Big Sky Cairn

Undeterred by allegations of impropriety in January, the Billings Gazette went full steam ahead today pushing for an $817,000 elementary mill.

Today you have stories on;

• The decrepit elementary budget situation
• The “concerns” of one voter who feels squeezed by inflation already, but he is of course a good citizen and taking a hit on his personal finances to provide for the kids.
• An editorial by the Gazette board touting the good work of the schools’ partnership with local businesses.
• A guest editorial by the Yes for Kids campaign calling for passage of the mill levy.

I do not have a dog in this fight as I am not a resident of Billings. I cannot imagine though, that when you look at the past troubles the Gazette has been in over unpaid advertising, this latest effort is doing any good for the proponents of the mill levy. The reporting is incredibly one-sided, albeit because opposition to school mills tends to be a silent majority, but I just read this stuff with a wary eye.

Meanwhile out West, I should plug a good write-up the Missoulian had a while back on where Montana ranks nationally in school funding issues. Of interest to me was this blurb;

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has refuted the MQEC arguments, saying the recent increases and policy changes have resolved the education funding problem.

Governor, I humbly submit today’s Gazette as evidence that in fact this issue is not resolved. On a broader note, the school funding issue will not go away until the State finds a dedicated funding stream like Roy Brown is pushing, namely by creating a trust fund from new energy development. Until that time you are going to see pitched battles on the local level between the education groups and their allies and property taxpayers who feel stretched too thin.

*Update:  Apparently the Billings Gazette did not get its point across with four articles yesterday so they came right out today and said to care for kids you have to vote yes on the mill before May 6.  Good to see our newspapers taking a balanced view on these issues.  Also, in case you missed it last night, Gee Guy has an interesting post up with the final tally on what a quality education will cost the state.

A “trust fund from new energy development”? Hey, this is enviro-Montana. We don’t do energy development anymore, remember? We’d rather piss and moan about low wages and spend all our time begging rich people for money.

Ever heard of the Coal Tax Trust Fund? Our are you talking about the give away to big oil that Roy Brown pushed as a state legislator? Wasnt it Roy Brown who attempted to raid the coal tax trust fund during the 2003 legislative session?

Or wait you wouldn’t remember that would you?

Tell me how this trust fund will work? .

Weak.

You should look at what the Great Falls Tribune has been doing the last few weeks on our upcoming school levy request. It’s nothing but shameless cheerleading.

I saw your post go up right after I wrote this. Bozeman has an article today on their levy. For as long as I can remember the newspapers always do the schools’ bidding on funding issues.

Jackson, I have in fact heard of the Coal Trust. I remember in 2003 Bob Brown proposed using the Trust to pay for public works. I dont recall anything from Roy Brown though. I could be wrong, send over what you have.

Personally, I like the idea of using a natural resource based trust fund to pay for school construction and repairs costs, freeing up the local monies for teacher and administrator salary.

I am giving the benefit of the doubt to you on your criticism, but in the future I would encourage you to back up claims with news stories or something to provide evidence. Also, out of curiosity, what is your solution to the school funding situation in Montana and we can have a debate over the relative merits of each proposal.

GeeGuy is right. The Trib is nothing more than an echo chamber for the Great Falls school district. In Billings, you have some sort of a newspaper. In Great Falls, we have a rag.