Legislators focus on education in videoconference

Students in the Montana University System will likely see a hike in tuition in the near future, ending a longstanding freeze on tuition, state Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, said Tuesday.

"I just really feel for students because we are demanding more and more education for students" he said. "It's a good thing - we should be demanding more education to be part of  the economy, but if we are going to be demanding more education, I don't think it is responsible to increase a financial burden on our students."

Bachmeier, who sits on the House Education Committee, made the prediction during a weekly videoconference in the Robins Administration Building between north-central Montana legislators and constituents.

Bachmeier later said in a Facebook message that the Legislature will likely provide a stagnant amount of funding in the FY18 budget and no inflationary increase, which would force a rise in the cost of tuition.

During the 2015 legislative session, increased funding to the university system in the FY17 budget allowed the Legislature, Gov. Steve Bullock and the Montana University System Board of Regents to freeze tuition for students until fall 2017, after the current fiscal year has ended.

Bachmeier said legislation he proposed that would reimburse state universities for the cost of mandatory waivers was tabled in the House Education Committee, with one Republican on the committee crossing over to support the bill.

The state mandates that the university system grants tuition waivers to military veterans, American Indians and several other groups, at a cost that is then passed onto students who pay tuition.

Bachmeier said his legislation would have created an account for each university in the system. Each year money equal to the amount that university spent on waivers the year before would be taken from the state general fund and placed in that account.

He said that Montana State University-Northern and other university system members who have a small student population but many waivers would have benefited from the legislation.

Jim Bennett, Director of the Montana State University-Northern Alumni Foundation, asked the lawmakers during the videoconference about the status of a proposed referendum on continuing a 6 mil levy to the state university system.

The proposal would have to be approved by both legislative houses if it is to appear on the ballot in November 2018, according the bill's text.

Bennett said that if the 6 mill levy continued, it would provide $12-15 million to the state universities.

State Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and a member of the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, said the bill passed committee and went to the floor of the Senate.

The bill, Senate Bill 85, passed Tuesday, 32-17, and has been transmitted to the House. Tempel voted for the bill, as did Sen. Frank Smith, D-Poplar. Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, voted against the bill.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean, who served as Hill County Superintendent of Schools before being elected to the Hill County Commission in November, asked about a bill that would offer a stipend to students enrolled in a degree program to teach in underserved school districts.

Tempel said two such bills came before the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee.

Senate Bill 115 would provide a $3,000 annual stipend to any full-time teacher, school librarian or other school employee with a certificate from a nationally certified board who teaches in a school district with a teacher shortage or is in a school district with a high level of poverty.

The bill passed out of committee Monday, 5-3, with Tempel one of the three votes against it.

A second proposal, Senate Bill 114, which Tempel said did not pass out of committee, would have created the Montana STARTS scholarship program. The program would offer students enrolled in the Montana University System $2,500 scholarships to complete their necessary teaching assignments in a geographic area or subject matter with a shortage of teachers.

"I will say that is a need in rural schools," McLean said, adding that recruiting is difficult because rural schools often do not offer very high wages."

Tempel said Senate Bill 114 "would carry a pretty hefty fiscal note." He said both incentivized programs made sense, but that the high cost of the proposal was the sticking point.

The legislative website did not have the records of the 4-4 vote tabling the bill available, so Havre Daily News could not confirm before deadline whether Tempel voted for the bill.

State Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, said he has introduced legislation to help address teacher shortages in Montana school districts by correcting provisions in Montana law related to rehiring retired teachers, administrators and other specialists.

Lang said that current law dictates that a teacher, administrator or specialist who is retired and has worked for at least 30 years in that district and retired for at least two months, can be re-employed by a local school board for up to three years if there is an open position no other qualified applicant has applied for.

He said he wants to reduce the required amount of time a teacher has had to work to 25 years and the length of time a retiree can be rehired without it affecting their pension from three to four years.

The rehired employee would continue to receive their pension and a third of the pay of a non-retiree.

The state legislative website said the proposal has been referred to the House Administration Committee.