Major education bill advances, would boost starting teacher pay

Sen. John Fuller championed a $55 million education bill by reminding the Senate of his fiscally conservative values.

“Some of you may know that I’m so tight, I squeak when I walk, but I do support public education, and I support it fiercely,” Fuller, R-Kalispell, said on Tuesday.

Sen. Sara Novak, a Democrat from Anaconda, said House Bill 252 isn’t perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction, and it will help especially small rural schools and young educators.

“It is some much-needed funding to our public schools to directly impact our teacher wages and specifically our beginning teacher wages,” Novak said.

The Senate voted 40-10 in favor of the STARS Act, or Student and Teacher Advancement for Results, sending it to the Senate Finance and Claims Committee for a closer fiscal analysis.

It’s among the bills to help public schools that one supporter said bolsters education without adding undue stress to already beleaguered residential property taxpayers.

Montana has struggled to increase starting teacher pay, and a proposal from the 2023 legislative session didn’t work as planned.

Backed by the Governor’s Office, HB 252 earned bipartisan support, although some critics said it doesn’t do enough for veteran teachers, who also need to be paid well.

Sponsor and Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, has said the bill aims to fix an ongoing problem, which is low pay for beginning teachers, and the state doesn’t have unlimited funds.

The bill would spend more than $110 million from the general fund in the biennium, according to the most recent fiscal analysis.

It also has other provisions to support education, such as incentives for academic achievement for students and tools to help teachers in areas with high housing costs.

After the Senate floor vote, Lance Melton, with the Montana School Boards Association, said funding proposals before the legislature, including the STARS Act, have been written to guard against a spike in local property taxes.

Property tax income goes in part toward public schools.

“All of those proposals have two — front and center — primary stakeholders, the child and the taxpayer,” Melton said.

The fiscal analysis estimates an increase to local school property taxes of $800,000 a year, but those dollars are associated with housing support voters might approve through local levies, not incentives for teachers.

Melton pointed also to House Bill 483 and House Bill 515, which both passed out of the House with bipartisan support and are in the Senate.

Sponsored by Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, R-Kalispell, HB 483 would take any revenue growth that exceeds the state’s obligation to a school equalization fund and return it to taxpayers.

It has other Republicans and Democrats as co-sponsors and passed with a bipartisan 87-11 vote out of the House.

House Bill 515, sponsored by Rep. Linda Reksten, R-Polson, would in part help schools with major maintenance costs without asking property taxpayers for a levy or a bond.

On the House floor, Reksten said it has support from the Governor’s Office.

She said the bill transfers $75 million of one-time-only money from the general fund surplus to fill the school facilities trust fund — without affecting property taxpayers.

It passed out of the House on a bipartisan 73-25 vote.