Montana Board of Public Ed approves settlement from lawsuit

On a unanimous voice vote Monday, the Montana Board of Public Education voted to approve a settlement agreement between itself and States Newsroom, which operates the Daily Montana, and the Montana Federation of Public Employees.

Earlier this year, the news outlet and union sued the Board of Public Ed, alleging it failed to follow the Montana Constitution’s guarantees of the right of participation and right to know when the Board took action on an item listed on its agenda only as informational.

In a settlement, the Board agreed to redo its decision with proper notice, as its legal counsel and chair had advised it to do at the original meeting, but contrary to the urging of Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras. However, the Board did not admit to wrongdoing.

At the meeting Monday, Board of Public Education Executive Director McCall Flynn said the Board has complied with all the stipulations in the settlement, and all the parties who needed to approve the agreement had signed it.

After the vote, Chair Tammy Lacey noted the Board approved the agreement unanimously: “It’s nice to put this to bed and move forward from here.”

The agenda item that had sparked the lawsuit was an update to the educator Code of Ethics. An advisory council had approved adding the word “equity” to the code, and the Board had planned in March to hear only an update on the item.

Instead, it took action on the council’s authority to update the code, and it did so without advanced notice to the public. In July, the Board redid the vote, determining the council’s role is advisory in nature and that it does not have authority to set policy.

In September, the Board of Public Education is slated to take up the Code of Ethics itself.

The Daily Montanan is a nonprofit newsroom. To read the article as originally published, click here.