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Keep an eye on these bills
Our Point of View
By Eric Feaver, MEA-MFT President
A month into the 2001 Legislature, we are where we expected to be: Optimistic about the state pay plan and public employee and teacher retirement but deeply worried about state funding of elementary, secondary, and higher education.
State pay plan
The state pay plan, HB 13 (Representative Dave Lewis) costs $31 million. Consequently, it has received some negative comments - mostly behind closed doors at least as of this writing.
Fortunately, the pay plan is in the governor's budget, and we have no indication whatsoever that Governor Judy Martz does not intend to defend the pay plan. For sure, we will defend it with every ounce of our organizational strength. We bargained and ratified with the state in good faith. We took less than what we wanted and, depending on the almost uncontrollable cost of health care insurance, maybe less than what we will need over the biennium.
Retirement
We are confident, despite some capitol hallway grumbling, that the legislature will authorize the governing boards of the various public employee retirement systems to provide up to a 3 percent annual increase in retirement benefits to serve as a hedge against inflation. Our bill to make this happen at no additional cost to the state or active employees is HB 294 (Representative Dave Lewis).
Several other retirement bills that do positive things for public employees are working their way through the legislature. We think the legislature will respond favorably to almost all. Again, our proposed retirement legislation costs the state nothing new.
K-higher education funding
K-12 school funding is up in the air. The education community bill, HB 31 (Representative Carol Juneau), asks the state to invest $66.7 million in elementary and secondary education. We believe this is an investment the state must make. We are not alone in this belief. Strong voices for economic development likewise insist that the state must invest a whole lot more in education.
Unfortunately, the governor's bill, HB 121 (Representative Doug Mood) falls way short of real investment, short of even treading water. It appropriates a mere $13.2 million only in the second year of the biennium.
Looking like middle ground is SB 70 (Senator Bill Glaser) that invests about $44 million in basic and per pupil entitlements. This might cover inflation over the next biennium (maybe - depending on how much it costs school districts to turn on lights and heat buildings), but it will not sufficiently help districts suffering declining enrollment.
As for a significant increase in state funding of the university system...to this moment, not. The action or inaction is in HB 2 (Representative Steve Vick). It appears the legislature may be satisfied to watch the Board of Regents squirm to meet student and faculty needs via huge increases in tuition and fees. The University Faculty Association, our bargaining unit at the University of Montana, has launched a media campaign to gather public interest in better university funding (see article on page 5). We hope this helps.
We also hope our rally, March 3, in the capitol rotunda will provoke a more generous legislative attitude and action toward school funding. Our members and the students, schools, and communities they serve from all over Montana should be anxious to participate in an unprecedented, entirely unique k-graduate school event.
K-12 teacher salaries, incentives, and professional development
We have caused the introduction of a number of k-12 teacher salary and incentive bills. Each meets a specific need. All but one cost the state little yet deliver a lot.
HB 42 (Representative Gay Ann Masolo) appropriates $3,000 annual stipends for National Board Certified teachers who continue to practice classroom instruction in Montana.
HB 65 (Representative Bob Lawson) creates competitive grants for school districts working collaboratively with bargaining units to establish mentor and induction programs for first-time or novice teachers. Long overdue.
HB 140 (Representative Gay Ann Masolo) provides student loan reimbursement up to $3,000 annually for four years to teachers who assume high demand/low supply positions. HB 140 should help fill some serious teacher shortages.
HB 297 (Representative Holly Raser) grows to $500 the compensation of teachers who supervise student teachers, unbelievably the first measurable increase in 45 years or so!
But the big-hitter proposition to do more than peck at the margins of our serious salary driven teacher shortages is SB 99 (Senator Sam Kitzenberg). SB 99 creates a statewide teacher salary that pays Montana teachers close to the national average. Adjusts annually for inflation. Rewards longevity, post-graduate degrees, National Board Certification, professional development, and supervision of student teaching. Invites teachers to move from one district to another without loss of salary placement. And permits local bargaining units and school districts to negotiate other salary incentives.
Is $100 million in the first year of implementation too much of an investment to ensure future generations of school kids the quality classroom instruction we deliver now, at least most places, most of the time?
School funding restructure
Eventually a bill to create an interim review of our bankrupt, enrollment-driven school funding formula will be introduced. And when it is, the legislature will have already debated a number of bills that would reform our current funding scheme. Exciting stuff here.
HB 32 (Representative Bob Lawson) permits school districts to count for state assistance students 19 and 20 years old who are enrolled and working toward a high school diploma.
HB 163 (Representative Hal Jacobson) increases state reimbursement of school district transportation costs from $.85 to $1.05 per mile, the first increase in state reimbursement rates in a decade. The "wait a decade" approach is an altogether too common practice in state funding of our public schools.
HB 164 (Representative Alan Olson) eliminates the annual 4 percent cap on locally voted school district budget authority. HB 164 has overwhelmingly passed the House. We hope the Senate will likewise agree that so long as school districts stay within the "window of equity," there should be no other legislated cap on what school districts invite local patrons to support.
SB 24 (Senator John Bohlinger) redefines and reallocates high school basic entitlement on a per school as opposed to a per district basis.
SB 239 (Senator Don Ryan) expands SB 24 to include elementary school districts and schools and attempts to invite school district consolidation without threat of school closures.
SB 94 (Senator Debbie Shea) increases school district special education budget authority from 153 percent to 200 percent of state special education payments. This act alone provides school districts $15 million statewide in additional spending authority.
SB 117 (Senator Jon Tester) restores school district capacity to levy mills without a vote to fund transportation, adult education, and bus depreciation reserves.
SB 188 (Senator John Cobb) authorizes a school district to transfer its end-of-the-year general fund balance into the miscellaneous programs fund from which the district could purchase instructional supplies, curriculum materials, technology, professional development, stipends for National Board Certification, and maybe even salary bonuses. SB 188 is one of several proposals developed by the Montana School Boards Association to give school districts more freedom to budget and spend on needs the districts themselves identify.
SB 231 (Senator Duane Grimes) permits school districts to count for state assistance resident students who are regularly enrolled, but not physically present, to whom the district provides accredited cyberspace education.
Classified school employees
SB 79 (Senator Dan Harrington) once again offers up the notion that classified school employees without a promise of employment in the subsequent school year should be eligible for unemployment compensation.
SB 118 (Senator Dan Harrington) increases the state minimum wage 50 cents a year to $6.25 or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater.
Revenue
As we work our way through the session, we will support or work to amend so we can support a number of propositions meant to raise new revenue or redirect existing revenue our way.
HB 205 (Representative Christopher Harris) establishes a "dollars for education fund." It creates a new vehicle rental surcharge and a new realty transfer tax. It increases existing accommodation and tobacco taxes. HB 205 raises $11.6 million dollars and puts no limits on how the fund might support k-graduate education.
SB 119 (Senator Dale Berry) increases the tax on cigarettes from 18 to 56 cents a pack and the tax rate on the wholesale price of other tobacco products from 12.5 percent to 45 percent. It raises $48 million dollars - most of which flow directly into the state's general fund.
Governor Judy Martz has rejected legislative imposition of this tobacco tax but suggested SB 119 might make a nice ballot proposition. We will urge the legislature to do what it is elected to do and not pass its responsibility onto an expensive ballot issue campaign that even if successful might not help us in this biennium.
HB 225 (Representative Trudi Schmidt) creates a $100 million higher education trust within the permanent coal tax trust to support resident students attending units of the Montana University System. Good idea.
HB 277 (Representatives Gay Ann Masolo and Dave Lewis) creates a $100 million education trust within the permanent coal tax trust to help equalize and fund school district capital construction.
Another good idea, but the state already funds the same through the general fund. So we believe the restoration of the education trust the legislature eliminated back in the 1980s might be better used to enhance teacher salaries or at least school district general fund expenditures.
Unfortunately, HB 277 wades deep into the permanent trust battles of the past as it diverts $150 million from the permanent coal tax trust into a "21st Century Fund" to provide local governments (but not schools) up to $30 million annually in matching money for infrastructure development.
Further, HB 277 transfers $40 million in permanent trust principal into the state general fund. Difficult politics this. HB 277 is likely to be around a long time. We will work as best we can to make it compatible with our interests.
Finally, defense
We have seen a handful of bills we wish had not been introduced such as: HB 81 (Representative Joan Andersen) to mandate school districts test students engaged in extracurricular activities for illegal use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. HB 35 (Senator Al Bishop) to require that students wear school uniforms. HB 36 (Senator Al Bishop) to dictate teachers' dress in statute. SB 177 (Senator Jack Wells) to effectively turn public schools into home schools. And HB 250 (Representative Joe Balyeat) to propose a constitutional amendment to delete our constitution's guarantee of "equality of educational opportunity" and equitable state funding of our public schools.
Goodness. This list will likely grow before transmittal at the end of February.
To date no bill meant to privatize public education has been introduced. Nor have we seen bills meant to interfere with union organizing, collective bargaining, and political action. They may yet come. We shall see.
Please stay in touch. Thank you.
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