School board asks public to lobby for special session

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

Bozeman’s School Board chairman asked the public Tuesday to contact the governor and legislators to demand a special session to boost state funding for schools, saying it was the only way to head off major budget cuts for next school year.

There’s enough money in the state surplus to allow school districts across Montana to avoid budget cuts, Chairman Carson Taylor told a crowd of about 100 parents, teachers, local legislators and candidates who attended a special meeting at Bozeman High School.

“I believe we need to take one more shot at asking the governor to call a special session,” Taylor said. It may not happen, he said, but if everyone in the room got five friends to call, and if Billings, Helena and other cities join in, it might.

While some parents said they were ready to take his phone list and start calling lawmakers, local legislators did not sound excited about the idea of a special session.

“I wish I could offer some solutions,” Sen. Bob Hawks, D-Bozeman, said. “It’s difficult to imagine how we can pull something together.”

Rep. John Sinrud, R-Bozeman and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, said one way to raise more money for schools would be for Montana to promote more coal and coal bed methane production, though he admitted that was unlikely to happen.

Bozeman’s elementary and middle schools face a $244,000 shortfall next school year and the high school faces a $550,000 shortage, administrators said.

The 2007 Legislature increased state funding by 1.9 percent n not enough to keep up with inflation. In addition, Bozeman schools have reached their state spending limit and cannot ask local taxpayers for make up the shortage.

Administrators said state funding did increase for three years after a 2005 court decision required it. But next school year, the amount of money Bozeman will receive per student will slide back down to the 2005-2006 level.

“You guys are really between a rock and a hard place,” said Liz Shanahan, a parent who expressed disappointment that Bozeman schools do so little for gifted and talented students. “People won’t come here if our schools suffer.”

It may be possible to use short-term budget tricks to take care of most of the deficit for the elementary schools, said Steve Johnson, assistant superintendent for business. For example, the technology fund that’s supposed to buy computers could be used to pay the technology staff.

“We’ve talked about building the house of cards again,” Johnson said. And he said he doubts such tricks can get rid of the larger shortfall in the high school.

When Rep. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman, suggested such steps might avoid budget cuts, School Trustee Denise Hayman said that was like robbing Peter to pay Paul, gambling with money that’s desperately needed for technology, and taking a chance that the 2009 Legislature would provide more money for schools.

Phillips said it might be a way to buy time until the “right demographics,” apparently meaning new lawmakers, are elected to go to Helena.

Teacher Kim Quigley said perhaps the School Board has done too good a job of finding ways to trim the budget so it doesn’t hurt students. Perhaps if after-school programs or athletics were threatened, she said, people would pay more attention.

Bozeman resident Mike Cavey said he has read in the newspaper that the school funding problem is “the governor’s fault, the Democrats’ fault and the Republicans’ fault.”

“Schools are too important to be a political football,” he said.

Also attending the meeting were Sens. Larry Jent and Gary Perry, Rep. Roger Koopman, Speaker Scott Sales, and candidates Ted Washburn and Tom Burnett.

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