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Committee advances teacher-mentoring bill with amendment setting program criteria and sunset
Summary
The committee moved House Bill 340, the Montana BEST mentor program, to pass with an amendment that adds a termination date and requires selection criteria for mentors based on measures of teacher effectiveness.
Vice Chair Romano moved House Bill 340 in executive action, describing the bill as establishing the Montana Bolstering Educators Support and Training (Montana BEST) teacher-mentoring program. Romano offered Amendment 340.1.1, which adds a termination date and requires OPI to adopt clear selection criteria for teacher mentors based on measures of teacher effectiveness and to base the program on best practices for new teacher support. The committee adopted the amendment.
After discussion in which members emphasized teacher retention and student achievement benefits from mentoring, the committee voted to move the bill as amended. The clerk read a roll call that recorded individual ayes and nays; the final tally reported in the transcript was "10, 4, and 5 against." Vice Chair Romano moved the bill as amended to pass and the motion carried. The bill will proceed from committee to the House floor.
Supporters at the executive action said mentoring is a retention and student-achievement strategy; one member said the program helps teachers "stay in the profession and build lasting habits" that improve instruction. The amendment's requirement that OPI define mentor selection criteria aims to ensure mentors are chosen using measurable indicators of teacher effectiveness. The bill as amended includes an explicit sunset/termination date to allow future evaluation.
