School Board meeting takes a political turn

The Columbia Falls School District 6 Board meeting last week took a political turn when the time came to vote on whether to renew its membership to the Montana Quality Education Coalition.

The dues to the coalition are $2,500 annually.

On Wednesday, the Coalition, the League of Women Voters of Montana, Billings public schoolteacher and parent Jessica Felchle, Kalispell public schoolteacher and parent Beau Wright, and others filed a lawsuit to prevent the what they claim is an effort to privatize education in Montana through House Bill 562.

Boardmember Wayne Jacobsmeyer opposed renewing the dues, claiming the coalition was going against the will of the state Legislature and most of the voters in the district. He wanted the issue tabled until incoming Superintendent Cory Dziowgo was able to weigh in.

Dziowgo, of Wyoming, was recently hired as superintendent to replace Dave Wick, who retires the end of the month.

But board chair Jill Rocksund objected, noting it was a constitutional issue and the coalition has been defending constitutional issues since it was formed by the Columbia Falls School District in 2001.

Back then, school superintendent Michael Nicosia, with support from the board, formed the coalition and successfully sued the state, claiming the Legislature at the time was inadequately funding public education.

Fast forward more than two decades later, and the argument, at least in part, is to do away with public schools altogether.

HB 562 allows for charter schools — or community choice schools — as the bill calls them in the state. But under the new law, anyone can give the schools any amount of money as they see fit and the teachers would not have to be certified, among other things.

In May 2023, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB 562 into law.

Jacobsmeyer argued the district should not support the coalition because it is suing the state. One other board members agreed, as did some members of the public, including House District 3 Representative Braxton Mitchell, who was in audience.

Mitchell claimed the bill had a lot of local support from conservatives who are tired of the status quo in education.

But the Coalition claims that HB 562 violates the Montana Constitution in more than six distinct, yet interrelated ways. 

“Even as it claims to create what it characterizes as a “community choice” school system, HB 562 actually designs a separate and unequal system of state-subsidized private schools that undermine Montana’s guarantee of an equal, free, and quality public education system,” the plaintiffs said in a release.

The bill sets up a commission and governing boards that fall outside the supervision of the Board of Public Education and usurp control from local school boards, the coalition claims, as Gov. Gianforte, State of Office of public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, and members of the Legislature are tasked with appointing members of the commission.  Only parents of students who attend HB 562’s privatized schools and school employees can vote in governing board elections, meaning that local community members are excluded from the electorate in violation of their Rights of Suffrage and to Equal Protection, the coalition notes in its suit.

“The Legislature cannot funnel public money to private institutions.  The health of our society depends on a free, high quality public education system,” Doug Reisig, executive director of Montana Quality Education Coalition said.  “We vow to stand against school privatization activists’ incursions into Montana.  And the great news is, we have the Montana Constitution behind us.”

The board vote for supporting the coalition dues was 5-2, with Jacobsmeyer and Megan Upton, who is his daughter, voting against the measure.

Upton recently was elected to the board.