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Montana DOC presents per‑student cost estimates for HiSET and Last Mile programs
Summary
Department of Corrections staff told a legislative budget subcommittee the HiSET adult-education program costs about $8,422.76 per student per year and the Last Mile coding program about $11,097.45 per student; the committee asked the department to cost the remaining education and vocational programs and to provide materials within about a week.
The Montana Department of Corrections told the Section D interim budget subcommittee on Feb. 24 that the cost per student for its HiSET adult education program is $8,422.76 per year and that the Last Mile coding program costs $11,097.45 per student per year.
Natalie Smithham, chief financial officer for the Department of Corrections, walked the committee through a written cost analysis and assumptions, saying the analysis assumes an average HiSET class size of nine and a teacher salary and benefits average of $89,696. "For purposes of this analysis we assume a class size of 9," Smithham said, and later summarized, “That brings us to a total cost per student for the HiSET program of $8,422.76 per year.”
Why it matters: the committee is rolling program-level costings into the education portion of the corrections budget so lawmakers can compare program costs against outcomes when they finalize the biennial budget.
Details from the department's analysis: the HiSET per-student breakdown includes $4,983.11 in teacher salary and benefits, about $50 for educational materials, $260 per year for inmate incentive pay (the department pays $1 per day attended), and an allocated security cost. Smithham said the department used a low-side security assumption of one correctional officer for every three classes; with a 12-person class that produces an average security cost of $2,035.11 per inmate on the low side (the presentation also included a higher-security scenario that would raise security costs per inmate to $8,140.44).
Smithham described operating overhead the department allocated across programs: total overhead expenses of $625,551.76 divided by 580 students produced an overhead allocation of $1,078.54 per student.
On the Last Mile program, Smithham said the outside provider sets class size at 22 students and charges an annual organizational fee of $125,000 per class. "The total cost per student for this program is $11,097.45," she told the committee. The department has run Last Mile out of grant funding and expects short-term grant support to continue through the upcoming biennium but said long-term funding is not guaranteed.
Committee members pressed on capacity and staffing. Smithham said the department currently has about 250 students in general and postsecondary education programs across facilities, with roughly 80 in HiSET and about 200 in vocational programs, and that HiSET currently has five instructors. Scott Eichner, rehabilitation chief for the department, described job and program eligibility requirements for higher-pay work assignments and reentry placements, noting some higher-paying or outside programs require time‑served and parole‑eligibility thresholds.
The department told lawmakers space and teacher staffing limit program expansion: Smithham said Montana State Prison classrooms are often shared with treatment and programming and that new housing construction will add eight classrooms in a planned education and programming building plus classroom space in new low-side housing units.
Requests and next steps: the committee requested the department complete the same per‑student costing exercise for the remaining academic and vocational programs and said it wanted some of the material returned within about a week to staff (the committee chair indicated materials should be sent to Mr. Hopkins). The department said it would provide further breakdowns and descriptions of each class, and will attempt a one- to two-week turnaround for the vocational list.
The department also said Last Mile has been operated largely from grants (Smithham identified grants from the Jean Forte Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education) and that the department is prepared to continue funding the current Last Mile class through the next biennium if grant support continues but cannot yet guarantee long-term base funding.
The committee asked for additional data the department did not have ready at the hearing, including the current waiting-list length for educational programs and typical correctional-officer staffing shortfalls; staff members said they would obtain and provide those figures to lawmakers.
The session closed the education discussion after members and staff agreed to return with the remaining cost calculations and class descriptions for committee review.
