Montana, Ohio & Oregon Advocates Push for Better Funding

With the 2006 midterm elections behind them, education advocacy organizations across the country are lobbying the newly elected state legislatures for increased education funding.

Oregon Statewide Citizens’ Corps

On December 12, Oregon’s Chalkboard Project announced formation of a “statewide citizens’ corps” to lead its advocacy efforts in 2007. The new citizens’ corps – comprising parents, educators, businesspeople, civic volunteers and leaders, community members, and students from across the state – will take a lead role in Chalkboards’s efforts to organize community action and lobby for the implementation of its 2007 legislative priorities.

Chalkboard, a non-profit education advocacy organization, was founded in 2004, and since then its members have traveled around the state and connected with over 100,000 Oregonians to gain ideas from the public on how to improve schools. Chalkboard has studied the policy and fiscal implications of plans for improving public schools, and in September it released its 2007 legislative priorities. The prioirities include: establishing a guaranteed base level of state spending per student, to be updated each year based on empirical data; creating programs to determine best financial practices by districts and having independent review of districts’ financial practices; reforming school employee benefits in order to lower Oregon’s spending on employee health benefits down to the national average; lowering class sizes and providing individualized support in early grades; and improving the quality of the teaching force through mentoring programs and development and implementation of meaningful professional development programs.

According to Sue Hildick, president of the Chalkboard Project, “We’re moving forward into 2007 with the strong backing of Oregonians, and our newly formed citizens’ corps is one more indication of the kind of appetite and support for change there is throughout our state.”

Seeking Constitutional Adequacy in Montana

In Montana, a coalition of school districts and education organizations from across the state is working to ensure that the state legislature fulfills its constitutional duty to adequately fund education for all Montana students. Under the Montana Supreme Court’s 2004 ruling in Columbia Falls v. State, the state is required to define, determine the cost of, and provide adequate funding for “a basic system of free, quality” schools. The legislature defined a quality education in its 2005 session and increased funding, but it has yet to cost-out or fully fund the definition.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition (MQEC) – whose member school districts serve over two-thirds of the state’s students – has contracted with education finance experts to determine the cost of providing all Montana students with a quality education, as defined by the legislature. The results of the study are due out in January 2007, and MQEC indicates that its member organizations will use the study as a “measuring stick” by which to evaluate the legislature’s actions in their 2007 advocacy efforts.

According to Pete Carparelli, MQEC’s Executive Director, the coalition is committed to working collaboratively with the governor’s office, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Legislature to “advise and evaluate” education funding proposals. In addition, MQEC will seek grassroots support for adequate funding because, as Carparelli says, local support is “critical,” as Montana’s legislature is very closely split. As reported in the Great Falls Tribune, the new chair of the Montana House Education committee, Rep. Rick Jore, opposes additional funding for public schools, federal involvement in public education, and compulsory attendance laws, and favors vouchers. Carparelli believes Jore represents a “potential obstacle” to winning increases in school funding.

The governor’s 2007-2008 proposed budget includes a biennial increase in education funding of only $90 million, an amount that opponents claim does not even account for inflation. Lance Melton, Executive Director of the Montana School Boards Association put it in the context of the litigation: “The increase for K-12 public education proposed for the coming biennium will not be enough for the state to remedy its violations of…the Montana Constitution.” Melton added, “There will be opportunities and challenges ahead as we seek adequate funding for quality education in the 2007 session.”

Constitutional Amendment in Ohio

In Ohio, a coalition of 11 statewide education organizations is making a new constitutional amendment the centerpiece of their 2007 advocacy efforts. The amendment would make education a fundamental right and require the legislature to identify the components of a “thorough and efficient system” of education, determine its costs, and fully fund it for all Ohio students. The text of the amendment will be officially released in January, and the coalition plans to have petitions for the amendment in the field by February, in order to have the amendment appear on the November 2007 ballot.

William Phillis, Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, one of the organizations involved in writing and promoting the amendment, believes the amendment is the best chance for ensuring adequate education funding over the long-term. Phillis indicated that despite the election of a new governor who claims education is one of his top priorities, the state legislature is unlikely to increasing funding and has “tied one hand” of the new administration by passing state expenditure limits this year. An amendment that would require the state to fully fund education is essential, Phillis said, because “every kid is entitled to an adequate education.”

Prepared by Matthew Samberg, December 19, 2006