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Montana School Funding: The System They Built — And Why Taxpayers Keep Getting Sent Back to the Ballot
Let’s clear something up right away. Every time a school levy shows up on the ballot, voters are told the same thing: “Schools are underfunded.” But almost nobody explains how Montana’s school funding system actually got here — or why communities are repeatedly asked to raise their own property taxes to keep schools running. So here’s the timeline they rarely lay out plainly. 1949 — The First Statewide School Funding System In 1949, Montana created what was called the Foundation Program. The idea was simple: the state would create a basic funding system so schools across Montana had some level of financial stability.…
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The Eureka Community Players (ECP) will be performing Mama Won’t Fly for their annual Rendezvous Play. Mama Won’t Fly is a comedy, focusing on a road trip journey to reach a wedding. It’s a hilarious play, and sure to be a ton of fun for actors and audience alike. There’s room in the cast for…
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I’m not speaking about this as an outsider. I’m speaking as the daughter of a veteran and the wife of a veteran. I’ve watched the cost of service up close. I’ve watched the toll it takes on bodies, on families, on marriages, and on the quiet parts of a man’s life that most politicians only pretend…
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Let me explain something that should make every American stop and pay attention. Right now, under current federal law, many combat-injured veterans are not allowed to receive the full military retirement they earned if they also receive disability compensation from the VA. That policy is called the VA offset. And it works like this. You serve your country.You…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…
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I’m having trouble summarizing this one, not least because I lost my notes. In short: The meeting did discuss prayer, but did not discuss a four day week. About prayer: The discussion was specifically with regards to having prayer on the agenda as a part of each school board meeting. The result- no. Community presence…
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The proposed library district has me looking at taxation again. One of the great things about Lincoln County is that, with three high school districts, it’s easy to figure out which communities provide the funds that keep our county going. Market Value Taxable Value Percentage Libby $1,687,186,708 $21,911,499 36.42% Troy $831,354,553 $10,966,329 18.23% Eureka $1,974,407,031…
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Now it takes a single click to get the data. So what does it mean? I measured the record lows back in 1977 – this chart, from the Grave Creek site, shows how the critical snowfall that brings us up to normal or above occurs between the February measurements and April 1. I don’t know…
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The USDA has updated plant hardiness zones, and despite last winter’s impressive cold, we’ve jumped up a zone (to 5a from 4b in 2012; the average low went up by 6 degrees) Hardiness zones are a (partial) climate description that’s been in existence for a bit over a century, though the government didn’t get involved…