Bill to set up decennial school funding commission draws support and criticism over composition and resources

Representative David Beatty opened House Bill 153 by saying the measure aims to set the stage for the required decennial study of the public school funding formula and to ensure constitutional education entities have seats at the table early in the session. "This bill calls for the commission's membership to be... early in the session, specifically April 1," Beatty said, arguing early organization would let staff prepare and allow the commission to hit the ground running.

Proponents told the committee the bill would improve collaboration among constitutional entities. Lance Melton of the Montana School Boards Association said HB153 builds on interims that coordinated the Board of Public Education, the Board of Regents, the Office of Public Instruction and school boards, and urged sufficient appropriation for outside expertise. "You're gonna want to have access at least to some degree for outside expertise," Melton said, citing past study costs and the need to invest to get useful results.

Dylan Klapmeier, Governor Gianforte's education and workforce policy advisor, testified the governor supports HB153 and urged a due pass. Bob Story and other proponents recommended structural changes — for example, reserving legislative seats for education committee chairs and allowing the commission to select its own chair — to ensure continuity and technical knowledge on policy committees.

Opponents raised composition and accountability concerns. Dee Brown testified HB153 "changes the rules so that the chair of education interim budget committee... has power over half of the state budget" and criticized appointing executive-branch designees to the commission; Chip Lindenlaub warned the bill "transfers power in the decennial school funding interim committee from the legislative branch to the executive branch." Both called for clearer criteria for "others" on the working group and for more direct teacher involvement.

Committee members questioned the sponsor on those concerns. Representative Overstreet asked whether the legislature retains budget authority over any recommendations; Beatty responded that the commission makes recommendations and the legislature must act on appropriations. Questions also covered who appoints executive designees (boards and the governor's appointment process), the modest $10,000 appropriation in section 2, and the larger legislative/executive budget proposal for the project. Beatty said the executive budget contemplates roughly $333,000 for the commission and that the $10,000 in the bill is a modest supplemental amount.

On whether teachers would be represented, Beatty said teachers and administrators have been well represented in prior interims and that the working group could reach out to additional stakeholders; several committee members suggested explicitly reserving seats or ensuring minority-party picks have education expertise.

Several witnesses pressed for robust outside expertise and for realistic funding allocations to support a rigorous benchmarking and gap-analysis process. Beatty said the decennial task itself is intended as a one-time coordinated study but that benchmarking work and presentations can be ongoing depending on resources and committee choices.

The sponsor closed by acknowledging questions and recommending committee deliberation on possible amendments to better define member selection while preserving the bill's objectives. Chair Rexton closed the hearing on HB153. No committee vote was taken during the public hearing.

Next steps: The committee may consider amendments on member selection, appropriation levels, and explicit stakeholder representation before executive action.