Montana’s top educator links education to state’s economy

DILLON — Linda McCulloch dis covered this week that the issues facing Montana’s schools aren’t much different in Harlowton than they are in Dillon
or Twin Bridges.

By Perry Backus of The Montana Standard

On a whirlwind trip across the state in her inaugural Yellow Bus Tour, the state’s superintendent of public instruction heard the same concerns about
money, declining enrollments, rising insurance costs and the number of young teachers leaving the state.

McCulloch also learned many good things are happening in the communities as educators, parents and students pull together through tough times.
But, she said there’s no guarantee that can go on forever.

McCulloch and staff members traveled this week in a yellow school bus over roads made difficult by a late spring storm. Their trip concluded in
Dillon and Twin Bridges.

On Wednesday night, McCulloch told about 40 Dillon-area residents that basing funding for Montana schools on student numbers at a time when
enrollments are declin ing “ is a train wreck waiting to happen.”
School districts throughout the state have had to tighten purse strings, so little is left in their bud gets, said McCulloch.

“ Many are at the point where they have to fight over whether to buy a vacuum cleaner or buy books,” she said. “ It’s not about whether they are
going to buy this big thing or that big thing. It’s much more basic than that.”

McCulloch said 15 years ago Montana was ranked somewhere in the middle nationally in the amount it paid its teachers. Now, it’s ranked near the
bottom at 48, she said. Because of that, most of the new teachers graduating from Montana schools are leaving the state.

On average, Montana needs 909 new teachers every year to fill jobs left vacant by retirements or resig nations. Montana’s university sys tem
graduates about 900 teachers each year, but 75 percent of those chose to leave the state, said McCulloch.
That fact has already been felt by rural school districts in eastern Montana, and now larger districts are seeing their pool of replacement teachers
dropping every year.

“ They’re just not getting the number of applicants that they have in the past,” McCulloch said.
Montana still ranks high in acade mic achievement, and that’s partly because of the quality of teachers and the fact that class sizes are nor mally
small. But, with funding so tight and the state’s educators being recruited to go elsewhere, that can change, she said.

For Montana to compete in attracting companies to relocate here, McCulloch said a quality educa tional system needs to be a high priori ty.

“ No company will come to a loca tion without a trained workforce,” she said.

McCulloch said officials from a company looking to relocate to Billings recently spent time in the community. They visited the schools first, said
McCulloch.
“ They wanted to see what kind of programs are offered and what kind of computers the school had,” she said. “ Education is very important for eco
nomic development.”

Beaverhead County High School Superintendent Ken Piippo said while districts are faced with fewer dollars due to declining enrollments, new state
and federal rules are requiring more paperwork.

“ There’s a flood coming down the pike on top of our school boards,” he said. “ It’s important to understand our sense of frustration. We’re going to
try to get there, but we’re not sure that we have the resources to do that.”
McCulloch said the new federal education guidelines approved recent ly favor places with more population than Montana.

If students were distributed evenly throughout Montana, the ratio would be one for every square mile, she said. That’s hard for people living in
places like Chicago, Nebraska or Delaware to understand, said McCulloch.

Kim Parke, a Dillon kindergarten teacher, said she appreciated McCulloch’s efforts to visit the schools. “ It’s made me feel like OPI is approachable,”
Parke said. “ It’s helped close that bridge. It feels like we now know who we can go to.”
— Reporter Perry Backus may be reached via e-mail at perrybackus(at)(at)yahoo.com.

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