House Bill 266 would require biennial inflation reconciliation reporting for K–12 funding

Representative Luke Muszkiewicz introduced House Bill 266 to the Senate Education Committee as a reporting measure intended to clarify whether Montana’s K–12 funding formula keeps pace with real‑world inflation.

"The main purpose of this bill is to calculate whether or not a quote unquote inflation gap exists and provide that documentation to the legislature during the interim," Muszkiewicz told the committee. The bill would direct the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) to prepare a report every two years to the Education Interim Committee and the Legislative Finance Committee comparing the inflation districts experienced with legislative per‑pupil funding changes over the prior six years. Muszkiewicz said the inaugural report would be timed to inform the decennial study of school funding.

Proponents described HB 266 as a transparency tool that would not force specific funding decisions. Doug Reisig, executive director of the Montana Quality Education Coalition, said the bill uses the consumer price index to calculate annual inflation adjustments and noted the bill caps standard adjustments at 3% while preserving legislative authority to adopt additional reconciliation adjustments if warranted. Kim Popham, director of public policy for the Montana Federation of Public Employees, and representatives from Montanans Organized for Education and the Coalition of Advocates for Montana’s Public Schools also testified in support, saying the report would help long‑term planning.

Lance Melton of the Montana School Boards Association said sponsors had worked to remove the bill’s fiscal impact during the House amendment process; he described the revised measure as providing a new data point for interim committees without compelling legislative action. Paul Taylor of OPI appeared as an informational witness and described how the reporting sections relate to the current statutory inflation calculation in 20‑9‑326.

Committee members questioned how the bill would interact with other pending legislation that would change inflationary adjustments; Muszkiewicz and staff said the bills could be reconciled during the process and emphasized the bill clarifies existing authorities rather than expands them. Senators pressed on technical details of applying inflation calculations and the limitations of a funding model that looks a year in arrears; staff and OPI witnesses described the bill as creating an informational comparison rather than immediately altering the current statutory mechanism.

The bill was left in committee for further consideration; no formal committee action on HB 266 appears in the transcript provided.