This first article about school funding is my attempt to try in a small part to explain to all of us how Big Sandy School is funded. I might need to rewrite this article to explain further if I get a small portion wrong. I was given 38 pages title Understand Montana School Finance and School Districts Budgets.
The years’ complete financial budget is not fully completed. They are waiting for the state to complete the paperwork, so I’ll be referring to last years’ funds in general terms as well as the unofficial Budget Report of 2021. The state determines what a permissible budget is. Even if we wanted to raise taxes to increase a certain line item, we could not. The total of all Funds is approximately $3.5 million. There are ten general areas of funds. General Funds at $1.9 million most of that 80 to 85 percent goes to salaries depending on the year. Transportation is $250 thousand. Bus Depreciation is over $600 thousand. The school owns seven buses. There is a category called Tuition, which is for the highest need student to receive one-on-one assistance. There is $26,000 in this category. Retirement has $275,000. Adult Education has $27,000 in the budget, but this is a complicated category, including several areas of interest. Technology, which included computers, cameras, and phones, has almost $73 thousand. There is a Flexibility category allowing for a variety of uses at $76,000. This includes Oil and Gas money of about $6,000 a year. This year’s Building Reserve has $75,000; however, the total number of Reserve funding is $280,037.81. We are required by law to carry a certain percentage forward. This is not an option.
We have 207 students; 106 at the F. E. Miley, 34 in the 7th and 8th grade, and 67 students in grades 9-12.
The state of Montana determines district lines.
“All of this was determined by taking the school finance systems to court. The history of these started in 1985l. A coalition of 64 school districts filed a lawsuit in Helena District court claiming that the funding of the education system in Montana, guaranteed under the Montana Constitution, was unconstitutional. On January 13, 1988, the Lobl decision was handed down. This decision, which was challenged by the state of Montana and subsequently upheld by the Montana Supreme Court, confirmed that the state of Montana: “….has failed to provide a system of quality public education granting to each student the equality of educational opportunity guaranteed under Article X section 1 of Montana’s Constitution.”
“In June of 1989, a special session was called to address the problem. During that session, HB 28 was passed to solve the equity problem. HB 28 increased funding and instituted a Guaranteed Tax Base System (a mechanism designed to assist low wealth distracts by subsidizing their tax base through state assistance. However, the under-funded coalition, did not feel that this solved the equity problem, and the funding disparity issue ended up back in District Court. The result was two additional equity lawsuits filed in 1991. Subsequent legislative action passed by HB 667 established the current method of school funding for all public school districts in the state. It established a formula that created maximum and minimum general fund budget levels for all school districts. Each school district was required to be within that range.”
For 2021, the general fund is funded by 69% state monies, 29.5 % Local revenue, and 1.5%.
State funding includes direct state aid, special education, Guaranteed Tax Base Aid, American Indian achievement Gap, Quality Educator, At Risk, Indian Education for all, and Data for Achievement. Local is property tax levies. Other includes non-levy revenues, such as oil and gas, tuition, gross coal proceeds, interest earnings, and fund balance re-appropriated.
