Education

More money sought for Montana's schools

Posted: Jan 22, 2013 1:07 PM by Marnee Banks - MTN News

HELENA - Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau is asking for additional funding for K-12 education, and on Monday she presented her budget to the Senate Education Committee.

There are five main funding streams for education in Montana and Juneau is proposing inflationary increases for all of them. She's also asking for an additional $6.7 million in basic entitlement money.

Each district currently gets basic entitlement funding, and Juneau is proposing to fund each school instead of each district.

"It's a good time for this Legislature, giving our ending fund balance, giving how well our state is doing. We have been great at being fiscally responsible and now is really the time to make an investment in our public education system, make sure that our schools can continue to provide a quality education to all of the students across the state," Juneau said.

There are also two other school funding bills being discussed. Governor Steve Bullock has a proposal on the table, and so does Republican Senator Llew Jones of Conrad.