State requirement of fingerprinting every volunteer costs Missoula schools $20,000 per month

In all, Missoula schools spent more than $20,000 per month this school year to comply with the law. The district didn’t know the expense was coming when it formed its budget.

“Missoula has a very large budget, just by the nature of the size of the organization, but whenever you don’t know you’re going to incur a cost like that, it’s significant,” Laboski told MTPR.

A spokesperson for Helena Public Schools told MTPR the district was already fingerprinting volunteers before the new law and didn’t incur new costs. Bozeman schools have volunteers pay for their own prints. The Montana Department of Justice charges $30 per background check.

The law requiring volunteer fingerprinting didn’t come with any additional funding for schools.

By Austin Amestoy