Montana school coalition charting a new course

Now that the dust has settled, at least temporarily, on litigation between some school districts and the state of Montana, an organization that played a crucial role in the lawsuit is seeking a new direction.

Mark Lambrecht, the Montana Quality Education Coalition’s executive director, described the organization’s new role at the Kalispell Public Schools Board of Trustees meeting earlier this month. School board members wanted to hear from Lambrecht before deciding whether to renew the district’s membership in the organization.

The coalition formed to assist Columbia Falls and other school districts in a case against the state over education funding. The districts won a lawsuit in 2002 but sued again in 2008 for additional financial relief.

At that time, District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena ruled that the state was not living up to its obligation, but that he couldn’t do anything about it, Lambrecht said. Only the Legislature, which controls the state’s purse strings, could rectify the situation.

Without an active lawsuit, the coalition was forced to choose a new direction, Lambrecht said. “Last year we were at a crossroads: Do we go away or form a new plan?”

The organization chose the latter and hired Lambrecht to develop grassroots support for K-12 education. The coalition’s goal is to develop equitable, permanent and dependable funding for Montana’s public schools.

To date, Lambrecht has received commitments from 80 districts, including nearly every Class AA district in the state. He was still waiting to hear whether Missoula County Public Schools would renew its membership.

Education-related organizations, including the Montana School Boards Association, the Montana Rural Education Association, School Administrators of Montana, the Montana PTA and Indian Impact Schools of Montana also have committed to the coalition, Lambrecht said.

“We are now the most diverse education organization in the state of Montana,” he said.

That diversity gave some Kalispell trustees and school officials qualms about renewing the district’s membership with the coalition.

Some trustees questioned whether the school district, which already belongs to the Montana School Boards Association and a coalition of Class AA schools, should belong to organizations that could end up championing conflicting issues before the Legislature.

One particularly sticky issue is oil and gas money that has helped Eastern Montana schools’ budgets for the last several years. Gov. Brian Schweitzer has proposed using those dollars to fund education statewide.

“It puts me in a particular pickle,” Lambrecht said. “Libby and Troy would welcome money from oil and gas but obviously our Eastern Montana members want to hold onto as much as possible. Without it, some of them will close.”

He said the coalition will support a uniform mill levy, which is now a bill draft requested by Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena.

“Districts that currently are not running mill levies would have to run one so they would have an increase in local property taxes where they haven’t paid one,” Lambrecht said.

Doing so would increase some area’s contributions but relieve other areas’ burden, he added.

“It would equalize the playing field for taxpayers throughout the state of Montana. ... We think that’s an appropriate way to go,” he said.

Lambrecht mentioned other bills his organization will be keeping close watch on during the Legislative session. At the meeting, he passed out a list of more than 260 bill drafts that potentially could impact education, plus another 12 that have been assigned bill numbers.

In addition to Kaufmann’s bill, Lambrecht mentioned a bill he said he drafted last spring.

It “would re-establish direct pipelines from revenue sources such as state school trust lands to schools,” including Otter Creek coal land, he said.

“The money was supposed to go, according to statute, to schools. Eighty-one million went to the state general fund instead,” he said. “That didn’t sit right with me.”

The bill “would be an 81-million-dollar shot in the arm to schools, which I think could really help our situation,” he added. “I think it has a good chance of passing, but it also has a good chance of getting the governor’s veto because it would conflict with the governor’s discretionary spending.”

After listening to trustees’ concerns about belonging to organizations that might have conflicting agendas, Lambrecht reminded them that while the lawsuit against the state over funding no longer is active, it could be taken up again.

“If education [funding] has to go back to court, it will be through MQEC,” he said. “There is a chance that we may need to do that this year, this spring, depending on how things go” in the Legislature.

That argument resonated with some trustees. Kalispell Public Schools anticipates at least a half-million-dollar budget shortfall in 2011-12.

“We were part of the beginning of this process and were this to come back to the courts again, I would really like to be able to say we’re part of this discussion and have input to its resolution,” trustee Ivan Lorentzen said.

“I agree with Ivan,” trustee Tom Clark said. “I have a strong suspicion this is going back to court, and if we have to go through another organization, it will set us back a year or two. We’d start from scratch.”

The school board tabled the issue and will take it up again in January after it has gone through the board’s finance committee. If trustees approve renewing membership in the coalition, the district will pay $4,000 in dues, the same amount all Class AA schools pay.

That money will come from interest the district generated through Project CRISS, a professional development program that originated in the school district but has since become a nonprofit organization. The dues will not affect the general fund budget.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.