Montana Superintendent Arntzen Commends Education Committee Action on K-12 Inflationary Increase as a Win for Schools

Superintendent Arntzen commended the House Education Committee’s unanimous support of HB 191 yesterday as a big win for Montana’s public schools. The Committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Seth Berglee, introduced HB 191 which provides K-12 public schools with an inflationary increase to their base budget. The inflationary increase amounts to over $54 million for Montana students.

The inflationary increase to the K-12 base funding is statutorily mandated, but getting it passed through committee this early in the session was a top priority of Superintendent Arntzen because it provides stability as schools begin developing their budgets for the next school year. Superintendent Arntzen testified in favor of HB 191 yesterday before the Committee’s vote.

"As a 23 year public school teacher and now the head of Montana’s public schools, I know how important it is to get this inflationary increase passed early in the legislative session. As Superintendent, I made this the top priority early in my administration because I know how important it is for the stability of schools as they begin their budget planning. As I work to depoliticize the Office of Public Instruction, I am thankful for the bipartisan action that Chairman Berglee and the Education Committee took to put Montana students first this session," Arntzen said Thursday.