Linda Reksten, Republican for HD12

Linda Reksten grew up in Polson, and after 34 years as a science teacher and school administrator in Montana and California, she made it back home to finish her education career as superintendent of the Polson School District, a position from which she retired four years ago. She was honored by President George W. Bush for outstanding student achievement at Disney Elementary School in Burbank, Calif., for her efforts in turning around a struggling school. She is the author of two books on improving student achievement.

Among Reksten’s accomplishments at Polson schools was the passage of a $2.5 million high school bond and a building reserve levy. Because of her experience with the difficulty of adequately funding school improvements, if elected she intends to propose a bill to allow schools to set end-of-year surplus funds aside not only for maintenance, as is currently allowed, but also for large capital improvement projects.

She is a product of, and an advocate for, public schools, but she supports private schools.

“Competition is good,” she said. “It will help public schools get better. We need to give parents more choice.”

Reksten would like to see more funding for public services that have been reduced recently, naming specifically the need for better access to mental health treatment and retaining funding for school resource officers trained to provide de-escalation and drug prevention services.

“We need to grow our budget, rather than just reacting. We’ve got to do proactive planning.”

With coal trust funds, a major source of education funding, dwindling, “I am going to propose a renewable energy trust that could begin to grow a pool of money for not only school funds but also town infrastructure,” she said. She would not, however, support a sales tax.

Reksten supports assisting business growth in the state. She would like to see more value-added agriculture development, such as increasing local beef processing capacity and encouraging education and internships in the trades to help expand the manufacturing sector.

She is a strong supporter of streamlining Montana’s business regulations and taxes to encourage more businesses to start or relocate here. While she acknowledges that Montana is rated fifth in the nation for business tax climate by the Tax Foundation, she said, “From what I have heard from small businesses, high property taxes, high income taxes and a complex business equipment tax make it harder for new businesses to start up in Montana,” so she supports efforts to improve on those.

By bringing in more businesses, revenue may increase while being able to lower individual property taxes, she said. She noted some business people found applying for CARES Act funds to assist with COVID-19 losses too complicated to figure out, and well remembers the amount of paperwork it took to apply for school grants.

“I am still learning exactly what regulations need to be eliminated or revised,” she said, but she is dedicated to learning more from those affected and working to help improve government efficiency and reduce “onerous” regulation.

Reksten supports creating a plan for when and if the CDC and FDA approve a COVID-19 vaccine. It is important for the governor to work with the Office of Public Instruction to roll out the vaccination process.

“We do legitimately need to help those that cannot afford health care to have health care. The whole system needs to be re-done. A single-payer Medicare-for-all system is not the answer. We’re going to have to figure out how to afford it if the ACA goes away. I’m hoping and praying they will reform the whole system to make it much more affordable.” She supports looking into how to create more competition among insurance providers, consortiums in which members join together to get group rates, or a flat monthly fee paid to medical providers for their care. I think we need to have a lot of different options. Again, it’s competition. Let’s create enough entities that people have to work hard to lower costs, to encourage you to choose to join their consortium.”

The short legislature session — 90 days only in odd numbered years — has been known to make it difficult for legislators to read and understand all they vote on. Reksten said that for the most part you can trust your fellow legislators to report the pros and cons of what they are working on, but, “I still feel responsible that you have to do your own due diligence. You have to be responsive to your constituents to review it in good faith.”

She said she will have to experience a session to know how she feels about the question of whether she would support the schedule being extended or changed in the state constitution.

Reksten believes it is a false notion that if the state were to acquire federal lands, the state would not be able to afford managing them, and access could be lost.

“I would like to do a cost analysis to determine if we are able to make money out of thinning the forest so that we’re not breathing smoke all summer.”

She said the conservation districts do “very fine work,” and they could be tasked with looking into using forest lands to further benefit the citizens. “You have to come to some solution.”

“I don’t pretend that I know it all,” Reksten said. “I’ve got some good ideas, I know how to work with people, and I’m going to do what I can to help our citizens.”

Linda Reksten

Occupation: Retired superintendent of Polson Public Schools

Background: B.S. Eastern Montana College, Billings; biology major, chemistry minor. Masters, Point Loma Nazarene University; doctorate from UCLA; served 34 years in public education — taught middle school science and high school chemistry; elementary principal for 17 years; superintendent of Butte and Polson public schools; honored by President George W. Bush for outstanding student achievement at Disney Elementary School, Burbank, Calif.; published two books on improving student achievement; worked with the Polson community to pass a $2.5 million high school bond and a building reserve levy for Polson schools

Contact: reksten4mthouse@gmail.com and reksten4mt.com