Board of Public Education tells appropriations panel it remains tiny but duties have expanded

Chair Tim Tharp and the Board of Public Education told the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education that the board’s budget for the 2027 biennium remains small even as its responsibilities have grown.

“Again, the duties and work of the Montana Board of Public Education has grown significantly in the last several years,” said Tim Tharp, chairman of the Montana Board of Public Education, during a committee hearing. Alexandra, the committee’s budget analyst, told the panel that the board’s total biennial authority is roughly $1.1 million and that the agency is now 100 percent general fund supported following the elimination of a small state special revenue authority enacted in 2023.

The nut of the presentation: the board is funded and staffed at a very small scale but has been assigned new, time‑intensive duties by the Legislature. Alexandra said, “the Board of Public Education is the smallest agency in Montana with 3 positions budgeted,” and described a present‑law adjustment of about $11,000 for personal services and a roughly $11,500 per year reduction in state special authority tied to House Bill 403 from the 2023 session.

Budget details and workload Alexandra summarized line items in the fiscal tables, saying the board’s modified FY2024 budget was about $582,000 and that operating expenses were underspent (about 44 percent expended, or roughly $138,000). She noted a hiring and turnover event tied to…