The Montana Legislature’s school funding interim committee is holding an online “roadshow” event 6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 24 for the public to share their thoughts.

The Zoom link is here.

The interim committee is currently conducting the statewide decennial study of school funding and last week met for two days in partnership with the National Center on Education and the Economy, the consulting group hired to lead them through the first portion of assessment and data gathering in their efforts.

Recordings of those meetings are available here.

The committee held in person events in Kalispell, Havre and Billings earlier this month.

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Kim Skornogoski, Great Falls Public Schools board member, said during their Sept. 22 meeting that the decennial study is looking at “how to make the puzzle pieces fit better” for school funding in Montana.

She said of the people on the committee, none are from the Great Falls area so the Zoom event was an opportunity for the community to let them know “we need some changes in how those puzzle pieces come together.”

The Innovation and Excellence in Education Working Group was created by House Bill No. 153 in the last legislative session, modifying the school funding interim committee’s duties and membership.

The working group’s work is to be conducted prior to the committee’s work in examining Montana’s school funding formula.

The working group, according to the state, is tasked with:

• comparing the education policies of Montana with the policies of high-performing international and domestic educational systems;
• developing recommendations to adapt the appropriate education policies of high-performing education systems for the public education system in Montana;
• developing an implementation plan for the recommendations; and
• publishing its recommendations and implementation plan no later than Jan. 30..