Billings Gazette - Mar 9, 2005

HELENA - The debate over what "quality education'' in Montana is and what it will cost to deliver took a step forward Tuesday night when a panel of lawmakers unanimously passed a bill defining education.

The 10-member House Select Education Committee, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, passed a dramatically reworked version of Senate Bill 152, sponsored by Sen. Don Ryan, D-Great Falls.

"This bill shows the people of Montana that Democrats and Republicans really can work together,'' said Rep. Monica Lindeen, D-Huntley, chairwoman of the committee. "I'm really excited.''

SB152 defines "quality education'' and gives direction on how education should be funded. It does not spell out how to pay for quality education or what it might cost. A different panel of lawmakers is working on that thorny issue.

Elementary and secondary education has been a prime focus of the 2005 Legislature after the Montana Supreme Court in November ruled that the state's school funding formula is unconstitutional and inadequate. The state constitution guarantees all students in the state a free, public, quality education and tasks the Legislature with equitably paying for it.

The definition of quality education, as it stood Tuesday, stated that education aims to teach children to "reason critically and creatively,'' that it would encourage a healthy lifestyle, develop employment skills and a good work ethic, and prepare students for some kind of higher education.

It mandates that the state pay for education programs for special-needs students, gifted and talented students and students who don't speak English well. It says the baseline requirements for all public education are the accreditation standards created by the Board of Education. It also states that lawmakers must develop curriculum for all schools on Montana's American Indians, a requirement of the Montana Constitution that has never been funded.

Teachers must be "qualified, well-prepared and effective," the definition says.

Rep. Pat Wagman, R-Livingston, said the bill was a compromise.

"It's not what I wanted,'' he said. "But I don't know if it's necessarily what anybody wanted.''

The bill will now go before the full House for debate. The earlier version passed out of the Senate in January.