{"id":261855,"date":"2026-02-12T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/?p=261855"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:35:59","slug":"montana-schools-are-struggling-to-pass-funding-levies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/2026\/02\/12\/montana-schools-are-struggling-to-pass-funding-levies\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana schools are struggling to pass funding levies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s getting harder for Montana schools to win voter approval for discretionary funding levies, according to an analysis<\/a> by the Montana School Boards Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School districts ask voters to approve school levies \u2014 a fixed-term increase in property tax \u2014 to cover schools\u2019 operational expenses that aren\u2019t fully funded by the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data, presented Thursday to a study commission examining school funding issues in advance of the 2027 Legislature, indicates that the passage rates for routine funding requests, once higher than 90%, have plummeted in recent years. That\u2019s despite fewer districts putting those requests before voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lance Melton, the school board association\u2019s executive director, wrote that levy passage rates began declining during the Great Recession, then accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re down to a smidgeon here \u2014 we’re down to the point of ‘why are people running levies any more?'” Melton said at Thursday\u2019s commission meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s complex K-12 funding formula<\/a> requires school districts to put mill levy requests before their voters if they want to grow their General Fund budgets beyond a minimum threshold specified by the Legislature. Those requests, which often share a ballot with school board elections, ask voters to authorize property tax increases to channel extra money to their local schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory, the system gives voters some discretion over whether they want to prioritize extra school funding or lower taxes at a community level. However, as inflation and other factors have squeezed school budgets in recent years, Melton and other education leaders have argued that funding from voted levies is increasingly necessary to support basic services.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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The trend for school bonds, which typically fund major construction projects, rather than ongoing school operations, is less clear-cut, but still shows decreased voter enthusiasm for school measures over time, according to data presented to the commission<\/a> Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleven of 12 bond measures proposed in 2016 were approved by their districts\u2019 voters, that data indicates, compared to 9 of 16 proposed in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school funding commission<\/a> is tasked with developing recommendations for changes to the state\u2019s school funding system that could be adopted by lawmakers next year. As the once-a-decade study progresses, some school advocates have signaled<\/a> they may be preparing a court challenge that argues the state Legislature isn\u2019t fulfilling its constitutional obligation to fund a system of \u201cfree quality\u201d K-12 schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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