In MyView

Sen. Edward B. Butcher

The Montana's activist judges are not solving educational funding controversies. Their ruling is simply the propaganda and rhetoric of irresponsible left-wing judges who are ordering 150 legislators to define the meaning of the Montana Constitutional requirement for a "basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools."

The problem is that even the educators cannot agree as to what "basic education" even means! Consequently, the liberal judges and educators are simply echoing the mammoth education bureaucracy demands for more money! Based on the scores from achievement tests, quality education needs to be determined by the locally elected school boards.

The education bureaucrats have targeted the word "quality" in an attempt to force the legislature to dump an additional $350 million of increased tax dollars into a system which goes far beyond the basic learning skills of reading, writing, and math. We are funding a system promoting full-time kindergarten, breakfast as well as lunches, fleets of luxury "cruiser buses" for the sports teams, extended day instruction, summer schools, "professional development," and unlimited demands for extra money for "at risk," Native American, and special education students.

If you total up the "at risk," Native American, and special education students, they comprise approximately 60 percent of the total school population. Statements that "at risk" students require 30 percent more money lacks verification. Interestingly, they are determined as students who qualify for free or reduced lunches following federal guidelines of family taxable income (most Montana young families fit in those guidelines).

As a former teacher, I dispute the generalization that being poor results in learning deficiencies—lack of discipline and non-focused instruction maybe! Certainly, Native American students are not automatically more expensive to educate—even though reservation schools have classrooms packed full of the newest computers and equipment. There is no question that fetal alcohol, single parent (or no parents) families, drugs and other problems from an unstable environment with poverty and poor school attendance creates education problems.

In the middle of this mess steps a bunch of lawyers wearing black robes who have the audacity to order 150 legislators to solve this problem! The key issue is that of an un-constitutional interference by a court system exceeding its constitutional "separation of power" between the three branches of government in our system. The power to tax rests entirely with the elected members of the legislative branch and the judicial branch has no constitutional authority to order an additional $300 million plus dollars taxed from the citizens of Montana—period!

This incredible sum would be added to a current $1.1 billion educational budget (50 percent of the total state budget) and it will still not address the "quality of education" argument. However, it will add tremendous tax burdens on state tax payers making Montana 5th in the nation for per-student spending ($9,185.00) following New York ($10,922.00 per student), and far above Utah ($4,625.00 per student).

What is interesting is that a national study ranked Montana with its current spending 3rd in the Nation on quality of education based on 21 factors including proficiency in reading and math (New York ranked 30th, and Utah ranked 17th) -so money obviously has little to do with "quality" education!

Yes, the elected members of the Montana legislature will review the funding needs of education along with welfare and senior citizens, corrections and law enforcement, highway funding, agriculture, the courts, the administrative bureaucracy—while fulfilling our constitutional role of representing the tax-payers who give up hard earned dollars to make our system function.

In addition, we will also respectfully instruct the Judges to go back to trying criminals and settling individual disputes, which is their constitutional role, and stop meddling in the legislative process!

Sen. Edward B. Butcher (R)

Winifred, Mont.

Note: Senator Butcher is a former political history professor, currently serves on both the senate finance committee and the education committee and has just been elected to HD 29.