MEA-MFT votes against latest school funding lawsuit

Feb. 2008 - How long does it take to dig out of a hole? It depends on how deep the hole is.

Public school funding in Montana languished in a very deep hole indeed between 1991 and 2005, due to 15 years of neglect by state legislatures and governors. It will take some time to climb out.

That was MEA-MFT's conclusion in deciding to vote against the latest lawsuit filed by the Montana Quality Education Coalition (MQEC).

MEA-MFT and other public school supporters formed MQEC in response to grossly inadequate state funding of schools. The group took the State of Montana to court in 2003, saying the state was failing its constitutional obligation to fund quality public education.

As a result, the Montana Supreme Court directed the state legislature to put more money into Montana's public schools.

Around the same time, Montanans elected a governor and legislative majorities with a more favorable attitude toward public schools. Governor Brian Schweitzer, along with the 2005 and 2007 legislatures, increased state funding for schools by $131 million-more than twice as much as all funding increases from 1991 to 2005.

Significant progress
Yet many members of MQEC, including school districts representing 70 percent of Montana's school children, are concerned because state funds for schools will increase only 1.9 percent in the 2008-09 school year.

Early this February, MQEC filed another lawsuit, saying the state is still neglecting its constitutional duty.

"We voted against the motion to go back to court," explained MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver, who serves on the MQEC board of directors. "We believe Governor Schweitzer and the last two legislatures have made significant progress in school funding."

Along with providing new money for schools, the governor and recent legislatures also funded full-time kindergarten, Indian Education for All, and solved the almost billion-dollar unfunded liability in the state Teachers Retirement System.

"Do our schools have enough funding now? No. They are still struggling out of the hole," Feaver said.

"But it's clear that Governor Schweitzer wants to do more to fund our public schools. He has proven his commitment through the past two legislatures. The reality is that no governor and no legislature could, in one fell swoop, fill the school funding deficit hole that previous governors and legislatures dug. It's going to take time."

Feaver vowed that MEA-MFT will help build a realistic school funding remedy for consideration by the governor and 2009 Legislature.

"Then," he said, "we have to re-elect a governor and a sufficient number of legislators who will vote to invest in public schools.

"Without friends of public education in high places, friends with the power to develop the state budget and vote on it, it won't really matter what the courts say."

Bozeman Chronicle's March 19, 2008 editorial agrees with MEA-MFT position.