The message from Montana’s school maintenance directors to lawmakers is straightforward: “We need help.” Several spoke before members of the School Funding Interim Commission this month, including Helena Public Schools’ facility director Todd Verrill.
He told lawmakers the district’s deferred maintenance bill had ballooned to more than $100 million before voters approved a major building overhaul last year. Verrill says the school was doing its best with scant resources.
“If I sound like I’m angry, folks, I am. I come from the military where there’s a $900 billion budget per year at the federal level, and we’re scraping for pennies to educate our children,” Verrill said.
New data from national school infrastructure advocates backed up the administrators’ concerns. The 21st Century School Fund found Montana pays $100 million less than it needs to annually keep up with basic school maintenance like fixing faucets, replacing light fixtures and keeping the heat on.
Stacey Auck is business manager at Hobson Public School in Central Montana. She told lawmakers schools like hers are so old, the stakes are existential.
“If you lose your school, you lose your community, and I think that’s a fear for some of these smaller schools,” Auck said.
Major projects like building a new school are usually voted on and funded by local voters. But those voters have been rejecting funding requests at record rates in recent years.
Montana is far from the only state struggling to pay the physical costs of public school. The 21st Century School Fund reports the national maintenance gap is more than $29 billion.
