Education bills seek higher teacher pay, special needs support and opt-in sex ed

Lawmakers in the Montana House of Representatives are considering a slate of education bills aimed to increase starting teacher pay, allow special needs students to remain in high school longer and require parents to opt-in to sexual education courses for their children.

House Bill 143, one of the bills prioritized by Gov. Greg Gianforte’s budget, would add incentives for school districts to increase starting teacher pay.

“Nothing dictatorial about this bill,” Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, the bill’s sponsor, said. “Just an incentive package to incentivize an increase in the beginning teacher pay, thus hopefully more folks will enter the teaching field, and those who do enter the teaching field will stay in Montana.”

The bill passed the House in a 95-2 vote and is heading to the Senate.

The House Education Committee also heard public comment on a bill seeking to extend the age special needs students are allowed to attend public school.

Rep. Fred Anderson, R-Great Falls, is sponsoring House Bill 233, which would revise current law to include special needs students over the age of 18 in calculations for school funding.

Montana is the last state in the nation that does not allow special needs children to stay in high school after age 18. Instead, they are put on a waiting list for adult disability services. There are currently 2,500 people receiving special needs services from the state, and 2,300 are on the waiting list, according to Beth Brenneman, an attorney with Disability Rights Montana, who spoke in support of the bill.

Proponents of the bill, like Sen. Chris Pope, D-Bozeman, said allowing kids just a few more years in school would help them thrive as adults with jobs and personal lives.

“House Bill 233 provides a golden key: a diploma that unlocks an active and participatory life,” Pope said. “A pathway to the workforce, earning a paycheck and otherwise optimizing the prospect of an active future participation in community life.”

Other proponents shared their own personal stories about their special needs children who under current law would be left without professional help for upward of three years after they turn 18.

The House Education Committee did not take immediate action on the bill, which will head to the full House for additional debate if approved.

Later in the week, Sen. Cary Smith, R-Billings, introduced Senate Bill 99 to the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee in a hearing that stretched for nearly two hours, in part due to lengthy opposition from witnesses. The bill would require parents of children attending public school to provide written consent for their student to be enrolled in sexual education courses.

“What this bill is about is transparency,” Smith said. “I believe that parents should be able to know exactly what’s being taught to their children in school.”

Another part of the bill would also prohibit organizations that provide abortions from handing out materials in schools.

Supporters of the bill cited public outrage at a 2010 announcement by the Helena School Board that comprehensive sex education would soon be taught in schools, with elements introduced as early as Kindergarten.

The Montana Legislature took up bills similar to HB 233 in 2011 and 2013, but Democratic governors Brian Schweitzer and Steve Bullock vetoed both.

“There were things in the fourth and fifth grade curriculum that we couldn’t even talk about in detail during radio and television interviews,” said Jeff Laszloffy, representing the Montana Family Foundation. “The parents of Montana would have to wait for a governor willing to help them protect their children.”

Opponents of the bill, which far outnumbered proponents, said the bill would potentially keep children from learning critical information that could prevent them from falling victim to sexual abuse or perpetrating it themselves.

“Sexual education can serve as a way to find the students that need help,” said Rosemary Howell, a Helena resident and childhood sexual abuse survivor. “Kids need to be educated so they can protect themselves and ask for help when they need it, without shame.”

UM Legislative News reporter James Bradley contributed reporting to this story.

Austin Amestoy is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. He can be reached at austin.amestoy@umontana.edu.