Montana Education Excellence

The Montana Board of Public Education said last week it had made “significant progress on access to K-12 distance learning” in the form of a rule change recommended by an advisory committee.

The company, based in Wichita Falls, Texas, specializes in energy conservation management for schools and promises to save the district at least $3.7 million in energy costs over five years.

Our school leaders seem to be under the impression that high school students are not able to hear about what some deem "controversial topics" and form individual judgments. This raises the question of what exactly public high school education is. Is it the spoon-feeding of information to America’s next generation or is it presenting this generation with all the facts and allowing students to decide how those facts are interpreted?

To the Choteau school board and some of the Choteau community I hope you realize that our school is probably one of the few districts in the nation to deny a Nobel Peace Prize winner the right to speak to its students.

The best and brightest students in Montana could find a unique home at Montana Tech under a proposal by the chancellor.

Montanans don’t think a lot about "Homeland Security," but one Montana State University unit that serves both ag producers and home gardeners also serves to keep us safe from other biological invaders.

In fact, part of the talk Running gave last Thursday night was about what he calls the “Five Stages of Climate Grief.”

Stage one is denial, and stage two is anger. It’s folks mired in those steps that got Running’s speech canceled, he said.

An incident during Running’s albeit serious presentation made people smile. When Running was explaining how, during the past summer, the Arctic ice pack shrunk to an unprecedented size, she overheard a kindergarten student say to a first grader, "Santa Claus is in trouble."

The district spends about $3 million a year on utilities, about half of that on electricity. Based on conservative estimates at today’s rates, the district could net $34,000 a year after bond payments.

"I am pleased that we were able to offer a positive solution that will move
education forward for our students in Montana," said State Superintendent
Linda McCulloch.

Politically, the governor is on firm ground. There is a growing perception among Montanans — and not just fiscal conservatives — that school funding is becoming a black hole into which money disappears no matter how much is appropriated. Of course the situation is far more complicated than that, but these days the onus is on school officials to explain their financial plight in ways that both political leaders and the average Montanan can understand.

Schweitzer said his message – that state government won’t have the same level of tax revenues available to spend as it has had in recent years – was intended as a warning for the rest of state agencies as they begin working on their budget proposals.