Montana Quality Education Coalition Gains Strength

The Montana School Boards Association (MTSBA), Montana Rural Education Association (MREA), the Indian Impacted Aid Schools of Montana (IISM), and the School Administrators of Montana (SAM) joined the Montana Quality Education Coalition (MQEC), which is paying for Montana's school-finance lawsuit, filed in September 2002. The addition of the four education groups, which was announced March 31, represents the successful culmination of months of coalition-building by the Montana Quality Education Coalition. Each group pledged at least $10,000 per year to join and has the option of joining the lawsuit. Jack Copps, the Coalition's executive director, said, "The depth and breadth of our coalition shows how important this issue is to educational leaders across Montana."

The Coalition, which also includes the MEA-MFT, the state's teachers union, and about 50 individual districts that enroll over half the state's students, now includes all of the major statewide education organizations. Any strategic differences between these groups and the Coalition appear to have been eased by agreement that the state is not adequately funding education of Montana's children. Between 1991 to 2003, the portion of the education budget paid by the state has dropped from 71 percent to 61 percent, and local property taxes as a percentage of the education budget have risen from 13 percent to 30 percent. Carmen McSpadden, President of the Montana School Boards Association, described the current situation as a "crossroads" in "communications" with the legislature. The Montana suit, Columbia Falls Public Schools v. State, seeks to compel the legislature to define an adequate education in Montana and to fund it based on actual costs.

Prepared April 7, 2003