Brown talks budget with T.C. School

 

February 15, 2018

Shana Neesvig

MONEY TALKS, and Trout Creek School is in need of some to keep its doors open for education. Rep. Bob Brown (far right) spent more than two hours visiting with staff, board members and the public about what could be done to plead their financial crisis case and encourage legislative support. Rep. Brown's suggestion that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" summed up what school supporters need to do.

Trout Creek School is facing a budget problem. As things currently stand, there is no guarantee the school doors will open for students next fall.

State Rep. Bob Brown accepted an invitation to discuss the legislative budget at Trout Creek School's last board meeting on Feb.6. For more than two hours he answered questions addressed by an audience of 22 members.

The school's concerns are real, and according to Trout Creek Board Chairman Mike Linderman, he is afraid for the school's future.

"Ever since 'No Child Left Behind,' Montana schools have not been funded well," Linderman stated.

District Clerk Mary Meyer demonstrated the economic analysis for next school year's funding. "We are expecting a $22,000 to $23,000 loss in addition to legislative cuts," she stated. These legislative cuts resulted in a loss of more than $100,000 from 2017 in the State School Block Grant. These funds were recovered for the current school year through taxpayer dollars, Meyer said, which are never a guarantee.

Linderman stated that he wanted the public to be clear that the school did not directly request the financial recovery through a raise in taxes.

When funding is considered, a three-year enrollment count is taken into consideration. Trout Creek School enrollment numbers just aren't what they use to be, and taking the three prior years into account is not in their favor. What will now be four years ago, the school saw an increase in student population. After that year, enrollment dropped. Therefore, the 2018-2019 school year will no longer include the high population year, hurting the school's share of funding.

Rep. Brown explained that a bill was in the legislative hopper for funding schools like Trout Creek. Unfortunately, it was not solely for school funding. It also contained funding for other areas and projects that were less desirable in some legislative member's opinions.

"Passing the bill in one lump sum just wasn't possible," Brown said. The funding would have been there had other features not been included on the same bill, he claimed.

"Do legislators think they are funding quality education in Montana?" Linderman questioned.

Rep. Brown responded saying, "All-in-all, the general consensus is that they believe yes we are, given the difficulties we have."

Serving as a representative of the public, Ernest Scherzer quickly followed by asking if the legislative policy making group has "set a policy on how to improve school funding, and make long range plans to bring schools out of a hole?"

Scherzer also made it very clear that all schools in Sanders County are suffering from the same budget issues. He suggested legislative representatives from the entire region work together in helping to get funds to county schools.

Rep. Brown clarified that he believed Office of Public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen is attempting to make changes to secure better funding for Montana's schools in the future, although he did not give specific examples of these changes.

When asked to fight for Trout Creek School, Rep. Brown stated he had inquired about asking for a bill to fund Trout Creek School. He claimed he was told not to bother because there were no extra funds available, so he did not continue with the idea. "I could have done it to make a point, but why when it was going to accomplish nothing," he said.

Roughly one hour into the meeting, the open forum began to focus more on what could currently be done to help the school's financial crisis. Linderman took the floor. "We are running out of grant opportunities. It feels that to legislators, Trout Creek does not matter. How do we make ourselves matter?"

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease," Rep. Brown responded. "Follow legislature, show up when bills come due and write correspondence. A personal note, with personal feelings – take time to sit and write a letter addressing your issues. The time is right now to be doing something."

"I get over 3,000 letters a day," Rep. Brown said. "I go through them and first pull the ones from people in my district, I will always read letters that are hand written." Brown directed those interested in the best way to get legislative interest in their cause. He said legislators rarely get hand written letters any more. When they do, they will look at them. He added that these "personal" letters should be sent to all legislative members responsible for making education funding decisions.

Linderman had made a light-hearted, yet sincere and powerful request of Rep. Brown. "Every roof we have leaks. I wish I was kidding! Every. Roof. Leaks! Go back and tell them that!"

Rep. Brown continued, "The bottom line is you can't, or shouldn't, spend money that you do not have." He does feel that when it comes to allocating funds "schools should be on the top."

Sen. Jennifer Fielder was also invited to the board meeting, but did not attend.

 

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