 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., which can be accessed at this link.