Montana lawmakers generally agree public schools need more money to catch up with rising costs. But, they’re deeply divided on whether to extend state support to parents of private school students, and the donors who support them. MTPR’s Austin Amestoy joined news director Corin Cates-Carney to explain.
Corin Cates-Carney: Hey Austin. So, you've been looking into this and set the table for us. What is this big, controversial private school proposal?
Austin Amestoy: Right, Corin. So this proposal's been taking up a lot of oxygen in the statehouse over the last few weeks. It's a major new program that would offer help to parents who want their kids to attend a nonpublic school. Think private or homeschool. It's called the Montana's Academic Prosperity Program for Scholars Act (House Bill 320). And it's complicated, but in a nutshell, here's how it works. It relies on tax credits to help these parents. A credit is a deduction from your tax bill. Parents could apply for a credit of up to $3,500 for qualified educational expenses for their student for the year. At the same time, private donors could get a dollar for dollar tax credit for contributing to what is essentially a scholarship fund for private school students. The money in there would also go directly to nonpublic school families who apply for help paying for private education expenses. In total, this program could lead to up to $8 million in lost taxes that would have otherwise gone to the state in its first year, and that can more than double if there's interest in the program for a number of years consecutively.
Corin Cates-Carney: Okay, so tax credits to support private education. Who's backing this idea?
Austin Amestoy: Well, it's conservative Republicans largely behind this proposal. It was written with a lot of help from this national organization called Ed Choice, which is pushing for laws like this to help parents afford private and homeschool options in states across the nation. At its first hearing, the MAPPS program had a pile of homeschool students and parents, and private school parents who said it would help them afford the education they want. Finley Warden at the bill's first hearing, said his parents pulled him out of a public high school after his sophomore year for a private online option.
Finley Warden: Many families in Montana don't have that option. A student's education should not be entirely determined by their financial situation or where they live.
Austin Amestoy: The bill sponsor is a longtime public school teacher from Laurel, Montana, Republican Rep. Lee Deming. He told me this program costs a fraction of what the state pays for public schools, and it could go a long way toward helping students who don't fit well in the public system.
Lee Deming: We have a constitutional obligation to teach all of our kids, and we're not reaching those kids. So if this provides them an opportunity, and us an opportunity to serve them under our Constitution, then absolutely.
Corin Cates-Carney: So when it comes to how the state is incentivizing funds for either private or public schools, I can imagine there are some opponents here. What are they saying?
Austin Amestoy: Yeah, that could be putting it lightly, Corin. This thing has been a real flashpoint in the Legislature. The critics have quite a few arguments up their sleeve against this one, but the overall takeaway is they say it's a program that routes public dollars directly to private schools which don't have to follow state education standards. The main opponents here are Democrats and public school advocates, though some moderate Republicans have also shown some hesitancy. This policy passed a first vote in the House by just a handful of votes, and then squeaked out of another House committee by one vote later.
Lance Melton represents the Montana School Boards Association, and he says the bill has been amended a few times to ease some of his concerns, but he has quite a few that remain. For one, he says it's redundant with a tax credit system that's already in place that shows equal treatment to public and private school students. This program doesn't apply at all to public school students, which he says is unconstitutional. Also, the tax credits here can be spent on anything a board of parents decides is a qualified educational expense. We don't know what those are right now. It could be tuition, it could also be something like attendance to a museum or a summer camp or even something like acupuncture or an educational therapy. Here's Melton's bottom line:
Lance Melton: I consider this bill to be an inoperable tumor, I think. I think it's going to fail in its entirety if the offending provisions I'm talking about are found unconstitutional, which I believe they will be.
Corin Cates-Carney: What should listeners look out for as this debate continues.
Austin Amestoy: Well, I think it's important to note that House and Senate Republican leadership is backing the tax credits for non-public-school parents, which means there will be a lot of effort made to get those across the finish line. This bill has been getting by so far, as we mentioned, on very thin vote margins, and it's now awaiting a final vote in the House. That could happen any day now. Public school advocates are lobbying a handful of GOP lawmakers to switch their votes to kill this bill, so even if it does squeak out of the House, it has to do this all over again in the Senate, which means it's probably got a long road to make it to the governor's desk.
Corin Cates-Carney: And has Gianforte indicated whether he has the appetite to sign this.
Austin Amestoy: Well, a spokesperson for the governor told me that as, quote, a supporter of parental rights in education, the governor will carefully consider any bill that makes it to his desk. But she did add that the governor's proposed budget does not include this bill right now.
Corin Cates-Carney: Okay. Austin, thanks for your reporting.
Austin Amestoy: Thanks, Corin.
