Senate Finance and Claims Wednesday March 25th
The Montana Senate Finance and Claims Committee will hear the state budget bill -House Bill 2 - starting Wednesday March 23rd. We need people to support restoring funding to Indian Education for All. Schools currently get $30.00 per ANB (average number of students). The current budget proposal funds IEA at $20.40 per ANB. We are asking constituents to write to write or call members of the Senate Finance Committee and express support of restoring funding. Here is a sample email or phone script. A list of the Committee members and additional talking points are listed below.
Talking Points
Indian Education for All is a constitutional promise, it is in statute 20-1-501, it is a part of the definition of a quality education, and it is part of the Supreme Decision of 2005 on school funding. It needs to be a part of every school and classroom in Montana, which requires adequate resources.
While Indian Education for All was included in the MT Constitution in 1972, it has only been funded since 2005
We know that these are difficult economic times but the state is setting priorities as to where money should be spent. It’s important to the future health of our state that we all understand and acknowledge American Indian heritage and contributions to Montana.
Our schools need sustainable adequate funding to continue to provide teacher training, to purchase materials for instruction, to help with our curriculum integration and support student activities.
We can’t reduce the funding and hope for success.
Committee Members:
Call 444-4800 to leave a message for the Senators
Finance and Claims
Bales, Keith (R) (Ch)
Lewis, Dave (R) (V Ch)
Barkus, Gregory (R)
Barrett, Debby (R)
Brenden, John (R)
Brueggeman, John (R)
Cooney, Mike (D)
Esp, John (R)
Gallus, Steve (D)
Hansen, Ken (D)
Hawks, Bob (D)
Laible, Rick (R)
Peterson, Jim (R)
Ripley, Rick (R)
Schmidt, Trudi (D)
Tropila, Mitch (D)
Wanzenried, David (D)
Williams, Carol (D)
Zinke, Ryan (R)
