House panel gets school quality bill
A centerpiece bill establishing what a quality education calls for in Montana will get its hearing today before the House Select Committee on Education today.
The hearing is at 3 p.m. in Room 137 at the Capitol in Helena.
Senate Bill 152, introduced by Sen. Don Ryan, D-Great Falls, lays out an extensive list of what should be included in a basic K-12 system.
Following a state Supreme Court order in November, lawmakers are trying to put a definition to the Constitutionally mandated "basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools," before deciding how much - and how - to pay for it.
Ryan's bill, backed by the Office of Public Instruction and teacher unions, starts with a definition of quality with state accreditation standards, then follows with programs such as Indian education for all, services for special needs and gifted/talented students, textbooks, distance learning, teacher training, buildings and transportation.
It also includes "educationally relevant" factors that affect whether a local board can provide quality schools - such as the number of students in a district, how isolated the school is, how many students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, how many have limited English proficiency, and the ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers.
It's one of many bills introduced to comply with the Supreme Court order, but one of only four considered to be the main building blocks for a new funding system.
SB152 passed the Senate on a 29-21 vote after a long, contentious floor debate.
Republicans have predicted as much as an additional $836 million price tag over the next two years to implement the measure - an estimate that was roundly challenged by Democrats.
Today's Select Committee on Education meeting is the first hearing for SB152 on the House side.
Three Flathead representatives sit on the select committee - Republicans Verdell Jackson and Jon Sonju, and Democrat Tim Dowell.
Jackson last week introduced his own, bare-bones definition of a basic system of quality schools that the state must fund. In House Bill 415, however, he left room for going above and beyond as the state and local districts see fit.
In drafting the bill, Jackson referred to minutes of the 1972 Constitutional Convention's education committee to determine intent.
"They talked about the foundation program," Jackson said. "They said it was what they considered to be basic - basic is the same thing as minimum. They set the minimum and asked us to define the minimum. So I defined it the same way they were talking about it."
Once a school district meets the minimum, he said, "we can go above that and provide the funding for that."
In his definition of basic, he excludes money for kindergarten, sports programs, school lunch, transportation, debt retirement, adult education, new buildings and new property.
He then focuses on student outcomes to define quality. A quality school, the legislation says, should instill joy of learning, love of country, civic and home responsibility, healthy lifestyle and moral character. It should develop learning, analytical and intellectual skills, worthy use of leisure, personal responsibility and employment skills.
"The education bureaucracy jumped on this like a pack of dogs on a bone," Jackson said of its unpopularity with educators.
But he may add kindergarten, transportation and other "things that we've basically put into state law," he said.
"Counsel for the House said I either need to repeal mandates on these auxiliary services that we are now providing or rewrite the bill so it bases the definition on what we already are doing."
After a bill defining a basic system of quality schools is adopted by the House and Senate, work will get under way to tie a new system of funding to educationally relevant factors.
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com