Kalispell Public Schools Will Run an Elementary General Fund Levy in May Election, but has Yet to Set Levy Amount
The board expects to approve a final figure for its levy at its March 10 board meeting, following the Office of Public Instruction’s release of districts’ maximum budget authorities near the beginning of March. Those maximum budget authorities are dependent on biannual student enrollment counts.
By Mariah Thomas
Kalispell Public Schools will run a levy for its elementary district this spring. But the exact amount it’s asking for remains uncertain until the state’s Office of Public Instruction (OPI) releases the district’s maximum budget authority around March 1, according to business manager Chris Campbell.
The levy will pay for elementary operations, including costs like salaries, benefits, insurance and keeping school lights on.
The district anticipates the levy ask will sit around $1.6 million. A levy ask of that amount would come with a projected cost of $40.81 per year for a $300,000 home. For a $600,000 home, it would cost $118.14.
But again, those are only projections as calculated by the district, which expects to approve a final amount at its March 10 meeting. It will remain pending until the state releases its determination of KPS’ maximum budget authority. The OPI determines that maximum budget authority — or a district’s budgetary ceiling — following school districts’ submission of February enrollment counts.
Enrollment matters when it comes to school funding in Montana. Part of state funding for schools relies on “average number belonging.” More commonly known as “ANB,” the term refers to a per-student entitlement local districts receive from the state. ANB counts take place twice a year in both October and February.
Between state allotments and local dollars, at the elementary level, the district brings in $8,004 in revenue per student, while high schoolers bring in $9,452 in revenue per student. Comparatively, per the Coalition of Advocates for Montana’s Public Schools, total revenue per pupil statewide sits at $13,679. That puts Montana at 33rd in the nation in revenue per student.
At Kalispell Public Schools, the funding discrepancy between the high school district and elementary district, based on per student revenue, is around $5 million. And Superintendent Matt Jensen said the lesser funding the elementary level receives is compounded by smaller class size caps imposed by the state for kindergarten through fourth grade.
The effect: the elementary district must fill more teaching positions, but with less funding.
At the beginning of the school year, Jensen told KPAX the discrepancy in funds between the high school and elementary district led to 16 full-time position cuts across Kalispell Public Schools. The cuts came even as voters approved a high school levy for the first time in 18 years last spring, which avoided approximately 20 additional full-time cuts.
The last time Kalispell Public Schools ran an elementary general fund levy was in 2023, and voters passed it then. Jensen said the elementary levy has generally garnered support from voters. But he also told the board the district won’t take previous community support for granted.
Trustee Jinnifer Mariman added part of the district’s job as it moves forward with the elementary levy will lie in communicating with voters about school funding. Levies, she said, have the effect of catching the district up in funding. Should the elementary levy pass on the heels of the high school one last spring, she said it will allow the district to turn its attention to legislative advocacy in 2027, rather than another funding ask. And the legislature’s choices can work help lower costs for local voters, via providing more state funding for schools or relief for taxpayers via tax reform.
“I think, you know, while it’s never enviable to be running a levy, those are the rules that have been set for us by the legislature, and that’s the world that we live in,” Mariman said. “And so really, it’s important for us to make sure that we’re talking to our neighbors and our community partners and making sure that we all understand where we are and where we’re going.”
Kalispell Public Schools is the first in the valley to approve a levy ask for the May election. Cayuse Prairie is also working on finalizing a levy ask to take to voters in the rural district this spring. Superintendent Amy Piazzola has told the Beacon she anticipates her board will consider approving a levy ask in February.