Montana
Teacher pay, school funding and math skills top on Montana lawmakers’ priority list
Increasing teacher pay, finding ways to get more money to school districts and boosting students’ early math skills are on the agenda as Montana legislators plan to take up a broad range of proposals this year addressing the K-12 system’s most chronic challenges.
On the funding front, several House Republicans have already signaled plans to tackle one of the most pressing education issues in the state: teacher pay. Low starting salaries for early career educators are a driving factor in Montana’s ongoing teacher shortage, making it hard for many local districts to recruit and retain staff.
Montana Free Press wrote extensively last month about the still-evolving STARS Act, a proposal shepherded by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, that aims to use Montana’s school funding formula as a vehicle to increase wages for early career educators.
In an adjacent move, Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, the incoming chair of the Legislature’s education budget subcommittee, has introduced a bill to diffuse the local funding burden on property taxpayers by levying that support countywide rather than from taxpayers in specific school districts.
Recent bill drafts also shed light on how House Democrats are approaching the issue of adequate K-12 education funding. One proposal calls for directing revenue from the state lottery straight to the Office of Public Instruction for distribution to public schools, while another seeks to increase per-pupil state payment rates for sixth graders to match rates for other middle-school grades.
In a virtual press call with state media last month, Rep. Connie Keogh, D-Missoula, acknowledged that enhancing funding for schools without overly burdening local taxpayers will be a “delicate balance” but said she’s confident lawmakers can work with other education leaders to achieve a solution.
“There’s plenty of money in the budget,” Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, said during the same call. “The budget is a matter of priorities. It expresses our values, and Democrats value public education.”
Outside the funding conversation, Democrats in both chambers have at turns drawn policy inspiration from conversations that played out during the legislative interim. Rep. Melissa Romano, D-Helena, vice chair of the House Education Committee, requested a bill to expand pre-kindergarten academic interventions to include early childhood numeracy.
The proposal builds off last session’s early childhood literacy bill, carried by Republican Rep. Brad Barker, of Roberts. It addresses concerns raised by state education leaders regarding declining student performance on statewide math assessments and increased demand for remedial math courses at in-state colleges and universities.
Legislators on both sides of the aisle last fall expressed interest in policy targeting early numeracy. The issue is also high on newly elected state Superintendent Susie Hedalen’s list of policy priorities for the coming months.
“As a former kindergarten teacher, we talked about ‘numbers sense’ a lot and having that understanding of mathematics, those basic foundations,” said Hedalen, a Republican who has worked as a Montana teacher and superintendent and was vice chair of the state Board of Public Education. “When the early literacy bill passed [in 2023] and we started these programs, everyone realized that math is also one of those key components to students being successful.”
Hedalen added that, in addition to early numeracy, the Legislature is poised to take up the issue of increased costs to local districts incurred as a result of recent guidance from the Board of Public Education. Last year, Hedalen and other board members unanimously adopted a resolution encouraging school districts to add a third year of math to their high school graduation requirements.
While existing math classes and offerings through the Montana Digital Academy should give most students ample opportunity to meet such a requirement, Hedalen said, she’s met with business leaders and the state Department of Labor and Industry to discuss crafting courses tailored to students pursuing trades-based education, an effort she’s hopeful will attract state funding.
In a recent interview with MTFP, Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, echoed the prediction that early numeracy and teacher pay will be prominent on the Legislature’s education agenda. Fuller said he also anticipates policies dealing with school choice and the powers of public school boards will feature heavily before the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, which he chairs this session.
Fuller noted that the Montana Constitution and its deference to local control will likely drive much of the debate around school boards. As for school choice, Republican lawmakers have already submitted proposals to expand eligibility for state-funded education savings accounts to all public school students and to grant a state commission tasked with overseeing publicly funded “community choice” schools the authority to seek state funding of its own. Both bills build on policies passed last session, which brought about some of the most significant advancements for the school choice movement in Montana in decades.
Other bill language and draft titles suggest the policy conversation will touch on classrooms more directly. One still-percolating Democratic request calls for the creation of a “teachers’ bill of rights,” while a Republican-led proposal aims to assert teachers’ authority to “maintain a positive classroom learning environment” and codify school protocols for the treatment of disruptive students.
Individual lawmakers are also pursuing bills to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments throughout public school buildings and to grant parents the explicit right to seek the deletion of their child’s educational data from OPI’s statewide K-12 data system, setting the stage for debates over the legal nuances of public education.
With a wide array of education proposals in the offing this session, Hedalen said she intends to play an active role in the Legislature’s debates and will have “no qualms” taking a firm stance on specific measures that may adversely impact students and educators — a marked contrast from the no-advocacy approach of her predecessor, Republican Elsie Arntzen. Based on her own policy priorities, Hedalen is poised to back any efforts to improve student safety, enhance student mental health support and bolster funding for school infrastructure. The tenor of conversations among state leaders over the past year and a half have Hedalen feeling optimistic about the Legislature’s appetite for supporting public education.
“We don’t expect to see as many education bills as last session, I think that was definitely a record,” Hedalen said. “People have done a lot of the work through the interim, so we’ll be able to make more movement and I think there’ll be less controversy this time.”
Much of that movement will likely happen through adjustments and additions to how Montana pays for the education of its youth. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have already expressed a shared interest in reexamining details of the state’s education funding formula, itself a deeply complex topic, and Montana School Boards Association Executive Director Lance Melton said several related proposals are taking shape to address local budget gaps driven by high inflation in recent years.
Melton noted a growing acknowledgment among legislators of the important role elected school boards play in crafting timely school policies that reflect their individual communities, and said he hopes lawmakers this session continue to embrace policies that promote strategic local action over those that seek a fast statewide fix to a complex challenge.
“We have some fast fixes out there, people that come in and say, ‘I think that we need to have the following uniform rule across the whole state,’” Melton said. “We gently remind people in those circumstances that we continue to believe that the best governance impacting our communities is the governance that’s exercised where you can change it.”
MISSOULA — Four out of five members of Montana’s Public Service Commission were in a federal courtroom in Missoula Thursday morning, as the PSC’s former president challenges the disciplinary action taken against him earlier this year. Now, newly released documents are shedding more light on to what led up to this point.
(Watch the video for a closer look at the case.)
New documents shed light Montana PSC dispute
Commissioner Brad Molnar has sued President Jeff Welborn, Vice President Jennifer Fielder and Commissioner Annie Bukacek – the three PSC members who voted in May to require him to work remotely, after an investigation into complaints about his workplace conduct. Molnar has claimed he is being unfairly punished for constitutionally protected speech, and he asked Senior U.S District Judge Donald Molloy to allow him to return to the PSC offices.
Matthew Monforton, Molnar’s attorney, told the judge that barring Molnar from the building was limiting his ability to do his job.
“He has not been officially kicked out of office, but his voice has clearly been diminished,” said Monforton.
But Natasha Jones, an attorney representing the other three commissioners, said the findings were about behavior, not just speech, and that the PSC’s action was a reasonable response.
“These are serious concerns about a pattern of conduct that has made employees quit,” she said.
Jonathon Ambarian
On Tuesday, Molloy ordered the release of redacted versions of two full investigative reports into Molnar’s conduct – more than 100 pages of documents. Monforton had moved for the full reports to be made public, and Molloy ruled attorneys for the other PSC members hadn’t shown a compelling reason to keep the documents under seal as long as the names of people involved in the investigation were obscured.
While the names remained redacted in the investigation reports, the attorneys for Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek also filed additional documents – including a public declaration from Bukacek and from former PSC executive director Alana Lake, providing information about their allegations against Molnar.
The two reports, from an outside investigator, cover Molnar’s alleged actions over two periods: the first from February to August 2025, and the second from August to October 2025. The investigation began after the first formal complaint, filed by Bukacek in May 2025 – though the reports say employees had been bringing up concerns about Molnar’s behavior informally for several months prior.
Bukacek’s complaint claimed Molnar had repeatedly made what she called “sexualized and demeaning comments.” The examples she cited included saying the PSC should replace “Taco Tuesdays” with “Topless Tuesdays,” reminiscing about watching girls in bikinis as a teenager, and commenting about the beauty of women in areas of China who didn’t get “old and wrinkly.”
In her declaration, Bukacek also claimed Molnar had “maliciously disseminated false information” about her and “engaged in behavior that was dismissive, derisive and otherwise abusive.”
“My primary concern now is not for my safety nor my feelings, but for the rest of the staff who may not have the temperament to speak up or may feel too intimidated to speak up given concerns over job security,” Bukacek said in her declaration.
MTN News
The investigators determined Molnar had violated the PSC’s code of conduct by making comments of a sexual nature, and that it appeared his behavior had continued for some time after he was warned about it. They also found he had behaved unprofessionally and in a belittling manner toward Bukacek, though they said Bukacek herself had at times used “language that could be considered inappropriate” in emails to staff or other commissioners. Bukacek told MTN she “readily self corrected” any behaviors that were brought to her attention.
The investigation also found a violation in connection with a complaint from a PSC staff member, who said he “felt bullied” by Molnar when the commissioner sent an email complaining about his team not being “people with competence.”
However, much of the first report and the entire second report was focused on conduct after the initial complaints, when Molnar was accused of retaliating against people who participated in the investigation. Lake said in her declaration that she saw “an immediate and significant change in his behavior toward staff involved in the process.” She claimed he said he would use an attorney and private investigator to go after people who filed complaints, and she accused him of publicly criticizing her in interviews and removing her job responsibilities because of her handling of the investigation.
Lake said Molnar’s actions led to “declining morale within the agency,” undermined staff members’ ability to do their jobs and damaged her reputation. She said that led her to resign as executive director.
“I believe no employee should be forced to choose between reporting misconduct and protecting their career, reputation, or personal well-being,” she said in her declaration.
Lake has since become Helena city manager.
Jonathon Ambarian
The report said there was evidence to show Molnar had retaliated, including by “making disparaging statements about investigation participants” including Lake, by sending an email warning he could file complaints of his own against people involved, and by taking other actions investigators said could dissuade employees from reporting behavior in the future.
Monforton said during Thursday’s hearing that the initial comments Bukacek complained about were jokes Molnar had admitted were inappropriate, that he regretted saying them, and that he hasn’t made any similar comments in about a year. But he argued the vast majority of the findings against Molnar were about retaliation – and that those were primarily based on speech that the other commissioners don’t have the right to interfere with.
Monforton said it’s unreasonable to punish Molnar for what he said in the July news conference where he announced he was under investigation, in interviews with the media or in commission meetings. He said Molnar’s conduct doesn’t rise to the level of actual retaliation.
“This is an elected official, engaging in speech in his forum,” Monforton said.
He said Molnar may have made harsh comments toward staff, but that he had the right to raise objections about the way the agency does business.
Jonathon Ambarian
Monforton also argued the retaliation claims no longer justify keeping Molnar out of the office, since Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek voted to remove him as president in October and he no longer has the authority he’s accused of misusing. He said there haven’t been further complaints about his behavior since that time.
“We’re not asking for the moon and stars, we’re asking for the status quo as it existed for the last seven months,” he said.
Jones said there is enough evidence to show Molnar would have been punished regardless of whether any protected speech was excluded.
“This is not about a couple of jokes,” she said.
Jones said Molnar made maliciously false statements about people like Lake, and that type of statement isn’t covered by free speech protections.
She also said Molnar’s exclusion from the PSC offices is temporary, and that the PSC will reconsider whether to let him return if he apologizes for his actions, accepts the agency’s code of conduct and undergoes training.
Molloy indicated he saw indications that there was “acrimony” on both sides of the situation, and said he was skeptical it would be resolved easily.
“It would be nice if instead of juvenile behavior, there was professional behavior,” he said.
However, the judge said there was an avenue for Molnar to pursue if he wanted to reach a resolution.
Molloy took no immediate action Thursday. He told the parties he would rule as quickly as he could.
Carrie Gilbertson has been executive director of Cancer Support Community Montana for just under two months, stepping into the role in April with more than 15 years of nonprofit experience and a lifetime of Montana roots.
The organization provides psychosocial and mental health support to anyone affected by cancer — not just those with a diagnosis, but also family members and others walking alongside them.
WATCH: Meet the new leader of Cancer Support Community Montana 🎗️
Cancer Support Community Montana names new executive director
“This mission of providing psycho-social supports and mental health supports for anyone impacted by cancer, not just that person who has the diagnosis, but also family members, anyone who is walking alongside someone as they experience that often scary diagnosis, that’s just something that’s important to me,” Gilbertson said.
Gilbertson’s role extends beyond the Bozeman office. Cancer Support Community Montana’s Missoula location is already up and running, and a Helena location is expected to be operating soon. Each presents its own set of challenges.
“Each hospital is different. They might have different resources. Their social workers might be connecting to things in a different way. So understanding what those hospitals need, what different participants need in each community, is going to be different just because the communities are different, resources are different,” Gilbertson said.
The Bozeman office has been operating for more than 20 years, providing a foundation that supports the organization’s broader statewide efforts.
“I think this is a crew that looks at what does this community need what do our participants need what are some of the changing landscapes in cancer care what things are the gaps that we see that we can maybe just jump right in and you know let’s see if we can provide that for people so that’s something I really love about this crew that I work with and just this mission that there is some flexibility in being able to adjust and adapt as we learn more,” Gilbertson said.
Those adaptations show up in unexpected ways. The organization converts its parking lot into a pickleball court every Friday morning.
“I didn’t know there was a pickleball court. I pulled in actually with my daughter pulled in and she was is that pickleball court and I was like oh, it kind of looks like it is so yeah that’s fun, every Friday morning we clear out the parking lot and put up the net and I haven’t played yet I’ve been watching just to kind of see how that game works but they take it pretty seriously,” Gilbertson said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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