School board race: Barb Riley

Editor’s note: This year four people are running for three seats in the School District 6 board election. The following are their views on education and serving on the board. Ballots were mailed out to registered voters last week. There is no walk-in vote due to concerns about spreading novel coronavirus.

Barb Riley...

Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do for a living, family, etc.

I am a real estate broker with PureWest Real Estate in Columbia Falls. I have been working in the housing/real estate industry for 36 years. I also own a property management company and work with small businesses with accounting/consulting services. My husband, Russ and I have been together for nearly 38 years, and we have two daughters, Keyna and Terin, both graduates from Columbia Falls High School, as well as two grandchildren and grandpuppies. I enjoy puzzles, gardening, golfing, relaxing at the lake, watching wildlife and socializing with friends. I am also active in other community service work with food drives for our food banks, raising funds for disadvantaged families for Christmas, and working with Montana Log Jam to support timber industry families impacted by death or critical accident expenses.

Why are you running for the School District 6 board?

I have a passion to continue to find ways to provide a quality education to kids so that they can hit the ground running after high school, no matter what direction they choose. As a business owner, I know how critical is it to have an employment base to support quality service. Additionally, I have always been conscientious of our local taxpayers’ ability to pay when it comes to balancing household needs versus support of our schools. I want to continue my efforts, on behalf of our community, to keep our schools moving forward.

What are your qualifications?

I have served as a school board member in Columbia Falls since 1995. I have been working with school boards since I was a student body representative to the local board when in high school. Early in my tenure with District 6, our local district was struggling with significant financial challenges. It became clear that having a voice at the state and national level was important, so that we could be part of the conversation to improve resources for our schools. I quickly became active in statewide trustee training, which led to being elected to the Montana School Board Association board of directors in 2005. I am currently president elect to the state association, and will assume the leadership as president in June of this year. The state association is a member of the National School Boards Association, which offered further involvement in K-12 public education work. I served six years on the national board of directors from 2011-2017. I also served as a board member to the MT Schools Unemployment Insurance Group for eight years, including two of those years as president.

What’s your greatest concern with Columbia Falls education?

My greatest concern has always been meeting the needs of ALL students, K-12. Not every child is “college-bound”; not all students learn from a lecture; not all students learn from a book. We need to continue to connect the best teaching approaches with the way each student learns. That means we need to change some of the laws or regulations that tie the hands of administration and school boards, allowing for maximum flexibility to deliver services. With the pandemic and distance-learning forced upon everyone, I see opportunities for public schools to revisit “traditional” approaches.

How can Columbia Falls schools be improved?

We have great kids in our schools! We have dedicated staff working in our schools. Ensuring we have the financial resources to help staff meet the needs of our students is critical. Funding for schools is ultimately a local taxpayer responsibility; however, there are mandates from the state and federal level, that dictate how and where some funds are spent, which can result in tough choices to balance a budget that is focused on all students’ needs.

If the state and federal dollars are not funded based on mandates, the local taxpayer comes up with the difference, or we make cuts to programs. Columbia Falls schools and community need to put more pressure on the state and federal conversations to ensure our community schools receive their fair share.

Do you have any goals you’d like to see the district accomplish during your tenure?

Goals for the next three years, for me, include:

1) With all students and staff experiencing distance-learning, I hope we can be more creative in working with high school students in balancing the required education elements with dual credits, job sharing and flexible hours. I would like to see a “senior project” element that demonstrates comprehension of skills.

2) The completion of all construction projects in the recent K-8 bond project.

I’m excited for the opportunities that our staff, students and community will have in updated, flexible learning and activity spaces.

3) School District 6 has a self-directed health benefit program that is becoming unaffordable without significant changes.

As an employer, we need to be able to attract and retain quality staff; health insurance is a major element to the employment package. With premiums approaching $1,500 a month per employee, the current plan is quickly becoming unaffordable. Cost-sharing of premiums is part of collective bargaining agreements with labor unions.

The portion paid by the district comes from general funds. Schools are specifically excluded from the list of governmental agencies allowed to use non-general funds for employer-related benefits. Since health insurance is a priority for us, I hope we can get the state Legislature to provide more flexibility in how this can be funded.