School board debates merits of lobby group
The School District 6 continued discussion over Montana Quality Education Coalition membership renewal for 2016 at a work session last week.
Over a decade ago, the district was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit backed by MQEC to challenge Montana Legislature’s funding of education.
District superintendent Steve Bradshaw and board members Barb Riley and Jill Rocksund attended a board meeting of MQEC. They sought answers to two questions that came up during conversation with Dianne Burke, MQEC executive director, at the district board meeting in September. The district board wanted to know how MQEC is different from other Montana public education advocacy groups and when does MQEC plan to go back to court to get more funding.
A MQEC board member said, “rural schools don’t want to sue,” Rocksund recalled. But she isn’t satisfied with that answer. The mission of the organization when it was formed was to push for a school funding formula that was fair, she said.
“It’s easy for a group of adults to sit in a room and decide it’s not a politically convenient time to pursue a certain avenue ... but our kids don’t necessarily have time,” Rocksund said. “We don’t need another lobbying group.”
The MQEC website describes itself as a “constitutional guardian” that advocates for, pursues, and defends the need for adequate funding to provide quality education for each of Montana’s public school students. MQEC hasn’t been silent in the courts, since the lawsuit with Columbia Falls. They sued the state legislature in 2011 for not giving the full inflationary increase to school funding, required by law, and won the suit.
MQEC board members said that if Columbia Falls School District is not satisfied, then it needs to be more involved in MQEC.
There isn’t a trustee on the MQEC board, just administrators, the district noted. Most of the members are new and don’t remember the details of the lawsuit. District board members made the suggestion that Riley or Rocksund sit on the MQEC board because they were involved in the lawsuit.
Trustee Dean Chisholm said he would like to see the board put focus back on supporting activities such as teachers’ success with the Common Core Standards.
Rocksund said that the board can do that only if the district has money to support the teachers.
The board will vote whether or not to renew MQEC membership at the next regular board meeting Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.
In other school board news:
• Glacier Gateway fourth grade teachers Penni Anello and Carrie Gnauck and Ruder first grade teachers Amy Hanson and Cassie Ladenburg presented their experience with the Montana Common Core Standards that the Montana Board of Public Education adopted in November 2011.
Anello said she hasn’t had a “non-writer” in her classroom in over three years. She described a non-writer as a child who has fits during writing and will stab holes in the paper.
They have also had parents tear up at parent-teacher conferences because parents don’t realize the extent that their children can write.