LEWISTOWN — Slaughterhouses and butchers used to be scattered throughout the United States, numbering about 10,000 in 1967.

and about 85% of the American meatpacking industry is controlled by four companies: JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Smithfield. The other 15% of that market share is held in part by small and very small meat producers scattered across the country, including some in Montana.

have disappeared in the last 20 years, and a decades long University of Illinois study found the average length . Between inspections, startup costs and other factors, it’s not an easy business to get into or keep afloat. 

This is true for much of the agricultural industry, and many small businesses have disappeared as corporate America has exerted its will on farmers and ranchers. About 70% of the consumer’s dollar went to cattle producers in 1970, with the other 30% going to processors and retailers. Cattle producers now get about 30% of the consumer’s dollar, .

Additionally, about 98% of America’s beef . Beef processing co-ops have been created around the state in an effort to help give beef producers more options, but there’s another problem too — employees.

That’s the place some educators in Montana are looking to step in. Fergus High School in Lewistown, for example, has a robust agricultural education program. It’s also part of the Central Montana Career and Technology Education Academy, a public charter school to connect students with skills and knowledge needed to work in agriculture.

‘A dying art’

Logan Turner, one the teachers at Fergus High School, put it pointedly.

“Kids aren’t really getting into it,” he said. “Cutting meat is kind of a dying art.”

His goal has been, in part, to help change that trend. The technical academy seeks to bridge a gap of agricultural knowledge. Beyond meat cutting, classes at the school include farm business management, fabrication and science classes geared toward teaching about soil health among others.

Turner grew up on his family’s farm outside Missoula and quickly decided he wanted to be a teacher. There’s an urgency for him too, with worries, among them a feeling no one knows where their food comes from and the world’s growing population. 

“We’ve always been faced with this big issue as agriculturalists,” Turner said. “2050 is right around the corner, and there’s going to be two billion more people on the face of the planet, and how are we going to feed them all? I think it all starts with education and understanding … and so I felt like being an educator probably was the best way for me to contribute.”

Only about three percent of the food Montanans eat is produced in the state. There are options for eating local food, but they can sometimes be hard to find. 

Having kids learn about these could also help them enter the workforce with more ideas about what they want to do, which is one of the goals of the program. Orin Johnson, the Central Montana CTE Academy director, said they also want to get students as close as possible to certification in a variety of careers.

“Every kid doesn’t learn the same way,” Johnson said. “And some really do strive and need to be hands on, and it’s about finding a way to create opportunities that they can be hands on.”

Students at the school have shown interest and it’s included partnerships with Future Farmers of America and the Montana Farmers Union, which gave the meat processing program two grants totaling about $13,000 over the summer.

“We do a lot of meat processing at my house because my dad loves hunting, and so we do a lot of wild game,” said Shyanne Ricks, a student at the school who’s gone through the program. “And so doing the meats class really helps with seeing the whole process, not just wild game.”

Ricks, along with Tori Rindal, a freshman at the school, and the other Lewistown agricultural education teacher — Jared Long — went to and spoke about the program.

Rindal said she’s hoping to take the meats class next year. Long pointed out agricultural education is broad and students can take many different paths.

The program offers five pathways: welding, natural resource and conservation, meat processing, animal science and agricultural mechanics. There’s a variety of classes within those, both Long and Turner explained.

“The common misconception is that it’s just cows and plows,” Long said. “So that’s really our job, we feel like, is to open doors to kids that they might never have.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.

Since 2022, when the Supreme Court allowed Maine private schools to receive public funds, at least five lawsuits have been filed by teachers unions, in Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Missouri and South Carolina. Additional legal challenges have been mounted by advocacy groups and parent organizations.

The Supreme Court’s Carson v. Makin ruling, combined with growing interest among parents in post-COVID, has fueled the rise of voucher programs and led to a tug-of-war in state courts between public educators and school choice advocates. 

Heading into the 2025 legislative session, at least 33 states had some form of private school choice, according to the Georgetown University think tank . Most union lawsuits have focused on , in which public dollars pay for children to attend private schools —  including religious schools — and cover other education-related expenses such as homeschooling.

In Wyoming and Utah, judges ruled in favor of the unions — at least for now. In South Carolina, the program was retooled after a court declared its previous version unconstitutional.

The Wyoming Education Association, which represents roughly 6,000 public school teachers, landed a win in July after District Court Judge Peter Froelicher granted against the state’s universal voucher program. The union and nine parents had sued the state in June on grounds that the is unconstitutional because it violates a state regulation that it must provide a “uniform system of public instruction.” 

The union decided to sue after lawmakers made the voucher program universal this spring. It was originally created with a family income cap of 250% of the federal poverty level.

“No income guidelines, in essence, means that you could be someone in Jackson who owns an $18 million property, and the state’s giving you money,” said union President Kim Amen. “Our constitution clearly says that we cannot give public money to private entities, so that’s why we challenged that.”

The injunction temporarily stops the distribution of — which are funded from a state appropriation of $30 million — until the court determines the program’s constitutionality. The state has since filed an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

“I am disheartened at the court’s written order granting the WEA’s injunction. As one of nearly 4,000 Wyoming families, you have had your lives unnecessarily upended through no fault of your own,” Megan Degenfelder, state superintendent of public instruction, wrote in to parents. 

The case is similar to the one in Utah, where a judge ruled a $100 million voucher program unconstitutional in April, following a lawsuit by the state teachers union.

The Utah Education Association last year, arguing the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program violates the state constitution by diverting tax money to private schools that aren’t free, open to all students and supervised by the state board of education. The Utah Supreme Court is set to later this year.

Lawsuits in other states are still working their way through the courts.

In July, the Montana Federation of Public Employees, which represents the state’s public school teachers, challenging the constitutionality of the statewide voucher program that funds private education expenses for special education students. 

“Even voucher programs like [this one] that are targeted to students with disabilities deprive them of crucial legal protections and educational resources,” the plaintiffs said in a .

In Missouri, the state teachers union is over the , which started as a tax credit scholarship in 2021. It currently relies on nonprofits to collect donations that are turned into scholarships. Donors can receive a tax credit amounting to 100% of their contribution, but it can’t exceed more than half of their state tax liability. 

This year, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe dedicated $50 million in taxpayer dollars for the scholarships and $1 million for program marketing, according to the suit. The Missouri National Education Association, which has 28,000 members, sued in June in an effort to block the appropriation.

“The General Assembly has far overstepped its authority and violated five provisions of the Missouri Constitution by using an appropriations bill to construct out of whole cloth a scheme to divert general revenues to what are essentially vouchers for the payment of private school tuition for elementary and secondary school students,” wrote Loretta Haggard, the union’s attorney, in the suit.

On July 30, — part of a national nonprofit that advocates for school choice — filed a motion to join the suit as defendants. Thomas Fisher, litigation director, said in a that the program helps Missouri families afford an education that fits their children’s needs. 

“The recent expansion of the program is constitutional and will expand education freedom for low-income families and students with learning differences,” he said.

In South Carolina, the ruled in 2024 that its Education Trust Fund Scholarship Program was unconstitutional following a lawsuit from the state teachers union, parents and the NAACP. The program resumed this year after to funnel money from the lottery system instead of the general fund. 

Unions have also been involved in school choice lawsuits in and . In 2023, National Education Association Alaska over a state system that sent cash payments to the parents of homeschool students. That same year, Wisconsin’s largest teachers union asked the state Supreme Court to hear its case challenging the constitutionality of the statewide voucher program, but the .

Two graduate students at Montana State University are asking a federal court to stop the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from terminating their foreign student status, which could allow officials to immediately deport them.

Officials with Montana’s largest public universities last week had their F-1 visas revoked and their F-1 statuses cancelled, meaning they could be subject to immediate deportation. Their cases mirrored across the United States.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana filed the motion in court on Monday on behalf of two of the four students, who are anonymous in court filings. Laywers said that both students were sent identical form letters which said their status had been revoked because of criminal status, although neither has been convicted or charged with any crime, leading to confusion and panic.

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The identity and status of the other two students mentioned by MSU are not publicly known.

The Department of Homeland Security has not just revoked the F-1 visa, which is a document that allows a student entry into the United States, it has apparently wiped out their F-1 status, which allows a student to remain lawfully and allows them to be employed in certain jobs, like teaching assistant positions or research. By cancelling the status, the lawsuit argues, the Trump administration has made it impossible for the students to keep employment or be paid.

The lawsuit also points out that cancelling an F-1 visa is not necessarily cause to revoke the student’s entire status. The ACLU of Montana says the actions of the Trump administration violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of due process, which extends to residents who are not U.S. citizens, but still lawfully in the country, like the students.

According to court documents, neither student has been convicted of a crime, and neither student has participated in protests or demonstrations.

The court documents also shed light into the inner workings of the moves by the Trump officials to boot foreign-born students. For example, officials did not appear to give either the students or the universities any advance warning. The four students in Montana learned of the changed status after officials with the university system were doing a routine check of the database on April 10.

It is unknown when the change was made, and the lawsuit said the university system officials have had no communication explaining the status change. However, with both the F-1 visa and the F-1 status being changed, the court filing said there’s little to stop an immediate deportation, and officials worry about due process rights being protected.

“This policy appears to be primarily targeting African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and Asian students,” the court brief said.

The court filings say that both students fear that years of work and research could be abruptly ended with the decision.

The ACLU has asked for “emergency relief” for the two unnamed students so that they couldn’t be immediately deported, and to have their status restored. Moreover, the lawsuit asks federal court Judge Dana Christensen to prohibit the administration from arresting, detaining or transferring the students from beyond the Montana federal court’s jurisdiction without providing adequate notice to contest any action.

Students who come to the U.S. under an F-1 status must maintain a full course of study, and have limited options for income, usually related to that field of study. One of the MSU students is a doctoral student in electrical engineering and physics, with a completion date around December, 2025.

“He has never been convicted of a crime in the United States or elsewhere,” the court filing said. “He does not understand why his visa was revoked and his (foreign student) record was terminated. Neither the government nor MSU has provided any additional details or explanation for the change in (his) status or the revocation of his F-1 visa.”

In addition to placing his entire doctorate in jeopardy, the student’s sister is a graduate student at the University of Colorado. He financially supports her, and according to the lawsuit, the sudden status change has threatened both of their ability to support themselves.

The second graduate student from MSU is studying microbiology, and she has never been convicted of a crime in Montana or her native country.

“This has placed her in an extremely difficult financial and academic position, as her teaching assistantship is not only her only source of income, but also a core component of her master’s training,” the suit said.

In addition to violating the Administrative Procedures Act, the lawsuit said, terminating their status already violated the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution.

“Plaintiffs were not afforded the most basic of notice nor opportunity to heard that was owed to them before having their F-1 student status terminated,” the lawsuit said. “The letter did not include any further information as to why (their) F-1 status had been revoked, or how they might seek further information about their specific situations, or even of any available procedures they could follow to challenge the termination.”

The court filing also says that without the federal court taking immediate, emergency action, the students will continue to be at risk, not just of deportation and financial hardship, but that they will have their study interrupted unfairly.

“(Their) due process rights are being impaired,” the court filing said. “(They) face the imminent risk — indeed, likelihood — that they will be unable to complete their graduate studies, that they will be unable to earn an income, and support their families,” the suit said. “(They) also current face the serious risk of immediate arrest and detention for deportation because they no longer have lawful status to remain in the United States.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.

Montana State University doesn’t owe a student any refunds from tuition or fees when it shut down in-person education in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Montana Supreme Court said in an order this week.

MSU did have an “express contract,” one stated in words, with Anthony Cordero, who the Bozeman university alleging it should have paid him back when it transitioned to distance learning.

But the institution never promised a complete in-person education, and it didn’t promise to never shut down the campus if it had a good reason to do so, the justices said.

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Cordero had, “at most, a presumption” of in-person education, but MSU retained its right to respond to emergencies, the Supreme Court said.

Additionally, MSU is governed by the Board of Regents, which has full authority in the Montana Constitution to supervise all campuses.

“We cannot fathom upholding a prorated refund of tuition and fees for MSU being forced to close due to inclement weather that prohibits classes, which frequently occurs due to Montana winters,” the order said. “Here, Cordero was never deprived of classes, which were still conducted, albeit online.”

The had found there was no express contract between Cordero and MSU — contrary to the findings of the Supreme Court — and also no “implied contract.”

However, in a unanimous decision by a five-judge panel, the Supreme Court said the overall conclusion the lower court reached in favor of MSU was still correct because MSU didn’t breach “contractual duties with respect to tuition.”

Adrian Miller, a lawyer at Sullivan Miller who represents Cordero, said MSU should have done better for students.

“It is disappointing that the Supreme Court does not believe MSU had an obligation to provide even a prorated refund for services and facilities that were unavailable during its COVID campus closure,” Miller said in an email. “We respect the Supreme Court’s decision, but students deserve better from the university.”

MSU spokesperson Tracy Ellig, however, said the order affirms the university’s actions during the emergency.

“The court’s ruling speaks clearly,” Ellig said in an email. “This ruling vindicates the university against these unfounded claims and reinforces that the university did everything in its power to provide education to students fairly and effectively during the pandemic.”

After Covid-19 hit the country in 2020 and many campuses closed, lawsuits popped up from students alleging various campuses owed them refunds. But courts came to .

“Because this is a matter of first impression in Montana, we note other jurisdictions have considered nearly identical agreements between students and universities,” the Montana justices said. “Across the country, the precedent varies with some jurisdictions finding there to be enough evidence to maintain a claim for a contract, and others finding insufficient evidence to maintain a claim for a contract between student and university.”

Cordero never disputed MSU had the right to halt in-person instruction. However, he alleged he shouldn’t have had to pay MSU the same amount, some $19,901 that semester, according to the order, including many fees, for online classes.

As part of his argument, Cordero pointed to numerous marketing materials from MSU that show students making friends in residence halls, working together in labs and the library, and engaging in other community activities.

He alleged those materials reflected a commitment from MSU that included in-person education, but the Supreme Court disagreed.

The materials he provided don’t create a contract, the justices said. Rather, the language “informs students they have access to opportunities on campus,” which aren’t a promise in a contract, the order said.

“Although he did not get the experience he expected to get during the final half of the Spring 2020 semester, Cordero still progressed in his academic program and was able to graduate,” the order said.

The Supreme Court said Cordero doesn’t get any of his fees back either. It said even though the fitness center was temporarily closed, it was maintained, and even though the library was closed, its online services were available, for example.

“Mandatory fees are charged to everybody as a condition of enrollment, and they do not promise anything in return, ,” the order said.

It said MSU may have encouraged students to go home, but it also made accommodations for students who decided to stay on campus, “including keeping its campus operational so that students could progress and complete their academic programs.”

In its order, the Supreme Court also disagreed that MSU was “unjustly enriched” by keeping tuition and fees from students without giving them their expected benefit. It said Montana law doesn’t allow recovery under “unjust enrichment” if the parties have a written contract.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Imagination Library of Montana celebrated the statewide expansion earlier this summer of the program providing free books to children.

An initiative of First Lady Susan Gianforte, Imagination Library of Montana is a partner of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The Governor’s Office announced in June the growth of the nonprofit that boosts early childhood literacy.

“It is exciting to see how Imagination Library continues to spread across Montana and inspire a love of reading in our state’s youngest readers,” First Lady Gianforte said in a statement. “Our local partners have done a fantastic job helping families get enrolled and spreading the word that this program is available to all Montana children up to age 5.

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“I look forward to seeing its continued growth and impact.”

The program provides a free book each month to any child up to 5 who

“Prior to launching the initiative, the program was only available in some Montana counties and approximately 9,500 Montana children were enrolled,” said a news release from the Governor’s Office. “Today, Imagination Library of Montana has 63 local program partners in all 56 counties serving nearly 24,000 of the state’s eligible children.”

It said Montana is the 16th state to take the program statewide. The news release said the program is part of the Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit that has gifted more than 200 million free books in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.

The Imagine Library mails more than 2 million “high-quality, age-appropriate books” each month, said the news release.

“Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading and inspiring children to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More. The program has been widely researched, and results demonstrate its positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills,” said the news release. “Boosting literacy to empower more Montana children and promoting and expanding access to STEM education, particularly for girls and students in our rural communities, are our First Lady’s chief initiatives.”

United Way of Missoula County announced this month it had delivered its 300,000th book through the Imagination Library program after opening in 2015. It operates in Missoula and Mineral counties and helped launch the program in Ravalli County.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

The Montana Legislature may consider “minor” changes to statutes related to public charter schools during its 2025 session following a recent court order, said a legislator and chairperson of an education committee.

But 18 schools are slated to open this year, according to the Office of Public Instruction.

Rep. Dave Bedey, R-Hamilton, said Thursday he believes the bill that opened the door for more charters is clear as written.

“At the end of the day, I’m just gratified that schools across the state are going to be able to put these innovative programs into place without delay,” Bedey said.

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In the 2023 session, the legislature approved House Bill 549, which eased the way for more charter schools through the public school system. However, filed this spring alleged the Office of Public Instruction was throwing up roadblocks.

Last month, a Lewis and Clark District Court with the Office of Public Instruction’s interpretation that certain prerequisites needed to be met to get the charter schools off the ground, such as a parental petition and approval from county commissioners.

The legal dispute took place as students made plans to attend the new schools, but educators alleged the argument over how to open them meant likely delays.

Last week, the court signed off on an agreement between the plaintiffs, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, and defendants, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and the Office of Public Instruction, that resolves some of the fight.

In the stipulation, the Montana Quality Education Coalition agreed Arntzen and the OPI had implemented processes that allow the schools to start operating by July 1, 2024, and that they were in compliance with the court’s order for a preliminary injunction last month.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition describes itself as made up of more than 100 school districts and five education organizations and one of the largest education advocacy organizations in Montana.

The agreement the judge approved acknowledges the preliminary injunction from April 17 remains in effect unless the court terminates it or the legislature amends relevant statutes. It also dismisses outstanding claims.

In an email this week, the Office of Public Instruction notes that as of May 13, it had opened 15 of 18 schools enrolling students this year.

“The OPI is working with one school to correct some of the information that was submitted and is waiting on applications from two schools,” the agency said in an email. “One of the approved public charter schools will not open until the fall of 2025.”

Rep. Bedey, chairperson of the interim budget committee on education, said Thursday he doesn’t believe amendments are needed, although small changes are possible.

Rather, he said a plain reading of HB 549 clearly indicates the approval process for schools, the authority of the Board of Public Education, and the duty of the Office of Public Instruction.

All the same, Bedey said the legislature has an opportunity to make “some minor changes” to make the intentions of the bill “crystal clear and remove any ambiguity” given some people had a “contrary reading” of it.

At a committee meeting in March, legislators voted 6-2 to send a telling her she was failing students and not meeting her Constitutional duties related to HB 549 and other educational programs legislators had supported.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition filed the lawsuit later the same month.

“It’s regrettable that this issue had to go to the courts for resolution because the meaning of the law was clear,” Bedey said. “It’s regrettable that we were unable to convince the superintendent of that when her lawyer appeared before us in a committee meeting in March.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Like so many of the microschool founders I visit across the U.S. and interview on my semiweekly LiberatED , Hayes never expected to run a school. She had been a mathematics professor at Montana State University for more than a decade, fully intending to stay in that role until retirement. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” said Hayes. 

Covid was the catalyst. When her children’s schools shut down in the spring of 2020, and her college classes went online, Hayes began hearing from parents who wanted tutoring services. She also wanted to help her own three children stay on track academically, and find a way for them to have small, safe social interactions. 

In fall 2020, Hayes leased a gym downtown with large garage doors that opened wide, providing for maximum ventilation. She spaced children six feet apart, enabling them to meet in person while working through their remote public school curriculum. In addition, Hayes offered all kinds of enrichment activities, focused on project-based learning and frequent outside expeditions. 

Parents and learners loved it. So did Hayes, who connected with some experienced educators who were also passionate about outdoor, experiential learning mixed with core academics. “Covid offered a moment to reflect on what was important to me and how I spent my days,” said Hayes, who realized that the abundant time outside in nature working on meaningful educational projects was just as important for her as an educator as it was for the children in her program—including her own kids. 

In early 2021, several parents approached Hayes, saying that if she created a full-time school, they would pull their kids out of public school and send them there. Hayes was in. She resigned from the university and established Peak Academy as a nonprofit private school. 

“Teaching at the university was a great experience, but my world opened up when I started this school,” Hayes told me when I visited Peak Academy earlier this week as part of my trip to survey the growth of Montana microschools, or small schools and spaces that are typically less expensive and more individualized than traditional private schools. Located in a pastel green-painted home on a quiet residential corner just a couple of blocks from Bozeman’s quaint downtown, Peak Academy currently serves 16 middle school students who spend their days learning academics, doing projects, and enjoying frequent field study with two full-time teachers, in addition to Hayes and other part-time instructors from the community.

For high school, many of Peak’s students attend the nearby , one of the area’s first schools to focus on project-based, outside experiential learning along with high-quality academic instruction. It launched in 2017 and has become an inspiration for new Bozeman-area microschool founders who share a similar educational vision. 

In the nearby town of Belgrade, Lindsey Vose also plans to recommend the Bozeman Field School as a high school option for her microschool students. Vose worked as a California public school teacher for eight years before leaving that job in 2018 to be an instructor for a secular hybrid homeschool program. It was her first exposure to homeschooling and alternative education, as well as the hybrid homeschool model in which homeschooled children attend a full-day, drop-off program several days a week for academics and enrichment while working through the program’s curriculum at home with their families on the remaining days. 

She pulled her kindergartener out of public elementary school and enrolled her in the hybrid homeschool as well, appreciating its smaller, more personalized learning model. Her preschooler also came along. 

During Covid, the Vose family moved to Montana seeking a different, more farm-based lifestyle. Her husband worked remotely for his California-based engineering firm, and Vose began to search for hybrid homeschool programs. “When we came here, I knew we weren’t going to go to public school, and there were no outdoor, nature-based, academic-focused, secular hybrid homeschools here. It didn’t exist, so I had to do it,” said Vose, who began running her program, , out of her garage in 2022 with four children, including her two children.

Today, Wild Wonders is located on a leased, five-acre farmstead property near Vose’s home. It has 22 K-6 students who attend the mixed-age, drop-off program Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Vose currently employs two full-time teachers, but with 35 students registered for this fall, and a future middle school expansion in the works, she will be hiring additional staff. Vose says the local demand for her program has been enormous. 

“I get inquiries every day. I can’t keep up with the growth,” she said, adding that she plans to retain the “micro” aspect of her microschool. “Staying small is really important to me. I value the small classes and the strong sense of community here. Everybody knows each other. I’m not willing to give that up,” she said. 

Another former public school teacher, Rusty Bowers, was also attracted to the microschooling model and its focus on individualized learning. A high school math teacher and principal in Montana public schools for over 10 years, Bowers launched , a K-8 Acton Academy affiliate, in fall 2023. Acton Academy is a fast-growing microschool network focused on learner-driven education. Founded in 2009, the Acton network now includes over 300 independently-operated schools, serving thousands of learners. “I started an Acton Academy because I left the public education sector as a discouraged educator. After being out, I kept asking myself what the best education environment would look like if I could truly inspire each student to become the best they could be. In that search, I found Acton and fell in love with their model and high standards of excellence,” said Bowers, whose two children, ages 10 and 5, attend his school.

East of Bozeman, Emily Post has a similar commitment to high standards and student-empowered learning. She launched as a recognized K-8 private school in fall 2020 in a storefront location in downtown Livingston. It currently enrolls about 20 students, including Post’s two children. Access is a key priority for Post, who told me that the school’s $10,000 annual tuition is financially out-of-reach for many local families. She used part of the grant she received from , an education philanthropic nonprofit and entrepreneur network, to fund scholarships for students, and is also a partner with ACE Scholarships that offers partial scholarships for low-income students to attend a private school of their choice.

These scholarships help but they are not enough to meet the overall demand she sees from local parents who want new and different educational options. Last year, Post applied to open a tuition-free public charter school, Yellowstone Experiential School, under Montana’s new charter school legislation. Of 26 applicants, she was the only one who wasn’t a public school district and the only one who was because she didn’t receive local school district permission before applying to the state to be a provider, as the charter law requires. “I tried to get local approval first but I could never get on the local school board agenda,” said Post, frustrated by the bureaucratic barriers. 

She plans to try again, but is also hoping that Montana expands its new education savings account (ESA) program to include more students. Currently, this limited school choice program applies only to special needs students in the state. Since 2021, 11 states have passed universal or near-universal education choice policies that enable all or most K-12 students to access a portion of state-allocated education funding to use on a variety of approved learning options, including innovative schools like Educatio.   

“It absolutely makes sense for funding to follow students,” said Post. 

A group of Montana students, teachers, librarians, and organizations representing school counselors and psychologists filed a Tuesday seeking to block the 2021 law that requires school staff to if they plan to teach or discuss anything with students that involves “human sexuality.”

The group asked a Lewis and Clark County District Court judge to permanently block the passed during and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte, saying it violates multiple provisions of the state Constitution ensuring rights to freedom of speech and expression, privacy, due process, equal protection and a quality educational opportunity.

“Without clear guidance on the issues that fall under the scope of SB 99, teachers, librarians, and others are at risk of discipline if they unknowingly violate this legislation,” said Marthe VanSickle, an attorney at the ACLU of Montana, which is one of three law firms and organizations representing the plaintiffs. “SB 99 has left Montana schools navigating uncertainty and vulnerability which stifles learning opportunities for students and threatens free exchange of ideas.”

In response, the Governor’s Office and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen said they remain committed to the law and ensuring a parent’s right to know if their children are learning about explicit content at school.

“While the governor’s office generally doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation, the governor remains committed to preserving a Montana parent’s role in his or her child’s education, especially a parent’s right to know when a child might be exposed to sexually explicit content in the classroom,” the governor’s spokesperson, Kaitlin Price, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs include the Montana School Counselors Association, Montana Association of School Psychologists, a Billings high school English teacher, a Billings West librarian and teacher, two students and EmpowerMT, an organization that provides training to several districts in the state about how to build more inclusive school communities.

They are suing Gianforte, Arntzen, her Office of Public Instruction, and the Montana Board of Public Education, alleging vagueness is creating abundant issues for educators, the Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ community, and mental health professionals that work with students because the law is being “weaponized” to shut down discussions and lessons that some parents might morally object to.

“SB 99 is part of a concerted effort by the Legislature and the Defendants to erase 2S-LGBTQIA+ histories, viewpoints and curricula from public instruction,” the lawsuit says. “It is also part of a coordinated effort to create a climate of hostility towards 2S-LGBTQIA+ individuals. In short, SB 99 marginalizes the history, concerns, experiences, and aspirations of the 2S-LGBTQIA+ community.”

The group says the law has led to teachers, librarians, counselors and psychologists avoiding discussing gender identity, sexual health, and even legal decisions in lessons that are not planned in advance so they don’t risk potential punishment for violating the law. They say nearly three years on, they have received about exactly when they should be notifying parents two days in advance of any lesson or discussion.

The lawsuit says Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ students are also unable to learn more about those communities and that the law also subjects them to being further singled out because of their identities and subject to bullying. It says that students cannot engage in spontaneous conversations in school groups like a Genders and Sexuality Alliance without first notifying parents.

And it says the law is violating the constitutional requirement for quality educational opportunities for Montana students because the restrictions surrounding sex education are not informing students of healthy practices and are paring down their opportunities to learn as much as they wish.

The suit calls the law “astonishingly vague” and says the challenge comes in part because the Montana Legislature failed to refine definitions in the bill of what constituted “providing information” or “maintaining a curriculum” during the 2023 legislative session. Two bills that of the law both died in the process.

And it says that the discussion over the bill signaled a legislative intent to enforce “Christian values” in Montana’s public schools that would violate the state Constitution.

The educators say they have had to stop teaching certain books and topics, that classroom libraries have been shut down, that they’ve had to question whether their mental health discussions with students violate the law and have faced harassment from the community for trying to teach about LGBTQ+ history and rights.

“SB99 gives anti-2S-LGBTQIA+ parents a potent cudgel against any teacher, counselor, school psychologist, or librarian who is dedicated to tolerance, inclusivity, and compassion in the classroom and school,” the suit says. “As a result, teachers, counselors, and school psychologists are likely to continue to steer clear or any instruction or counseling that might put them in the crosshairs of SB 99 and its proponents, to the detriment of public-school students across the State.”

For the two student plaintiffs, the suit says the law is preventing Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ students from accessing information about the community and scientific material on sexuality and gender identity. And it is keeping student peer educators from speaking with other students to better inform them about sexual health and relationships, the lawsuit says.

“Every student has a right to access information about human sexuality without censorship from their teachers and without fear they are running afoul of SB 99,” the suit says. “As a result of the hostile climate SB 99 has created, R.S. and her peers will go out into the world as adults without the quality education to which they are entitled under the Montana Constitution.”

It contends that school psychologists and counselors have also had to change their practices surrounding what they can say to students, even involving serious matters like suicidality, which goes against best practices for their professions.

“Many of those conversation are, by necessity, confidential,” Montana School Counselors Association Advocacy Chairperson Erica Parrish said in a statement. “SB 99 places school counselors between the proverbial rock and a hard place: we can either follow our professional and ethical obligations to our students, or we can follow SB 99’s parent notification requirement. It’s impossible to do both.”

The lawsuit claims the law violates the Montana Constitution by chilling speech, infringing on the privacy rights of students and educators, and not giving the plaintiffs due process because of its vagueness. It says the law violates the equal protection clause because it disproportionately affects Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ students, and does not afford Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ students the chance to receive a quality education.

The attorneys in the case are asking a judge to find the law to be unconstitutional, to award nominal damages to the student plaintiffs, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

In a statement, Arntzen, who is running in the Republican primary for Montana’s 2nd Congressional District seat, said the lawsuit was an attack on her because she’s a Republican who supports more parental involvement in Montana classroom curriculum.

“Woke organizations are once again attacking me because I am a conservative and I’m standing for parental rights,” she said. “Government bureaucracy doesn’t own our children. I stand with Montana parents who are rightfully concerned over sexual indoctrination in the classroom. Montana families have the right to know what their children are being taught and the right to opt-out of participating. I will continue to fiercely defend parental rights.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

In a conversation moderated by The 74’s Beth Hawkins, three state leaders describe their creative uses of local and federal innovation laws. The director of college and career readiness at the South Carolina Department of Education, Stephanie DiStasio talks about creating a “playbook” to let educators know what flexibility exists and what kinds of programs they’re allowed to try; Julie Murgel, chief operating officer for the Montana Office of Public Instruction, talks about her state’s assessment experiment, which measures student skills throughout the year instead of in one end-of-course exam; and Minnesota’s Lucy Payne, a member of the teacher education faculty at the University of St. Thomas, describes bringing students’ voices to policy discussions.

A bill proposed to help children with disabilities actually represents a “staggering” loss of funding to public schools in the form of a “blank check,” would be a hit to rural districts, and unconstitutionally routes state money to private institutions “at the discretion of private individuals,” according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The voucher program in is also “antithetical to both quality and equality” in education, the plaintiffs said.

In the lawsuit, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, or MQEC, and Disability Rights Montana allege HB 393 is unconstitutional in four different ways, including by directing public money to “private actors” not under control of the state, and by directing cash payments to some students “to the direct disadvantage of others.”

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“HB 393 is part and parcel of a recent national effort to privatize education with public funds that cannot be squared with the spirit and letter of the Montana Constitution,” said the lawsuit, filed by the Upper Seven Law firm.

“Indeed, the Montana legislature is obligated to ‘provide a basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools’ and to ‘fund and distribute in an equitable manner to the school districts the state’s share of the cost’ of those schools.”

The nonprofit MQEC is one of the largest education advocacy organizations in the state, representing more than 100 school districts, six educational organizations, and educators in urban and rural areas.

Disability Rights Montana is the federally mandated advocate protecting and advocating for the civil, legal, and human rights of people with disabilities across Montana.

The lawsuit said the bill will harm Disability Rights Montana by hurting the students it needs to protect: “Not only does it make serving students with disabilities who remain enrolled in public school more difficult, HB 393 does not ensure that students with disabilities who opt for an ESA (education savings account) and leave the public school system will receive a free and appropriate public education.”

House Bill 393 was controversial in the most recent legislative session.

Passed by a two-vote margin in 2023, the law allows parents with students who have special needs the ability to be reimbursed with taxpayer money for their child’s education in homeschool or private school or an online nonpublic school.

In a reimbursement program slated to open next school year, school districts take money from their general funds, largely property taxes, and put it into an education savings account with the Office of Public Instruction.

Parents can be reimbursed from the fund for expenses for their child, such as tutoring or test preparation — or they can let the money accumulate until it hits a maximum $125,888, adjusted for inflation, when the child hits 19, the lawsuit said, although families have access to the fund until the student is 24.

“Masquerading as aid to students with disabilities, HB 393 takes public money out of local school district accounts and hands it directly to private individuals with little to no oversight,” said Upper Seven

In the 2023 legislative session, opponents supporting the public education system if the bill was signed into law. One opponent, Tal Goldin, described HB393’s “education savings accounts” as a way of laundering public money.

“This bill does not help Montanans with disabilities,” said Goldin, director of Advocacy at and attorney for Disability Rights Montana, in a statement about the lawsuit. “Instead, it reduces public school resources while offering no assurance that students with disabilities who leave the public schools will receive appropriate educational services that meet their needs. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

The lawsuit, filed against the State of Montana and Republicans Gov. Greg Gianforte and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, notes the bill authorizes “any other educational expense approved by the superintendent,” or “standardless spending.”

It also represents as much as $140 million a year redirected from school districts to private individuals if all students who are eligible participate, the lawsuit said, pointing to the cost estimate filed with the bill.

“While HB 393 provides no assurance that students with disabilities will receive the services and education they need, it assuredly provides that public schools will have fewer resources to serve their students, with and without disabilities,” the lawsuit said.

That’s because the cost of public education remains the same — the power bill for a classroom wouldn’t change, for instance — so school districts have to make up the difference, the lawsuit said. In other words, the payouts “compromise the economies of scale” that allow schools to provide a quality education, the firm said.

“MQEC cares about quality public education — full stop,” said Doug Reisig, Montana Quality Education Coalition’s executive director, in a news release from Upper Seven. “Strong public schools foster strong communities. HB 393 is the Montana Legislature’s attempt to shirk its obligation to provide free quality public education to every child in Montana.”

In an email from her office, defendant Arntzen said she is a daughter of a special education teacher and has always supported children of all abilities.

“Local accountability starts with the family. Montana parents know the educational needs of their students better than the government,” said Arntzen, who termed out of the superintendent job but running for the Republican nomination for U.S. House in Montana’s eastern district.

The Governor’s Office said it also doesn’t generally comment on litigation but stressed Gianforte’s . Gianforte is making a bid this year for a second term.

“The governor believes each child is unique and deserves access to the best education possible to meet his or her individual needs, especially for the more than 18,000 students in Montana who require specialized education services,” a spokesperson said.

HB 393 is one of several that was controversial during the most recent legislative session. Another bill, HB 562, is under a temporary injunction after a separate lawsuit alleged it would unconstitutionally outsource public education and divert public school tax dollars to private schools.

Upper Seven is representing plaintiffs in that lawsuit as well. Tuesday, the firm’s executive director said HB 393 also runs contrary to Montana’s promises for students.

“Like our public lands, public schools are one of Montana’s most precious resources,” said Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, Upper Seven Law’s executive director and attorney for the plaintiffs. “The Montana Constitution guarantees a quality education for all students, regardless of background or circumstance. HB 393 hollows out this promise. The law cannot stand.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Montana is struggling to keep new teachers in the classroom.

More than half of newly licensed teachers in Montana leave the state or the profession within the first three years on the job and 86% of education graduates decide to leave the state or don’t pursue teaching.

“​​That’s a stunning number,” said Sen. Dan Salomon, R-Ronan, Chairperson of the Education Interim Committee, during the committee’s meeting Tuesday.

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Data on teacher retention in the state was presented to the committee by national nonprofit the and in an update from the .

Montana is looking at more than going into the upcoming school year – a problem stemming in part from financial constraints on teachers, lack of mentorship and less education graduates going into the field. Proposed solutions included more compensation and increased access to teacher education.

In order to fill the gap, the number of Emergency Authorization of Employments rose more than 90% and doubled in two years, according to OPI. Accreditation and Licensure Director of OPI Crystal Andrews said she believed 32 school districts in the state have applied for at least one emergency authorization.

Andrews said qualifications for authorizations can vary, but gave examples of how in practice it can look like paraprofessionals or student teachers getting their own classrooms, or a music teacher from the local church coming to teach in school.

She said the most authorizations have been for elementary school classrooms, math, English, health and physical education teachers, as well as school counselors.

Andrews also discussed the teacher pipeline issue. With 383 education graduates from the Montana University System, there aren’t enough educators to meet the vacancies. And on top of that, a vast majority of them don’t go to work in Montana schools. The Learning Policy Institute said enrollment in education programs in Montana has gone down 45% in the last nine years.

Andrews said she would be interested in working with the universities to get data on where these students go and why they leave.

One reason the Learning Policy Institute cited was financial. Montana is dead last in starting teacher salaries, which average $36,480.

“They talk about and there’s no place to live, and all the things that go with that and you throw in a student loan,” said Salomon. “They can’t afford to be the teacher.”

One quarter of teachers in the state reported having a second job during the school year, according to data from the Learning Policy Institute. An estimated 40% have student loan payments and across the state teachers spend on average $500 of their own money on classroom supplies without reimbursement.

Increased compensation for teachers along with higher quality preparation for the classroom were among recommendations from the institute to increase retention.

Learning Policy Institute Chief of Policy and Program Tara Kini said that research has supported competitive compensation being a big factor in recruitment, and noted that the data from 2021 in the presentation might not reflect progress made since the TEACH Act was implemented, which provided $2.5 million to increase teacher pay.

“It may be worth considering how this program could be expanded to reach even more educators than the 500 early-career teachers that it currently serves,” Kini said.

Gov. Greg Gianforte promoted the TEACH Act at an event at Lockwood High School in Billings, touting a 40% increase in funds to the program in the last legislative session. According to a press release Tuesday, funds from the program helped Lockwood fill their 18 vacancies.

Kini mentioned alternative compensation strategies like providing housing, childcare incentives or student loan forgiveness. She said districts in other states have passed initiatives to build subsidized rental housing for teachers and used federal funds for housing for teachers.

A recent survey of Montana teachers found a school being close to where the teacher lives was the top factor in their decision to accept their current job, senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute Susan Patrick said during the presentation.

Montana’s Grow Your Own program, designed to prepare high school students for careers in education in their local schools, didn’t receive funding in the last legislative session, Patrick noted. She said states have turned to apprenticeship programs like Grow Your Own to help with the pipeline issues.

Having a supportive administration at a school is another big factor for teacher retention. Patrick said Idaho developed a new principals academy as well as a network for principals for support, especially for schools that were identified as needing improvement in the state.

Rep. Linda Reksten, R-Polson, who formerly served as superintendent in Butte and in Polson, asked if there was training in universities for principals in the state.

“My observation is, unless you have really strong district leadership, it isn’t happening,” she said.

The Legislature’s Office of Research and Policy Analysis outlined a in Montana’s “toolbox” for addressing teacher retention, including a teacher residency program passed last session that uses federal dollars to place students in a year-long, practice-based learning experience, focusing on placements in rural schools.

“As we grow that program, we’ll continue to work and find opportunities for schools to bring Montanans in to teach Montana’s kids – especially in those rural areas where there’s such a critical shortage,” bill sponsor Rep. Brad Barker, R-Red Lodge, said at the event in Billings according to the release.

Another program provides loan assistance for the first three years of a teacher’s career, with payments of $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000. The program helped more than 100 teachers in fiscal year 2023, according to the analysis.

Teachers also have the opportunity to receive stipends for earning a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification, which can take years to complete, with a payout between $500 and $2,500 depending on the district. There was an $180,000 appropriation for the bill, which has been utilized by about 200 teachers.

“Through collaborative efforts and creative solutions, and a commitment to valuing and supporting our teachers, we can build a brighter future for Montana students and educators alike,” said Andrews. “Let us work together to transform the landscape of education ensuring that our teachers are not only recruited, but also valued and inspired to stay for the benefit of our children.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

The State of Montana’s from energy and mining projects violates the state constitution because it does not protect Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment and the state’s natural resources from unreasonable depletion, a judge ruled Monday in for 16 youth plaintiffs who sued the state.

Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Kathy Seeley the young plaintiffs in her decision in the , striking down as unconstitutional the so-called “limitation” to the Montana Environmental Policy Act, which was this year, as well as another portion of law surrounding greenhouse gas emissions that was changed this past session.

Seeley the 2023 version of the MEPA limitation, passed via House Bill 971 the session, as well as a portion of Senate Bill 557, and the latter “removes the only preventative, equitable relief available to the public and MEPA litigants.”

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“Plaintiffs have a fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life support system,” Seeley wrote in her decision.

The Held vs. Montana case was the first case challenging state and national climate and energy policies to make it to trial in the U.S., and is now the first in which the plaintiffs, 16 Montana youth now ages 5 to 22, were victorious.

Julia Olson, the chief legal counsel and executive director for Our Children’s Trust, the group behind the lawsuit, called Seeley’s decision precedent setting and “a sweeping win” for Montana, the youth plaintiffs, and the climate, and said more court victories would be coming.

“Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change laws, and disproportionately imperil young people,” Olson said.

“The Honorable Judge Kathy Seeley declared Montana’s fossil fuel-promoting laws unconstitutional and enjoined their implementation. As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s effort to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate change.”

In statements provided by their attorneys, two of the plaintiffs, Kian Tanner and Eva Lighthiser, said they were elated by the judge’s decision.

“Frankly, the elation and joy in my heart is overwhelming in the best way,” Tanner said. “We set the precedent not only for the United States, but for the world.”

“I’m so speechless right now. I’m really just excited and elated and thrilled. I cannot believe the ruling. I’m just so relieved. I feel so grateful to have worked with every single person involved in this,” Lighthiser said.

Seeley wrote in her that the MEPA limitation, which prohibits the state from considering greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when deciding whether to approve permits for energy and mining projects, violated Montanans’ rights under the 1972 state constitution.

that they have a right to a clean and healthful environment and that each Montanan “shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”

Seeley also wrote that the state constitution commands the legislature to “provide for the administration and enforcement” to meet the state’s obligation to maintain and improve the environment and provide remedies to prevent its unreasonable depletion and degradation.

“Montana’s climate, environment, and natural resources are unconstitutionally degraded and depleted due to the current atmospheric concentration of GHGs and climate change,” Seeley wrote.

She said that MEPA makes clear the state should use “all practicable means” to fulfill those constitutional responsibilities, and that the law’s limitation, in place since 2011 and this session in response to a Yellowstone County judge’s order regarding emissions at a plant in Laurel, is failing to meet those constitutional duties.

Seeley wrote, rather, that the MEPA limitation “conflicts with the very purpose of MEPA” in trying to meet those obligations.

“By prohibiting consideration of climate change, (green house gas) emissions, and how additional GHG emissions will contribute to climate change or be consistent with the Montana Constitution, the MEPA Limitation violates Plaintiffs’ right to a clean and healthful environment and is facially unconstitutional,” Seeley wrote in her order.

Further, she said, the state did not put forward any evidence there was a compelling governmental interest in having the limitation in place, and Seeley noted there was undisputed testimony that the state could evaluate greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts, as well as consider switching more energy sources to renewable energy.

She also found a section of law this year through Senate Bill 557 to be unconstitutional. That new portion of law said that a permit approved by a Montana agency that did not include a greenhouse gas emissions evaluation could not be vacated, voided, or delayed unless Congress started regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.

Both that clause of and were created by the Republican supermajority to Judge Michael Moses’ that a NorthWestern Energy power generating station in Laurel could not proceed because the Department of Environmental Quality had failed to consider emissions impacts from the plant. He later after the legislature’s moves as the state appealed the ruling to the Montana Supreme Court.

Seeley wrote the newly amended law is unconstitutional “because it eliminates MEPA litigants’ remedies that prevent irreversible degradation of the environment, and it fails to further a compelling state interest.”

Seeley wrote that the state’s authorization of fossil fuel activities without analyzing emissions or climate impacts result in emissions that have caused, and will continue to perpetuate  human-caused climate change, and that the state has the authority to alleviate and avoid those climate impacts.

Seeley said the plaintiffs had proven injury because of the state’s failure to consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and noted outright that “every additional ton of GHG emissions exacerbates Plaintiffs’ injuries and risks locking in irreversible climate injuries.”

She wrote that their injuries would only get worse and become irreversible “without science-based actions” to address climate change, that the plaintiffs had proven children are irreversibly harmed by pollution, and that they would continue to suffer injuries “due to the State’s statutorily mandated disregard of climate change in the MEPA limitations, and due to SB 557’s removal of MEPA’s preventative equitable remedies.”

Seeley also wrote that if the state was allowed to consider GHG emissions and climate change during MEPA reviews, those would provide the state with “clear information” it needs to make science-based decisions within the framework of the state constitution and deny permits when they do not conform with those constitutional requirements.

Roger Sullivan, a Kalispell-based attorney who worked for the plaintiffs, said Seeley’s order was “a landmark decision establishing enforceable principles of intergenerational justice. Barbara Chillcott, senior attorney at the Helena-based Western Environmental Law Center, said it was “incredibly gratifying” to learn the judge’s decision.

“This decision sets important precedent for other constitutional climate cases in the U.S., and, most importantly, gives these youth plaintiffs some hope for a better future,” Chillcott said.

The case was originally filed in March 2020, when the plaintiffs were ages 2 to 18. The original version challenged the MEPA limitation as well as the state energy policy – both of which were repealed or modified this past legislative session in response to the lawsuit and the ruling from Moses and Yellowstone County.

After by the state to failed, Seeley heard in June from 12 of the 16 plaintiffs and how their lives, leisure, health, and cultural traditions, among other things, were being by human-caused climate change. In addition to questions over MEPA and other policies, they had that 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide should be a stated standard for the state, though the judge’s order did not go that far.

The plaintiffs called 10 expert witnesses, including a Nobel Prize-winning from Montana, other , a renewable energy specialist, a state , a child psychologist, and Native experts who told the court about why the climate was warming, Montana’s outsized contributions to GHG emissions, how easily Montana could move toward using more renewable resources, and how climate change affects the brains and bodies of children.

The state called the director of the Department of Environmental Quality, one of its division directors, and just one of its three expert witnesses to the stand on the sixth day of the trial before resting its case. It did not call to the stand its climate or child psychology experts, but the three expert witnesses in total billed the state nearly $95,000,

Seeley wrote in her order Monday that the testimony of the state’s lone expert witness, Terry Anderson, “was not well-supported, contained errors, and was not given weight by the Court.”

Much of surrounded their stance that MEPA was procedural and not directive, that the permitting statutes are what speak to the constitutional environmental provisions, and that Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions only make up a tiny slice of global emissions and could not have an outsized effect on global greenhouse gas values.

DEQ Director Chris Dorrington made some of these claims during his testimony, and also told the court he “was not deeply familiar” with the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose reports were the basis of much of the plaintiffs’ climate experts’ testimony.

The state’s attorneys had also hoped that the legislature’s changes to the MEPA limitation and environmental impact statement law nullified the plaintiffs’ original claims, but Seeley only agreed to dismiss the part of the case involving the repealed state energy policy ahead of the trial.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said the office was reviewing the decision and “evaluating next steps.” The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment to the Daily Montanan but pointed to a statement provided to a news talk radio station.

In a statement the Attorney General’s Office provided to , spokesperson Emily Flower said the state would appeal the ruling, calling it “absurd” and saying the trial was “a week-long taxpayer-funded publicity stunt that was supposed to be a trial.”

“Montanans can’t be blamed for changing the climate – even the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses agreed that our state has no impact on the global climate. Their same legal theory has been thrown out of federal court and courts in more than a dozen states,” Flower said. “It should have been here as well, but they found an ideological judge who bent over backward to allow the case to move forward and earn herself a spot in their next documentary.”

Rebecca Harbage, the public policy director for DEQ, said in a statement on behalf of the department: “DEQ’s mission is a to champion a healthy environment for a thriving Montana, and we take that mission seriously. We are currently reviewing the decision.”

Region 8 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator K.C. Becker called Seeley’s ruling “a landmark moment” in young people’s efforts to protect the earth for future generations.

“Every day the youth in Montana and across their world are watching the impacts of climate change fil their social media feeds as they witness the increased frequency of wildfires and flooding,” Becker said in a statement. “No longer are young people demanding action on the climate crisis from the sidelines – they are successfully advocating for it themselves. They are channeling their feelings of concern and frustration into climate activism. … This decision today sets a precedent for intergenerational accountability and environmental justice, ensuring that the decisions made today positively impact the well-being of tomorrow’s generations.”

Joanie Kresich, the chair of conservation and agriculture organization Northern Plains Resource Council, said in a statement the group, which has held meetings about the Laurel generating station emissions, said it would be watching how the ruling affects other energy projects in Montana that burn fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gasses.

“We will be watching closely to see how this groundbreaking ruling affects prior judicial orders requiring the state of Montana to consider the 23 million tons of climate pollution that NorthWestern Energy’s methane-fired power plant would emit if completed in Laurel,” Kresich said. “This ruling makes it clear that the future prosperity and health of our youth must be considered in all of Montana’s energy decisions.”

Another group, Montana Conservation Voters, said the ruling was a win for Montanans and affirmed the state’s constitutional protections.

“Instead of passing laws that limit our ability to regulate pollution, the state now must consider how its policies affect the health and wellbeing of its citizens and environment,” MCV Executive Director Whitney Tawney said. “The ruling is also a reminder of the importance of Montana’s constitution, and we applaud the brave young Montanans who stood up to protect the rights and freedoms promised to everyone in this state.”

, an attorney with Our Children’s Trust told the Daily Montanan it intended to seek attorneys’ fees and costs should Seeley side with the plaintiffs.

Our Children’s Trust also has a similar case in Hawaii set to go to trial next summer, a federal case that has been allowed to proceed, and other pending cases in Utah and Virginia.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

State Superintendent Elsie Arntzen said Thursday the state could see 1,000 teacher vacancies going into the upcoming school year — or roughly one in 10 positions.

“A thousand new teachers or teachers will be requested within our 928 schools across our state, our 402 school districts,” Arntzen said during the Montana Board of Public Education meeting.

Teacher pay has been an ongoing challenge in Montana, especially for rookies, and the dearth of teachers this year mirrors the shortage last school year.

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At the meeting, board members discussed teacher recruitment, retention as well as potential adjustments to licensure requirements as they related to the vacancies.

Despite boosts to their wages in recent years, Montana pays the lowest average starting salary for teachers in the country at $33,568, according to an April from the National Education Association.

The idea to change license requirements has been controversial, and educators have said Montana must maintain quality. At the meeting Thursday, however, Arntzen said a potential change in licensure standards should not be seen as diluting teacher quality, but as giving school districts more flexibility.

Some of the proposed changes include recognizing licenses for nationally board-certified teachers and increasing access for expired licensees to reenter the classroom, according to an Office of Public Instruction press .

“This is enhancing to make sure that we hand districts the ability to be able to hire,” Arntzen said.

OPI spokesperson Brian O’Leary said in an email to the Daily Montanan the number of new licenses in 2022-2023 was the lowest in five years, at 1,207. The number of licenses in the state that were renewed, upgraded and added endorsements was the second lowest in the last five years.

“Many businesses are struggling to fill positions throughout our great state, and schools are no exception,” O’Leary said.

Crystal Andrews, director of accreditation, educator preparation programs, and licensure for the state, is slated to lead a discussion on potential revisions to licensure standards Friday, according to the state board’s agenda.

At the meeting, Arntzen talked about another strategy intended to help fill vacancies. In the Teacher Residency Program through the state’s universities, students spend their fourth year of study in the classroom with a teacher mentor, with a requirement the new teacher stays in the community.

Board Vice Chairperson Susie Hedalen, who works as a superintendent in Townsend, said later in the meeting her school hired one of the residents through that program to become a full-time teacher.

“It was a lot of work for the mentoring teacher, the student teacher and the principal,” she said. “They put a lot of time and effort into it, (and) we have a great new teacher next year.”

O’Leary said OPI doesn’t hold data on all of the public school teacher vacancies in the state, but its Jobs for Teachers webpage lists 1,089 openings for teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and counselors as of Thursday.

Teaching positions make up 950 of the positions posted, O’Leary said, adding OPI can’t guarantee the listings don’t include duplicate postings, for example. He said school districts are also not required to post their job listings on the site.

The number of vacancies this time of year is consistent with last year, with O’Leary saying near the end of July 2022 there were more than 1,100 job postings on the OPI Jobs for Teachers page. The NEA reported there being more than 10,800 teaching jobs in the state.

Other efforts OPI is making include hosting job fairs to connect teachers and school districts, with the next one on Aug. 4 online. The department is also touting the expansion of the TEACH Act to increase new teacher pay and loan assistance for teachers at “impacted schools,” alternative or rural education settings.

Board member Jane Lee Hamman said she thought teacher retention should be a high priority for the next legislative session.

“We can start to think about some of the plans for structural changes and additions for the next session, because I think that’s going to be critical,” she said.

Angela McLean, in the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, said licensure and making sure educators in all fields get to where they are needed in the state is critical.

“It’s not just enough to just make sure that we have a teacher that will stay in the more urban parts of Montana. We want to get them to some of these rural communities where they have long been needed the most,” she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

When Jennifer Huppert’s fifth-grade class at Boulder Elementary in Billings received a manila envelope in the mail, she thought it was probably another piece of junk mail sent in an official looking wrapper with a Washington, D.C., return address.

Huppert is constantly getting all sorts of offers, gimmicks and programs that arrive on her desk that look similar.

Just as Huppert was about to toss it, she noticed it said “Vice President of the United States, Washington, D.C.”

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Still suspicious, she opened the package to see that it contained a letter to the students, and it was hand signed by Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States.

The letter came to congratulate Huppert for her students’ participation in a program to learn more about Space Force, which included an online video conference with members of the nascent military branch who are stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.

The program was designed for one class in each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico to raise awareness about careers in math, science, space and the military. From those conversations, students learned more about the day-to-day operations of Space Force.

The program dovetailed well with what Huppert’s students were learning about from the stars, the planets, night sky, and yearly seasonal planet rotation.

Students in Huppert’s class were particularly fascinated by the topic of space junk – obsolete, broken or used objects – that stay in orbit, but can cause collisions or disrupt current operational satellites. The students are also doing calculations about how hard or easy it would be to walk and jump on other planets in the solar system, given the gravity and composition of each planet.

“My dad was in the Air Force and what he did there is now part of the Space Force,” said student Parker Foley.

Huppert said it was a terrific program that helped have conversations about how lessons in class tie into real life, and connect with other lessons. For example, they recently went to the Billings Symphony to hear part of Gustav Holst’s “Planets.” They also got to hear the orchestra perform the themes to “Star Wars” and “2001, a Space Odyessy.”

Student Reed Shulund was able to tie what he learned from the program into what he’s seen recently on the news.

“You need to know how to launch a rocket into space without blowing it up,” Shulund said, “like Space X.”

Foley said he better understood the recent Northern Lights after learning more about space and the Space Force too.

The students also said it gave them a chance to see there is more to a military career than combat.

“It’s not all ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Maverick’,” Huppert said. “It gives them a different opportunity to see that Armed Forces in a different way. One of the Space Force officers was from Missoula. And they need people with strong backgrounds in math and science, too.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Amid the national uproar about whether to allow students access to a wide variety of books, the superintendent of a Virginia school district this week proposed a sweeping solution: Get rid of school libraries altogether.

Mark Taylor, who leads the district in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, suggested at a recent school board meeting that eliminating libraries would be a cost-reduction measure, saving $4.2 million in anticipation of $18 million in budget cuts.

But parents were out in force at the meeting, and many decried the idea of cutting libraries, saying they are essential and eliminating them would be a disservice to children. None of the parents or community members were officially allowed to speak at the public meeting, but some stood in the back of the room holding signs with slogans such as “We Deserve Better” and “Fund our Schools!”

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And just hours after the raucous meeting, veteran board member Dawn Shelley accused Taylor of using money-saving as a ruse to get rid of books.

“I think they think, ‘Well, if we remove the libraries, then we don’t have to deal with those books,’” she said in an interview with Stateline.

Another school board member, Nicole Cole, in a separate interview, agreed that closing libraries “is a further attack on our educators, our teachers and it’s banning books.”

Neither Taylor, nor the chair of the school board, returned calls seeking comment. But Taylor told a local television reporter that libraries are not necessarily vital, since “whole libraries are available on an app” on kids’ cellphones.

One day after the meeting, Taylor ruled that 14 books that had been challenged by a parent as inappropriate and containing “sexually explicit” content must be removed from school libraries and declared “surplus” property. The 14 include Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye,” as well as “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen, a historical novel set in a Great Depression circus, and “Nineteen Minutes,” by Jody Picoult, which is about a school shooting. Taylor suggested the books be donated to other libraries.

According to the local , all the books had been declared appropriate for high school ages after reviews by committees that included parents. But the parent making the initial complaint, the paper said, had appealed that decision.

Spotsylvania County has been a hotbed of book banning for a couple of years, ever since it passed and then rescinded a plan to remove “sexually explicit” books from school libraries. One board member apparently suggested burning books as well, according to news reports at the time.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, made parental concern over “explicit” books in public school curricula one of the elements of his winning 2021 campaign.

Anti-Book Movement

From July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, 138 school districts in 32 states banned books, according to PEN America. These districts represent 5,049 schools with a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students, the literacy group said.

PEN chalked up the effort to censor books as an outgrowth of both the fight against mask mandates in schools and the move against what opponents call the teaching of critical race theory, a graduate-level course of study that considers the role race has played in historical events and the direction of the country. The PEN report identified at least 50 groups involved in book ban movements, most of which formed since 2021.

The number of school libraries and librarians has been dwindling for decades. Between the 1999-2000 and 2015-16 school years, the latest comprehensive figures available, the number of school librarians dropped 19%, according to a School Library Journal  of National Center for Education Statistics data.

With support from the Gianforte Administration, a bill that bumps up the ceiling for a couple of dollar-for-dollar education tax credit programs to an initial $5 million passed third reading in the House on Tuesday.

With a clause that allows that ceiling to bump up over the years, Rep. Jim Hamilton, D-Bozeman, calculated in committee the $5 million credit in 2024 could hit more than $11 million by 2029, when it’s set to sunset.

“This is my nomination for the worst bill ever — or at least this session,” Hamilton said during floor debate Monday. “It’s very outrageous tax policy, with apologies to the majority leader because of course she didn’t design the bill, so this is not aimed at her.”

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Republicans have touted House Bill 408 as a win for students in both public and private schools, but Democrats argue it’s poor tax policy, with the dollar-for-dollar credit, and lacks educational accountability. It passed 69-31 on third reading Tuesday.

In a debate on the floor Monday, sponsor and Majority Leader Sue Vinton, R-Billings, told Democrats the sky was not falling, and she said the legislature was addressing separate problems they raised, such as low teacher salaries, in other bills. The bill offers credits for private education scholarships and for innovative public school programs, each with the $5 million limit in 2024.

“This bill is about kids. It’s about our students in both private schools and in public schools,” Vinton said during debate. “And that is why we should all be supporting this bill.”

In 2021, the Montana Legislature approved a bill that increased the limit on single donations for the tax credit from $150 to $200,000, and it also increased the overall cap for total contributions to $1 million for each program, with an escalator clause.

The credits have been popular, and during one hearing this session, Dylan Klapmeier, education policy advisor in the Governor’s Office, estimated demand to be closer to $9 million than the current $2 million cap.

“There are still low- and middle-income families that can be served,” Klapmeier said.

The credit is a deal for taxpayers who want to donate. A taxpayer making a $1 donation toward private school scholarships or public education programs receives a full $1 credit — a problem for opponents and a welcome rate for private school proponents.

“You’re essentially allowing people to divert their entire tax bill to the issue of their choice,” said Erik Burke, with the Montana Federation of Public Employees, against the bill.

He said in taking advantage of that credit, donors were opting out of paying for other public services, such as prisons or health care.

But Vinton, in response to a question in committee from Hamilton, said she herself is a taxpayer, so she should have some say about what her money supports.

“I pay taxes, and having the opportunity to direct more specifically where those taxes go gives me an opportunity to do so,” Vinton said.

The bill includes an escalator clause so if a program hits 80% of its allowed limit in aggregate donations one year, the total allowed in credits goes up 20% the next year, each year until 2029.

In committee, Hamilton blasted the bill, as he did on the floor, describing it as the “most outrageous tax policy ever,” and with a bad fiscal note to boot. He described it as a “thinly disguised effort” to shift taxpayer money from public schools to private education and criticized the 100% credit.

“We didn’t even put a price on the product. We made it free,” Hamilton said.

Normally, if a credit gets gobbled up quickly, he said the rate would be lowered, and he figured donors would still give to education for a 50% credit. He said with the exception of Florida, Montana has the most generous tax credit for student scholarships.

His diatribe against the bill and the underlying policy persuaded Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, to oppose it in the House Appropriations Committee as well — and comment on Hamilton’s punchy delivery.

“(I was) just kind of wondering if you had been nipping at Representative Yakawich’s flask,” Fitzpatrick said of notoriously animated Rep. Mike Yakawich, R-Billings.

On the floor debate, Rep. Melissa Romano, D-Helena, said the bill essentially put more money into a separate educational system that had no accountability. She said those who receive scholarships don’t have to meet any accreditation or testing requirements, for example.

“They don’t need to meet any educational standards,” Romano said.

In committee, addressing a question from Chair Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, Ross Izard of Ace Scholarships said the organization does have standards and expectations for schools it partners with, but not strict ones. Izard, who supported the bill, said ACE tends to be flexible because different private schools offer different models and approaches.

On the floor, Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, said he appreciated the sponsor put some sideboards on the public program to try to spread out the wealth and ensure one single affluent school district wasn’t the only recipient of donations.

However, Thane, who opposed the bill, said similar sideboards should be placed on the private scholarships side too.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

The Montana House advanced a bill Wednesday that seeks to open up public school employees if they show or provide children with materials deemed to be obscene.

, sponsored by Lindsay Republican Bob Phalen, passed its second reading in a , with 13 Republicans voting against it along with all Democrats. It is scheduled for its final House reading Thursday.

Phalen, as he did , told the chamber that he believes , like pornography, should be banned in schools just like it cannot be shown on billboards or openly in gas stations.

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was to remove liability for public library and museum officials.

Phalen and others who voted for the bill said on the floor they believe the bill is about protecting children from obscene material in schools, while the measure’s opponents said it was a disguised effort to get books regarding the LGBTQ community out of children’s hands and to strip local control away from school boards that already vet what materials are in their libraries.

“I recognize that tomorrow on social media you’re going to read that those opposing House Bill 234 are pornographers and worse than that. You all know that it’s true; that’s how social media is,” said Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, who voted against the bill. “So be it; I myself cannot in good conscience support a bill that is ineffective, that’s opposing conservative principles, and is a targeted attack on school employees.”

Rep. SJ Howell, a Missoula Democrat who is nonbinary, called the measure “a big overstep” when citizens can already petition school boards to investigate and potentially remove any materials a parent says could be obscene material.

Howell pointed to a book that has been the center of the discussion since the bill was first heard in committee, “Gender Queer: A memoir,” of which Democrats gave copies to each lawmaker in the chamber. Phalen had distributed pictures he said were obscene.

Howell said there was value in books like it for people of all ages because they could read materials that reflect their experience and perspective.

Rep. Brad Barker, R-Roberts, who voted against the bill, said he was concerned it would lead to “an unreasonable amount of liability” for schools, employees and trustees as they already face attacks from the public on what is being taught. He said he felt the process already in place to screen materials was strong enough – a point also made by some Democrats.

Rep. Eric Matthews, D-Bozeman, said putting teachers and school librarians in a place where they could potentially face criminal charges for following a board’s directives and recommendations was “a big problem.”

Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, said he was possibly the only prosecutor in Montana who had ever prosecuted an obscenity case. He told the House how prosecuting an obscenity case would work – that a prosecutor would have to believe material is obscene, as would a 12-member jury. He voted in favor of the measure.

Several Republicans argued that claims local control would be taken away were not true and did not go as far as opponents claimed.

Rep. Naarah Hastings, R-Billings, in what she said was her first speech on the House floor, said she had seen local control fail and that the measure would hold school boards accountable.

She and others pointed to Billings School Board trustees “Gender Queer” and another book some parents had objected to as reasons they believed local control was not working.

“I want to trust the schools and the school boards, but to be perfectly frank with you, I think it’s time for them to prove that,” Hastings said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Montana State University officials are violating a student’s right to free speech after she questioned her sorority’s “insistence” members identify themselves with preferred pronouns, alleges a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court of Montana.

The lawsuit also alleges campus officials are infringing on the student’s rights with a no-contact order — one without an end date or due process — after she was allegedly victimized by a fellow sorority member who is LGBTQ.

The student and plaintiff, Daria Danley, is suing Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian, MSU President Waded Cruzado, and Kyleen Breslin, director of MSU’s Office of Institutional Equity.

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“Plaintiff Danley’s protests against the harassment inflicted upon her by an LGBTQ student as well as her objections to ‘preferred pronouns’ constitute speech protected by the First Amendment,” as well as the Montana Constitution, the lawsuit said.

Danley had told a sorority leader she was being stalked by the other sorority member, the lawsuit said. Danley did not file a police report, her lawyer said.

The Greek chapter characterized the concerns she raised to the sorority leader about the alleged stalking and pronouns as “hate speech,” and the sorority and campus punished her, the complaint said.

However, in sanctioning Danley, the lawsuit said MSU officials are illegally silencing speech “that might be deemed offensive to LGBTQ students.”

That’s despite a duty to ensure policies don’t discriminate based on political ideas.

“Defendants Christian and Cruzado breached this duty by allowing a discriminatory policy at MSU that tolerates offensive speech made by LGBTQ students while punishing similarly situated non-LGBTQ students who engage in protected speech deemed offensive to LGBTQ students,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit said a similar alleged violation of free speech by MSU cost the institution a $120,000 settlement.

In that 2017 case, student Erik Powell alleged a free speech violation after he was suspended for being critical of a transgender student to a professor in a private meeting, the complaint said.

“MSU’s vindictiveness toward student criticism of the LGBTQ community is not new,” the complaint said. “ … In settling the Powell lawsuit, MSU was required to expunge the plaintiff’s record of disciplinary marks and pay him.”

Bozeman lawyer Matthew Monforton represented Powell and is representing Danley.

In a brief phone call Friday, Monforton criticized the flagship’s Title IX office. Those offices generally oversee discrimination allegations.

“MSU’s woke Title IX office is punishing victims because they object to preferred pronouns in speech that LGBTQ students found offensive,” Monforton said.

MSU did not respond Friday to an email requesting comment, and neither did a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

The lawsuit outlines the events that led up to the court filing:

Danley has been enrolled full-time at MSU since 2020 and joined the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, which has since dissolved its Bozeman chapter, the lawsuit said.

The fellow sorority member “routinely made inappropriate sexual comments in the presence of other AGD members,” and she repeatedly asked Danley to accompany her to her apartment despite Danley’s rejections, the lawsuit alleges.

“Another member of the chapter warned Plaintiff Danley never to be alone with (the sorority member), as that member had observed (her) attempting to take advantage of women when they were intoxicated,” the lawsuit said.

The fellow sorority member is not a defendant in the lawsuit and the Daily Montanan is not naming her in this story.

The complaint also said the alleged stalker “repeatedly ogled” Danley, making her “extremely uncomfortable.”

After she alleged stalking and complained about the use of pronouns, MSU punished her for “hate speech” and imposed a no-contact order against her, which meant she couldn’t go to any sorority events or even enter a building where her alleged harasser was present, the lawsuit said.

Then, MSU officials charged her with “discrimination” in a “sham administrative complaint,” one it later dismissed, the lawsuit said. At MSU’s suggestion, the sorority evicted her, the complaint said.

Danley applied to the sorority’s national headquarters for reinstatement, and her request was granted, the complaint said.

Still, MSU won’t rescind the no-contact order, the lawsuit said.

It said Danley doesn’t want to be part of her specific sorority chapter because she “just happened to get into a bad chapter,” but she does want to participate as an alumna member in activities other alumnae continue to organize.

“I still care greatly for Alpha Gamma Delta as a whole, and I know it does so much good for women,” Danley said in the lawsuit.

But she can’t do so because of the no-contact order “of unlimited duration,” the lawsuit said.

“MSU has rejected repeated requests by the victim to rescind the order and has never explained why the order remains necessary or elaborated on why it was imposed in the first place,” the lawsuit said. “Nor has MSU ever given the victim a hearing to challenge the order.”

In the complaint, Danley alleges the defendants are violating her free speech rights, which prohibit “government officials from subjecting citizens to retaliatory actions in response to protected speech.”

“Danley’s protests against the harassment inflicted upon her by an LGBTQ student as well as her objections to ‘preferred pronouns’ constitute speech protected by the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said.

It also said the order violates her freedom of association, and MSU has provided her no opportunity to be heard, therefore violating her right to due process.

“A person has a protected liberty interest in his or her good name, reputation, honor and integrity, of which he or she cannot be deprived without due process,” the lawsuit said.

It alleges violations of the Montana Constitution as well.

Danley requests a judgment the no-contact order violates her First Amendment rights and that the defendants clear her name in their records.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

Gov. Greg Gianforte urged the Board of Regents to ban the social media app TikTok within the Montana University System citing security risks in a on Tuesday.

This follows Gianforte’s to Chief Information Officer Kevin Gilbertson last month that the app would be from state devices, for state business, and while connected to the state network.

“The ability of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to spy on Americans using TikTok is well documented. Using or even downloading TikTok poses a massive security threat,” Gianforte wrote in the letter Tuesday. “Given the risk use of TikTok poses to our public universities and our students, I request the Board of Regents support efforts by the Commissioner of Higher Education to prevent the use of TikTok by the Montana University System (MUS) and its campuses and while connected to the MUS network.”

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In the letter, the governor cited recent testimony from Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray who warned the app is controlled by “a government that doesn’t share our values, and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States.”

A spokesperson for the Montana University System did not respond to a request for comment.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

An investigation into allegations a test administrator helped inmates cheat on a high school equivalency exam at the Shelby prison found “no confirming evidence” to support the claims, according to records from the Office of Public Instruction.

“The reporting individual was unable to provide supporting evidence or additional witnesses to validate his claim,” the investigation report said.

However, testing has not resumed at the institution for a separate reason, according to CoreCivic, a private company that runs the state prison in Shelby.

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The prison, called the Crossroads Correctional Center, houses 757 male inmates, according to a Department of Corrections data dashboard.

The testing program, HiSET, allows adults without a high school diploma to earn the equivalent of a high school degree. OPI earlier provided records that said testing had been suspended at the prison as of April.

Last week, CoreCivic director of public affairs Ryan Gustin said the Shelby prison remains a HiSET testing site. However, he said a separate technology glitch unrelated to the allegation means testing has not resumed at the facility.

“All of the IT teams are aware of this matter and are quickly working to alleviate that challenge,” Gustin said.

The issue stems from a change in test provider and ensuing technology “hiccups,” he said. Gustin said testing at the Crossroads location takes place using computers, and in the case of a provider change, “you have to get one hand to shake the other hand.”

“We don’t have the option contractually to offer a paper exam,” he said.

The Montana Department of Corrections said other “DOC-run facilities” have not had testing difficulties — and Gustin said other locations are able to use paper testing, unlike at Crossroads.

The new testing provider and CoreCivic are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, Gustin said, and it’s in their interest to do so.

The original cheating allegation came from a previous Crossroads inmate who said staff were sharing exam questions with inmates before testing and assisting inmates during the HiSET tests. As a result, Montana OPI suspended all HiSET testing at Crossroads and requested an investigation.

The September investigation report found no evidence of cheating. It said investigators reviewed answer sheets and test reports but could not substantiate the claims.

A Crossroads principal who retired in August agreed she had shared “test material” with test takers, but she said she had shared “released exam questions” and The Official Guide to HiSET Exam, according to the investigation report. It said a new principal was unaware of any previous infractions.

Investigators requested additional information from the inmate who made the allegations, but the report said he admitted his accusation was “based on his assumptions.” He also argued that because he had moved to a prerelease center, he was “not comfortable to freely share information,” the report said.

The investigation report also said the inmate who made the accusations may have had a different reason for bringing forward a complaint: “It is likely that this unfounded allegation could have arisen from a salary dispute between this individual and Crossroads Correction Center over tutoring hours.”

The report did not elaborate on the salary dispute.

A September letter from a senior national HiSET director provided by OPI with the investigation report and by CoreCivic said test results from the site are sound: “Tests were not compromised and HISET scores obtained by individuals testing here are valid.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

The University of Montana will receive $1.8 million from a $10 million National Science Foundation grant awarded to a six-state collaboration to increase the representation of Alaska Native and American Indian (AI/AN) students in STEM.

According to a UM press release, UM’s share will help build a network for developing STEM educational resources and implement long-term programming and mentorship to support AI/AN students.

The grant funds Cultivating Indigenous Research Communities for Leadership in Education (the CIRCLES Alliance), which is led by Aaron Thomas, a UM chemistry professor and the director of UM Indigenous Research and STEM Education.

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“The CIRCLES Alliance’s goal is to encourage AI/AN students to identify academically and culturally with being a Native scientist, technician, engineer or mathematician,” Thomas said in a statement provided by UM. “The hope is that more of these students will enter and persist in STEM-related fields and the workforce.”

The CIRCLES Alliance launched in 2020 with support from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, as well as the Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science program.

The alliance has previously partnered with tribal communities to understand how they value STEM and the challenges of better serving AI/AN students in public education. According to the press release, the alliance aims to “inform educational institutions and the National Science Foundation in Native cultural understanding and humility and to shift approaches toward AI/AN education.”

Partners in the grant include research institutions in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. With the new funding, the alliance hopes to serve students and teachers through all undergraduate and K-12 levels across the West.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

With rural industries like mining, millwork and farming in steep decline, postsecondary degrees are increasingly important for social mobility. This means the nation can no longer afford to overlook the challenges faced by rural states and their colleges and universities. Communities are not receiving the skilled professionals they need for jobs because students are not getting the education they need. Creating sustainable workforces and healthy communities across the nation depends on addressing the problems of rural access to higher education. 

The question of how to do this has been a driving focus of my work. As director of academic policy and research for the Montana University System, I am acutely aware of the nation’s need to better support rural institutions, students and communities. Vast in size but small in population, Montana has built a proud academic system of 16 campuses, including six four-year and 10 two-year institutions, serving approximately 40,000 students over 147,000 square miles. Yet the need for more sustainable, cost-effective methods to support rural communities, institutions and students has grown, as enrollment, resources and state funding come under increasing pressure. 

Like most rural states, Montana draws on a relatively sparse population and a limited tax base. Individually, the state’s public colleges are not able to offer the full array of academic offerings students need — and want — to graduate. Even if there is significant local need, it is not viable to develop expensive academic programs for, say, cohorts of only five students. As a result, Montana’s colleges and universities struggle to offer local communities the diverse credentials and programs required for 21st century workforce development. 

Furthermore, rural students, one of the university system’s largest and most vulnerable populations, often face complex challenges in pursuing postsecondary degrees and credentials because of their geographic remoteness. For us to succeed as an academic system and as a state, it is critically important to expand the reach and effectiveness of the programs students depend upon to thrive in careers and in life.

One of the most efficient and empowering solutions to these challenges has been to activate powerful, tech-enabled . Through a technological partnership with , and targeted investments in , our colleges and universities are providing greater and more sustainable access to key academic programs for rural Montana students. 

For example, a student might have to drive five hours each way to attend a program in person if it is not offered at a local campus. But by sharing coursework, campuses can extend their reach by offering some classes online and delivering other courses in person or in a hybrid format from the student’s local campus. The result is a collaboration that lowers the cost — and the risk of developing new courses with little to no enrollment — for colleges looking to offer coursework their communities need and flexible learning experiences for students who benefit from having an in-person connection to their local campus.

Expanding this collaborative model will enable Montana to provide high-quality educational and career pathways to more rural students by leveraging the full power of its 16 campuses. And as we apply these course sharing partnerships to some of our biggest challenges, we are able to meet students’ needs while addressing community and state workforce demands. 

Many of these program challenges center on health care, which is one of Montana’s greatest employment drivers — it’s bigger than the service, retail or travel industries — and is primed for growth. These specialties provide diagnostic, technical, therapeutic and support services in connection with health care and pay very well. But in working with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry to develop new job opportunities, we recognized that the university system is not training the sonographers, dietitians, physical therapy assistants, radiographers and other allied health specialists the state needs.

Today, our course and program sharing partnerships are allowing us to be much more strategic in deploying campus resources. Working together, our colleges are offering courses in paramedicine, licensed practical nursing, surgical technology, respiratory care and introduction to health professions, and we plan to expand these collaborations to include instruction in phlebotomy, dental hygiene and ultrasound technology, among others, to more sustainably offer in-demand, high-cost workforce programming.

Rural students need, and deserve, robust academic options that open up bright career opportunities. The challenge for Montana has always been to provide high-quality, cost-effective programs that meet student and community demands across our huge state. Multi-campus partnerships that leverage course and program sharing are one solution that is now helping to ensure the public university system can fulfill its commitment to providing vibrant opportunities for all students.

Under the proposed changes, announced Thursday, the law would protect victims against discrimination based not just on sex but on sexual orientation and gender identity, in effect adding transgender students as a protected class. Current regulations are silent on these students’ rights.

But the proposal sidesteps the question of transgender athletes’ rights to compete in girls’ sports, an explosive issue administration officials said will get its own set of regulations at a later date.

“This is personal to me as an educator and as a father,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during the announcement. “I want the same opportunities afforded to my daughter and my son — and my transgender cousin — so they can achieve their potential and reach their dreams.”

The changes come 50 years to the day after President Richard Nixon signed the federal civil rights law that bans sex discrimination in education.

Cardona on Thursday noted that LGBTQ youth “face bullying and harassment, experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide, and too often grow up feeling that they don’t belong.”

The proposed regulations, he said, “send a loud message to these students and all our students: You belong in our schools. You have worthy dreams and incredible talents. You deserve the opportunity to shine authentically and unapologetically. The Biden-Harris administration has your back.”

Education and civil rights groups welcomed the proposed rules, with Ronn Nozoe, CEO of the saying they “greatly strengthen principals’ abilities to ensure schools provide what students need.” 

Amit Paley, CEO of, a suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ youth, applauded the administration’s bid to extend Title IX protections to sexual orientation and gender identity, saying, “School should be a place where students learn and are comfortable being themselves, not a source of bullying and discrimination.”

But the proposed rules irked some conservative groups. In a, Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, called the move a “federal overreach” and dubbed the proposed regulations “The Biden administration’s ‘Must Say They’ rewrite of Title IX,” refering to the preferred pronoun of some who are transgender. 

“American families should be deeply concerned by the proposed rewrite of Title IX,” Neily said. “From rolling back due process protections, to stomping on the First Amendment, to adding ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ into a statute that can only be so changed by Congressional action, the Biden Administration has shown that they place the demands of a small group of political activists above the concerns of millions of families across the country.”

Taken together, the proposed regulations would create a sharp contrast to Trump administration rules adopted in 2020 under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Under DeVos, for instance, schools were prohibited from opening Title IX cases if an alleged assault took place away from school grounds. Under the new rules, schools would be required to address “hostile environments” in programs and activities, even if the conduct that contributed to the hostile environment “occurred off-campus or outside the United States,” a senior official told reporters.

“Our view now is that the existing regulations do not best fulfill Congress’ mandate in Title IX,” the official said. “There is more we can do to ensure that students do not experience sex discrimination in school.”

Cardona’s proposed changes both expand the definition of sexual harassment and potentially limit opportunities for students accused of sexual assault or harassment to confront their accusers. Administration officials said the new regulations would require schools to take “prompt and effective” action on campus sex discrimination.

But they also said the regulations in effect loosen requirements on schools’ sex assault investigations: The proposed rules, for instance, would “permit but not require” schools to hold live hearings in which accused students can directly confront survivors.

A senior department official, who briefed reporters Thursday on background, said the administration has concluded that a live hearing, which resembles a courtroom procedure, “is one, but not the only way, to address investigation and to determine what has occurred.” The official noted that the vast majority of schools were not conducting live hearings before the Trump administration began requiring them in 2020. “And it was clear to us that a live hearing was not essential to determination of outcomes and a fair process,” the official said.

In a statement, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), said the move “returns to the deeply flawed campus disciplinary process of the Obama Administration, which led to hundreds of inconsistent judgements and more than 300 legal challenges. The existing rule struck a balance that follows the law and is fair to both parties.”

Notably absent from Thursday’s announcement was any mention of Title IX’s application to athletics, which has caused a furor due to a handful of transgender athletes’ bids to compete in girls’ sporting events.

The administration said it will engage in a separate rulemaking process to address the law’s application to athletics and gender, but offered no immediate timeline for the process. A senior department official said the topic “deserves its own separate rule-making process.”

Administration officials have previously said Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination and harassment in programs receiving federal funds, will echo the in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which extended protections against sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace to LGBTQ employees.

While the department’s interpretation of the Bostock ruling doesn’t mention sports, the Biden administration last year filed in a West Virginia case in which a transgender girl who wants to compete with girls on her middle school cross country team is challenging the state’s 2021 law banning students born as male from participating in girls’ sports. 

A group of 15 Republican-led states, led by Montana Attorney General, has threatened to challenge the regulations in court,. Since last year, a dozen states have passed legislation prohibiting trans females from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. 

Last week, the , the world governing body for swimming, voted to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in high-level women’s competitions unless they began medical treatments to suppress testosterone production early in their lives.  

The group, known internationally as Fédération internationale de natation, or FINA, said it would also a new, “open” category for athletes who identify as women but do not meet the requirement to compete against people who were female at birth.

By contrast, World Cup and Olympic soccer star Megan Rapinoe last week that she is “100 percent supportive of trans inclusion” in sports, noting that what most people know about the topic comes from “relentless” conservative talking points that don’t reflect reality. 

“Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title,” she said. “I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.”

The public has 60 days to send comments on the new proposal, which could take several months to finalize. 

“This program has been a valuable resource for thousands of Montana families in helping to supplement their food budgets, in a time when grocery costs continue to rise,” said Health Department Director Adam Meier in a statement.

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Friday, Meier offered an update on the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer funds, or P-EBT, to the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee. He also took questions from a committee member about other funds and programs meant to support children and families, such the $16.5 million paid out of $61.3 available for provider stabilization.

In a March letter urging the state to apply for P-EBT funds, a coalition of some 60 organizations led by the estimated Montana would lose nearly $37 million for summer alone if it didn’t submit a plan for the school year. At the time, a department manager told a legislative committee the program, established in 2020 to help children who lost free lunch because of school closures, was too burdensome to administer.

In a news release Friday and in remarks to the interim committee, Meier said the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, has since allowed more flexibility with P-EBT plans, and his team found a solution that didn’t have significant administrative challenges by focusing on children from 0 to 6 in the school year, which still allows older children get help in the summer. As such, he said DPHHS is confident about its ability to administer P-EBT going forward; a news release from the department said DPHHS issued more than $66 million in benefits from March 2020 to August 2021.

If approved, the most recent P-EBT funds will be available to children under age 6 who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, this school year, according to DPHHS. The department estimates that nearly 17,000 children who had reduced access to child care meals will be eligible for a $33 per month benefit. DPHHS said this amount is for September to December 2021; it said the amount for January 2022 to May 2022 has yet to be determined.

“I’m pleased that a workable solution has been identified, and USDA heard our concerns,” Meier said in a statement. “In the end, this is about providing valuable assistance to Montana families and ensuring children have access to nutritious foods. We committed to re-evaluating P-EBT in light of federal flexibilities, and we met that promise.”

At the meeting, Meier said he anticipated the amount of money would be significantly less than projected earlier because more children were in school, but he said it was too soon to know a precise figure. DPHHS also said it plans to submit a plan to collect summer 2022 P-EBT benefits and anticipates the funds will be available to children from 0 to 17 years old.

During questions from legislators, Sen. Mary McNally, D-Billings, praised DPHHS for submitting a plan to help secure dollars for meals for children. However, she also quizzed Meier about other programs intended to support children.

For example, McNally said she was concerned that at least 500 children who used to receive mental health services through the Comprehensive School and Community Treatment Program are no longer getting help. She also noted the question is for the Office of Public Instruction as well, not just the Health Department.

“I’m concerned about what’s happened with those kids,” McNally said.

In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers directed the two departments to figure out how to deliver CSCT, which provides mental health services to students in public schools, after a federal change meant the state needed to pay hard matching funds rather than certify a soft match. The transition has been fraught with complications, and earlier data from DPHHS showed fewer children using the services.

Friday, Meier said some clinics could be picking up some of the children, and some of the schools might be offering similar support but possibly through COVID-19 relief funds instead. McNally said she wanted to know the actual outcomes, and Meier agreed to report back.

McNally also asked about the $61.3 million available in child care stabilization out of ARPA funds, the American Rescue Plan Act, and $40.4 million available for innovation. DPHHS has paid $16.5 million for stabilization and just $200,000 for innovation, according to and McNally said she understands complex processes are involved, but Montana should do better.

“I’m just wondering when more of that is going to get to the people who really need it,” McNally said.

Meier said although not all the funds have been paid, Montana has been the first- or second-fastest state to obligate and commit funds, meaning many recipients already know they are being awarded a specific amount, and DPHHS is making regular disbursements. The department received 593 applications for stabilization money, he said.

“Although all the payments haven’t gone out, most of that money is obligated to those providers through a grant award,” Meier said.

He also said the total amount of money to award is significant, and it’s an undertaking to allocate funds in a way that is fair and complies with auditing and other requirements. Additionally, Meier said the ARPA funds are different than earlier relief money in that they are meant to support longer term recovery.

McNally said she appreciated the quick work in obligating funds, but she also didn’t want millions of dollars just sitting around when she was seeing that child care workers are earning a median $11.19 an hour, and families can use the help: “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

In the exchange with the committee, Meier noted work to distribute funds is ongoing, and he said a current request for proposals will mean some $15 million goes out across the state in a minimum 15 awards for communities to grow child care. 

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .

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For many schools with high lead levels, finding the money to fix the problem will be a challenge. The options aren’t great. They can compete for a dwindling pool of state money, seek federal aid passed last year, or add the repairs to their long lists of capital improvement projects and pay for the work themselves.

“We prioritized emergency needs and then will follow up with the next-most-serious thing,” said Brian Patrick, Great Falls Public Schools’ director of business services and operations. “Obviously, this is something we want to get addressed right away. We want safe water for our kids.”

Lead, a toxic metal long known to cause lasting organ and nervous system damage, can make its way into drinking water through pipes and fixtures. to lead poisoning, which can slow development and cause learning, speech, and behavioral problems. Although federal rules require that community water sources be tested for lead, from that oversight and can decline to be tested.

The , created by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services in 2020, requires schools to check at least every three years for lead in the water of any sink or fountain used for drinking or food prep. Schools’ initial deadline to get that done was Dec. 31, 2021. According to the rule, any faucet whose water has a lead concentration of 5 parts per billion or higher must be fixed or routinely flushed. Fixtures that test higher than 15 ppb must immediately be shut off.

“There is no safe level of lead,” said health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt. “And that is why schools, DPHHS, and (the Department of Environmental Quality) are taking actions to remove sources of lead in children’s environment.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that school water fountains not have water lead concentrations higher than 1 ppb, .

State officials have said 589 school buildings need to meet Montana’s new rule. Of the 222 schools that had turned in samples by Feb. 18, 110 had at least one water fixture with lead levels higher than 15 ppb, according to a KHN analysis of state data. Almost a third of all fixtures tested so far across the state had dangerous levels of lead in their water, according to .

The highest test result so far came from Skyview High School in Billings, where a sink in a theater control room tested at 7,800 ppb — federal environmental regulators classify lead concentrations . That sink and any other that had levels higher than 15 ppb were blocked off from use, said Scott Reiter, director of facilities at Billings Public Schools.

Montana’s rule mandates that schools’ results be but doesn’t require schools to tell parents when students have been exposed. For many Montana schools, this is the first time they’ve tested for lead.

In some cases, schools with a long list of high lead numbers must wait for solutions, with some sinks and fountains blocked from use. At Billings West High School, more than 40 fixtures tested in the red — higher than 15 ppb — out of 139 samples taken. As of mid-February, repair work hadn’t begun at Billings West as district officials prioritized projects that keep access to drinking water for students and employees in other schools, whether that’s applying filters or replacing fixtures.

“We’re just taking it one school at a time,” said Billings Public Schools Superintendent Greg Upham. “In some cases, it will fall to our general funding facilities budget, which is unfortunate, but, you know, on the safety side of it, that’s what we need to do.”

Greg Montgomery, who manages DEQ’s new monitoring program, said he’s still reaching out to schools that haven’t finished sending in water samples.

“This rule rolled out right as COVID hit,” Montgomery said. “And schools have also had a lot of turnover. I’ll get calls from new facility people saying they just heard about the program and how do they get started.”

Although DEQ helps oversee the program, the rule’s enforcement falls to DPHHS. Ebelt said the deadline was set before the pandemic and COVID slowed that work for many schools.

He said a total of 308 schools had submitted an inventory of their buildings’ plumbing fixtures and more samples had been coming in. As of Feb. 28, 293 schools had provided samples. Not all results have been posted.

“We plan to be flexible with the deadline and will continue to work with schools,” Ebelt said.

Classroom and bathroom sinks were more likely than any other type of fixture to have high levels of lead. Of all the drinking fountains tested, 20% tested high enough to need flushing or get turned off, according to state environmental officials. Schools don’t have a deadline to make repairs, though some have taken anything whose water tested over 5 ppb out of service.

Nationwide, has tracked how many lead pipes deliver water to homes, schools, and businesses, let alone tested every faucet for traces of the neurotoxin. At least seven states — California, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Virginia — require school districts to test for lead and report elevated levels to parents, .

Last year, that schools test drinking water for lead if the buildings went up or pipes went in before 2016. And in 2020, school boards to submit plans to test for lead and to make fixes if needed.

Patrick, with Great Falls Public Schools, said that in some cases, the district brought in water bottle fill stations with filters to replace old hallway drinking fountains. The district already had plans to use part of the proceeds from a bond issuance to replace the internal piping at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 fixtures had lead levels of 5 ppb or higher.

He said that the district had considered testing in the past but that the estimated cost was too high. With the new rule, the state covers the cost of lab tests and supplies for taking samples.

However, if repairs are needed, many schools may be left to foot the bill themselves. The state set aside $40,000 to help schools fix problems, but that money is first come, first served. As of Feb. 18, about $15,000 remained.

Patrick said that as schools calculate total repair costs, they’re submitting that information to state officials. He hopes that more than $40,000 will be set aside for repair projects the next time schools submit samples. For now, the gap in funding may mean delaying other projects.

“It just means a project that we’re going to do, like re-asphalting part of a playground or something like that, gets postponed for another year,” he said.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed late last year included to expand access to clean drinking water. But the money hasn’t been disbursed to states yet, it’s not limited to school repairs, and how much of that funding will land in Montana isn’t clear yet.

Montgomery, of DEQ, said that if schools don’t have the money to make fixes, some may qualify for rural development grants or low-interest loans.

In Troy, 27 of the 58 water fixtures tested at the elementary school came back above the state’s allowed limit of less than 5 ppb, with five in the red. The rural school district now faces the cost of repairing those water sources after incurring the hidden cost of the staff time it takes to inventory and sample every water source — no small expense for a small district with limited cash and workers.

“We’re just going to chip away at it with the general funds that we do have, and there may be some areas that we just shut down different water sources too,” said Jacob Francom, superintendent of Troy Public Schools. “Fixtures are very expensive — and testing regularly, I mean, it starts to add up.”

KHN data editor Holly Hacker contributed to this article.

(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on and .