HPS administration goes to Helena
Zach White
Amidst near total uncertainty about future school budgets, members of the Havre Public School district’s administration and Board of Trustees traveled to Helena earlier this week to participate in relevant discussions.
Superintendent Andy Carlson spent Monday and Tuesday in hearings on upcoming education funding bills.
“Looking across Montana, it’s a hard time for schools, ” Carlson said. “They are talking layoffs in districts across the state. There’s a lot of anxiety. ”
Two bills in particular have caught the attention of the state’s, and Havre’s, educators: Senate Bill 403 and House Bill 603.
SB 403, sponsored by Republican Llew Jones from Conrad, would change the way oil and natural gas production taxes are distributed to schools in Montana, and would establish a “Pathway to Improvement” program.
Carlson sat in on bill hearings. Havre School Board Chair Lee Christianson testified.
According to Carlson, HPS is hesitantly supporting the bill.
“We’re in support of the bill, but I would clarify that it is a reluctant support, ” Carlson said. “The primary reason for the support is that it’s the most favorable funding proposal we’ve seen to date. It would certainly lower the burden on our local taxpayers, which we are concerned about. ”
The reluctance, Carlson said, comes from the Pathways program set up in the bill.
“We talk about all these measurement’s of how schools do, ” Carlson said. “They want to boil it down to that one day that kids sit down and take a standardized test. We know that that model is not an accurate image of what our schools are about. ”
“It’s frustrating for us when we are lumped in with national problems. ”
Carlson said he anticipates seeing some changes in the bill as it progresses, which could all affect the eventual amounts of recently raised mill levies.
“It is still so much of a guess at this point, ” Carlson said.
The other bill that got a lot of attention from Havre school administrators this week was House Bill 603, sponsored by Somers Republican Mark Blasdel.
HB603 proposes, in its title, “authorizing the establishment of public charter schools as a means of providing additional educational opportunities to the children of Montana. ”
The Havre school district’s view on this bill is less equivocal.
“We’re very opposed to that for multiple reasons, ” Carlson said. “For one thing you’d basically take public money, money away from public schools, for these schools. ”
Carlson explained that the plan resembles a model seen already in Australia, where, he said, public schools are starting to be referred to as “charity schools. ”
“It’s not a viable option, nor a necessity, in Montana, ” Carlson said. “It would take away funds that we can’t afford to lose at this time. We already have difficulty providing the kind of education we are used to. ”
Carlson also seems concerned about the source of these efforts.
“The people proposing that are not from Montana, ” Carlson said. “It’s kind of a national push, which is unfortunate."
Amidst near total uncertainty about future school budgets, members of the Havre Public School district’s administration and Board of Trustees traveled to Helena earlier this week to participate in relevant discussions.
Superintendent Andy Carlson spent Monday and Tuesday in hearings on upcoming education funding bills.
“Looking across Montana, it’s a hard time for schools, ” Carlson said. “They are talking layoffs in districts across the state. There’s a lot of anxiety. ”
Two bills in particular have caught the attention of the state’s, and Havre’s, educators: Senate Bill 403 and House Bill 603.
SB 403, sponsored by Republican Llew Jones from Conrad, would change the way oil and natural gas production taxes are distributed to schools in Montana, and would establish a “Pathway to Improvement” program.
Carlson sat in on bill hearings. Havre School Board Chair Lee Christianson testified.
According to Carlson, HPS is hesitantly supporting the bill.
“We’re in support of the bill, but I would clarify that it is a reluctant support, ” Carlson said. “The primary reason for the support is that it’s the most favorable funding proposal we’ve seen to date. It would certainly lower the burden on our local taxpayers, which we are concerned about. ”
The reluctance, Carlson said, comes from the Pathways program set up in the bill.
“We talk about all these measurement’s of how schools do, ” Carlson said. “They want to boil it down to that one day that kids sit down and take a standardized test. We know that that model is not an accurate image of what our schools are about. ”
“It’s frustrating for us when we are lumped in with national problems. ”
Carlson said he anticipates seeing some changes in the bill as it progresses, which could all affect the eventual amounts of recently raised mill levies.
“It is still so much of a guess at this point, ” Carlson said.
The other bill that got a lot of attention from Havre school administrators this week was House Bill 603, sponsored by Somers Republican Mark Blasdel.
HB603 proposes, in its title, “authorizing the establishment of public charter schools as a means of providing additional educational opportunities to the children of Montana. ”
The Havre school district’s view on this bill is less equivocal.
“We’re very opposed to that for multiple reasons, ” Carlson said. “For one thing you’d basically take public money, money away from public schools, for these schools. ”
Carlson explained that the plan resembles a model seen already in Australia, where, he said, public schools are starting to be referred to as “charity schools. ”
“It’s not a viable option, nor a necessity, in Montana, ” Carlson said. “It would take away funds that we can’t afford to lose at this time. We already have difficulty providing the kind of education we are used to. ”
Carlson also seems concerned about the source of these efforts.
“The people proposing that are not from Montana, ” Carlson said. “It’s kind of a national push, which is unfortunate."
