Teachers rally, one significant education proposal dies, governor's bill gains support
Nearly 500 people, including teachers, rallied at the Montana Capitol this week to speak up for education and public employees, and a couple of major education proposals met divergent fates in the Montana Legislature.
A 'school choice' bill, House Bill 320 died Wednesday once a number of legislators changed their votes after the legislation cleared its first hurdle on the floor and survived the Appropriations committee with a one-vote margin.
Friday, however, the House gave another thumbs up for the STARS Act — Student and Teacher Advancement for Results — a key proposal in Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte's budget. It will be on its way to the Senate.
Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, is the lead sponsor of House Bill 252, which is aimed at increasing starter teacher pay, a persistent problem in Montana.
The bill also includes academic incentives for students and ways high-cost school districts can support teachers with affordable housing. It has significant support across the political spectrum.
Some supporters argue it doesn't do enough for veteran teachers, but Jones has said it targets a specific challenge in Montana, and money is limited.
House Bill 320, which failed, would have created a program to help families with children in private schools and a tax credit for financial donors.
The proposal was criticized as costly and lacking adequate oversight, especially given its high cost, earlier estimated to be as much as $12 million by 2029.
It was praised as providing resources to families whose children don't fit the mold in public school and face rising prices.
Sponsor and Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, said he was disappointed in the outcome and had believed concerns from detractors had been addressed with amendments.
'There's 5,700 kids that somehow don't fit in our system right now,' Deming said. 'They're not going to get a dime. We spend $2 billion on everybody else, but we can't cut $8 million loose for those kids.'
The rally Monday, organized by the Montana Federation of Public Employees, was a call on legislators to support teachers, but also other union workers, school staff, law enforcement officers, and city, county and state employees.
MFPE President Amanda Curtis said the group's message was to respect public employees and fund public schools and public service — 'public good.'
'In these crazy, divided times, it is important to show up in the right spirit,' Curtis said in prepared remarks. 'Today, I'd like us to show up in a spirit of gratitude. Every single person in this building, whether they vote the right way or not, is in service to their community and our state.'
HB 320 was among the bills the union had opposed for sending public resources to 'voucher schemes.'
David Reese, an academic advisor in Montana State University's Department of Education, said state universities graduate enough students to fill open teaching positions, but Montana still comes up short because of pay. So teachers go elsewhere.
Reese, in prepared remarks provided to the Daily Montanan, said he sees potential in the STARS Act, but also wants it to do more.
'Yes, let's boost starting teacher pay, but let's also improve their career-earnings outlook by supporting the experienced educators who have stuck with the profession through years of attacks and negative, real wage growth,' Reese said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
28 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
DC unemployment rate is the highest in the US for the third straight month
WASHINGTON (AP) — The seasonably adjusted unemployment rate in Washington, D.C., was the highest in the nation for the third straight month, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. D.C.'s jobless rate reached 6% in July, a reflection of the mass layoffs of federal workers, ushered in by President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, earlier this year. An overall decline in international tourism — which is a main driver of D.C.'s income — is also expected to have an impact on the climbing unemployment rate in the District. Neighboring states also saw an uptick in unemployment rates in July — with Maryland at 3.4% (up from 3.3%) and Virginia at 3.6% (up from 3.5%), according to the state-by-state jobless figures. Since the beginning of Trump's second term, federal workers across government agencies have been either laid off or asked to voluntarily resign from their positions. Those actions have drawn litigation across the federal government by labor unions and advocacy groups. In July, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump administration plans to downsize the federal workforce further, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. The latest D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis figures show that payments made to unemployed federal workers have been climbing month-over-month. In April, unemployed workers received $2.01 million in unemployment payments. By June, that figure reached $2.57 million. The DC Fiscal Policy Institute argues that the federal worker layoffs will exacerbate D.C.'s Black-white unemployment ratio. The latest nationwide unemployment rate according to the BLS is 4.2% — South Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in July at 1.9%. In addition, international tourism, a major source of D.C., to the U.S. is declining. Angered by Trump's tariffs and rhetoric, and alarmed by reports of tourists being arrested at the border, some citizens of other countries are staying away from the U.S. and choosing to travel elsewhere — notably British, German and South American tourists, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. A May report from the organization states that international visitor spending to the U.S. is projected to fall to just under $169 billion this year, down from $181 billion in 2024 — which is a 22.5% decline compared to the previous peak. The latest jobs numbers come after the Republican president and a group of GOP governors have deployed National Guard troops to D.C. in the hopes of reducing crime and boosting immigration enforcement. City officials say crime is already falling in the nation's capital.
San Francisco Chronicle
28 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump weaponization czar urged New York Attorney General James to resign over mortgage probe
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office 'as an act of good faith' four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department's Weaponization Working Group, told James' lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the 'good of the state and nation' by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. 'Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding," Martin wrote. "I would take this as an act of good faith.' Then last Friday, Martin turned up outside James' Brooklyn townhouse in a 'Columbo'-esque trench coat, accompanied by an aide and New York Post journalists. He didn't meet with James or go inside the building. A Post writer saw him tell a neighbor: 'I'm just looking at houses, interesting houses. It's an important house.' James' lawyer Abbe Lowell shot back on Monday, telling Martin in a letter his blunt request for James' resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics. The Justice Department 'has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,' Lowell wrote. 'This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.' 'Let me be clear: that will not happen here,' Lowell added. Lowell also blasted Martin's visit to James' home as a 'truly bizarre, made-for-media stunt' and said it was 'outside the bounds' of Justice Department rules. He included an image from security camera footage showing Martin, in his trench coat, posing for a photo in front of James' townhouse. He said Martin looked as if he were on a 'visit to a tourist attraction.' The Associated Press obtained copies of both letters on Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left for Martin's spokesperson. James' office declined to comment. The letters were the latest salvos in a monthslong drama involving Trump's retribution campaign against James and others who've battled him in court and fought his policies. James has sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and last year won a $454 million judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied about the value of his assets on financial statements given to banks. An appeals court has yet to rule on Trump's bid to overturn that verdict. Earlier this month, the AP reported, the Justice Department subpoenaed James for records related to the civil fraud lawsuit and a lawsuit she filed against the National Rifle Association. Martin's investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had 'falsified bank documents and property records." Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited 'media reports' claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was buying in 2023. Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved Pulte's allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that, Lowell said, 'mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James' principal residence," she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the same time that made clear the property 'WILL NOT be my primary residence.' Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001. A certificate of occupancy issued to a previous owner authorized up to five units in the building, where James lives and has rented out apartments. Other city records show the townhouse has four units, a number James has listed in building permit applications and mortgage documents. On Aug. 8, Bondi appointed Martin, a former Republican political operative, to investigate. Martin, the current U.S. pardon attorney and former acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., is also investigating mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff's lawyer called the allegations 'transparently false, stale, and long debunked." Lowell said it appears the working group Martin leads 'is aptly named as it is 'weaponizing'" the Justice Department "to carry out the President's and Attorney General's threats.'
USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
Lawmaker spends night in Texas Capitol, and could stay longer. Here's why.
A Texas state lawmaker who spent the night on the floor of the Austin statehouse overnight into Aug. 19 plans to stay even longer as she refuses to accept a Republican order demanding all Democrats be monitored by police officers. Democratic State Rep. Nicole Collier is hunkering down in the Texas Capitol building in protest of Republican leadership assigning law enforcement officers to monitor the state's Democratic caucus, after dozens fled the state for two weeks in attempts to halt a vote on new congressional maps that would advantage the GOP in next year's elections. Collier, the former chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus who is serving her seventh two-year term representing Fort Worth, refused to agree to the police monitor, remaining in the Capitol in protest. She has been livestreaming herself for hours on X, in an otherwise largely empty chamber, and posted a photo of herself sleeping on a chair with a blanket and eye mask early on Tuesday, Aug. 19. "This was my night, bonnet and all, in the #txlege," she said in the post. Collier said in a video on X that two other Democratic state representatives, Gene Wu and Vince Perez, joined her overnight, all of them sleeping in chairs on the State House floor. Collier told NBC News that she doesn't plan to leave until Democratic lawmakers are freed from security shadowing. The Texas House is set to reconvene on Wednesday, Aug. 20. "What matters to me is making sure that I resist and fight back against and push back," Collier told Reuters from the Capitol in an interview on Aug. 18. Fallout from Texas redistricting fight Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives returned to Austin on Monday, Aug. 18, ending the stalemate that ballooned into a multistate partisan battle. Leadership of several other states have threatened to redraw their congressional maps in response to Texas Republicans' plans, which could end up adding five more GOP seats to Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and widen the party's narrow majority. Gavin Newsom, the governor of Democratic stronghold California, announced Aug. 14 the state will hold a special election to re-draw their own maps, in a bid to add more blue seats in response to Texas' moves. As the Democrats settled back in after their absence, Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows implemented a condition for the returned lawmakers that would make it harder for them to flee a second time. Burrows said Democrats who had left the state but returned would only be allowed to leave the House chambers if they agreed to be released into the custody of an agent from the Texas Department of Public Safety, who would ensure they are present at House sessions going forward. Collier's overnight stay is in protest of these conditions, which she refused to agree to. 'Rep. Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules," Burrows said in a statement to USA TODAY. "I am choosing to spend my time focused on moving the important legislation on the call to overhaul camp safety, provide property tax reform and eliminate the STAAR test − the results Texans care about." Burrows' conditions are just the latest example of Republicans employing law enforcement against the Democrats amid the weeks-long battle. At one point, the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, said any lawmaker who fundraised or solicited money to pay a $500-per-day fine on absent legislators could violate bribery laws and called them "potential out-of-state felons." Early in their exodus, Abbott issued arrest warrants, which called for the Texas Department of Public Safety to "locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans," though no arrests were made. Contributing: Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY; Reuters. Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr.
