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Study: School funding falls short

August 3, 2002 /

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It’s going to take an increase of $171 million for Montana’s public schools to meet
standards set by the state Board of Education.
That was the bottom line provided Friday in Helena after organizers presented the results of a six-month
school funding adequacy study.

By LAURA TODE
Helena Independent Record

Said by researchers to be the first of its kind in Montana, the study used panels of educators and experts
from districts across the state to determine the cost of meeting Montana’s public schools standards. The study
did not include the costs of transportation or school buildings.
The panels first developed a base cost per student for several imaginary districts that varied in size and
met all state accreditation standards. This base cost did not include money for special education or at-risk
students.
The base cost ranged from $6,004 per student in
large K-12 districts to $8,041 per student in small
K-12 districts. These costs compared to actual
spending of about $4,471 per student last year. Costs
of services provided to special education, at-risk and
American Indian students added about $2,000 to the
base amount.
The study, conducted by Denver-based research
firm Augenblick and Myers, was commissioned by
Montana School Boards Association, Montana Rural
Education Association, Montana Association of School
Business Officials, Montana Association of County
Superintendents of Schools and the Montana Quality
Education Coalition – a group of 51 school districts,
small and large, which represent more than 50
percent of Montana’s students.
The report’s authors cautioned that the study "was
not designed to estimate the total cost of adequacy or
to determine the level of resources that might be
needed, in addition to those already available."
What the study could do, they said, is create a link
in the state funding system between what schools are
required to do and what it costs to do those things.
Education advocates praised the study, but were quick to say it was the beginning of more action.
"If this approach is refined and implemented, the funding for K-12 public education in Montana will no
longer be determined in a political way, based primarily on how much revenue is left over for K-12 public
education, but in a manner that will reflect the cost of a particular set of goods and services, leading to a high
level of student performance in Montana schools," said Lance Melton, executive director of MSBA.
Melton said more studies are under way with the hope of developing a bill that will be presented at the
2003 legislative session.
The study’s recommendations may have come with a hefty price tag, but many in attendance felt it was
attainable.
"I don’t believe for a minute that we can’t do this," Helena School District Superintendent Bruce Messinger
said. "The question is do we have the will to do it."
In a written statement, Gov. Judy Martz expressed interest in the study and thanked the organizations that
initiated and funded the study.
"In this time of fiscal constraint, every effort to help schools demands our attention," she wrote.
Last year, a citizen panel appointed by Martz reviewed the state’s school funding laws and recommended a
number of changes to improve the system. Most of the proposed changes would make the system easier for
schools coping with declining enrollment or more equitable for taxpayers. However, the panel did not look into
the question of adequacy.
Early on in the panel’s meetings, John Augenblick of Augenblick & Myers met with the citizen panel and
recommended that the state commission a study similar to the one just released.