Band-Aid affixed; system still broken

The Montana Legislature's special session wrapped up in a timely, efficient manner, but the state's school funding dilemma did not go away.

In fact, it will come back bigger than ever in next year's elections and in the 2007 legislative session. And voters should remember that this was the banner issue in last year's elections, with Democrats pledging to satisfy court decisions that found state funding for schools to be unconstitutional and inadequate.

In one sense, Gov. Brian Schweitzer should be commended for refusing to bury the problem with spending that would require tax increases. But in reality, there has been no systemic reform of the K-12 funding system that is considered unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court.

Schweitzer's $71 million infusion for schools put a dagger in the problem, but the bloody horror-show villain will rise again.

"I think we're going to be fine," Schweitzer said as the two-day session ended Thursday night.

But members of the Montana Quality Education Coalition, the group that sued the state to provide a constitutionally required system of quality education, are not coy about their position that much more funding is necessary to fix the problem.

"I don't think we're done," said Eric Feaver, president of the MEA-MFT, unions representing thousands of teachers and school employees.

"All this does is sustain the same old system for another year," said Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel.

There really was no debate about reform or long-term fixes for the school-funding system. The governor's temporary bandage was the singular subject under discussion.

So, school funding will once again be the banner election issue. Montana voters should demand a comprehensive funding reform plan to put the legal problem to rest. Taxpayers are entitled to know what the solution will cost them before next November's elections, and they are entitled to know that lawmakers are pursuing something more than protracted labor negotiations with the education unions.

May the party with the best plan win.