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Largest school district in state changes direction, attempts interpreting what Legislature meant – Daily Montanan

['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- April']

Date: 2022-04-05 00:00:00

Montana’s largest school district found itself with too little clarity and too little money at a special meeting on Tuesday night, the second in as many weeks.

At issue was trying to interpret a change to Montana law that would allow students up to the age of 21, with certain requirements, to remain in school and possibly funded. However, school district board members grappled with how to interpret the law and how to account for money that looks insufficient to meet the demands of Billings, let alone the entire state.

The subject came to the fore last week when a firestorm erupted over the case of Emily Pennington, a West High School student who has Down Syndrome but is in regular education classes. She and her parents requested the district allow her to have an additional year of schooling, though she would be 19 when she began her final year.

Current school district policy prohibits the district, which has approximately 17,000 students, to admit anyone who turns 19 before the Sept. 10 cut-off date. It’s commonly referred to as the “age-out policy,” and Montana was just one of a couple of states that did not fund public education beyond the age of 18.

For years, the Legislature has struggled with the age-out policy as it contemplated how to address the problem that could affect students with individual education plans, as in special education, or those beset by medical or other traumatic experiences. In 2021, the Legislature passed House Bill 233, which opened funding for districts up to the age of 21, but the fiscal note attached to it only set aside $250,000 of funding, enough for between 20 and 25 statewide.

The Billings Public Schools last week reported that the change in law and potential change in policy could mean 17 students alone would qualify under the change, and if the Legislature didn’t set aside enough money, it could be left without funding for some students and forced to levy the full cost back to the district’s taxpayers.

In the end, the board debated four different changes to the policy, eventually settling on a fifth one proposed by Trustee Mike Leo. Leo’s proposal extends Billings’ age of admission for school to 20, addressing Emily Pennington’s situation, and allows the board to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis, following the language of HB 233.

That motion passed by a 6-to-3 vote. Another vote that would have suspended a three-reading rule, allowing the policy to take effect immediately, failed after Trustee Janna Hafer dissented, forcing the rule to be placed on future agendas before it becomes district policy.

Frustration, funding and ‘animal droppings’

The public comment period, similar to last week, was a wave of criticism and frustration as members of the public raised concerns about how parents and students in the special education program are treated, the funding used for training teachers, and accusations that board members treated comments from voters as “animal droppings.”

James Pennington, Emily’s father, was the first to speak, saying that the wave of criticism the board faced on social media and after the Thursday meeting was self-earned.

“You invited all of this. You have galvanized the community by trying to keep us away,” Pennington told the board.

He said the board’s policy of not allowing any exceptions to its age-out rule, something the district has admittedly called a “zero-tolerance” policy, was meant to “safely evade a civil rights lawsuit.” However, he told the board it also allowed them to “scare the public into checking its conscience at the door” by providing inflated estimates of what the costs to taxpayers may be.

“We need you to show up in your role,” said community member Kathleen Walker. She urged the board to have a “healthy contempt” for the district and question staff instead of being “on the same team.”

“You work for us – the voters – not the district,” she said.

Amanda Johnson, who identified herself as part of the disabled community at West High, worried that the conversation would just create more division among the students and “deepen the roots of ableism.”

She told of being mocked, tripped and sneered at, and the age-out policy sends a strong message.

“It treats us as if we are not worth teaching,” Johnson said.

What the Legislature said and what it meant

When the discussion turned to the board, many puzzled over exactly the intent of the Legislature – did it mean to fund all 19-year-olds, or just those with special education plans? And why didn’t the Legislature set aside more funding?

Even though the vote was split, one rare point of unanimity was that the largest district in the state needed to advocate for fully funding all of the students.

“This is our opportunity to lead. The largest community in the state needs to speak to our legislators about a change in funding,” said Trustee Russ Hall.

Also at issue was whether the standard school funding would cover the costs of students who would may traditionally need more resources, like some special education programming.

Brian O’Leary, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Education, confirmed that all 19-year-olds enrolled in districts will get funding, based on enrollment. Further, he told the Daily Montanan that the fiscal note attached to HB 233 was an estimate and all per-pupil funding would come from the general fund, not a first-come, first-served basis.

However, SD2 board members worried that an influx of older students would create a funding gap that would require more teachers and more facilities.

“We need to have a discussion of capacity and adding more students,” said Trustee Zach Teradekis, who voted against the policy change. “It’s also a staffing issue to be aware of. I am concerned about the tightest labor market in our history.”

Any costs not covered by the state would go into a “permissive levy,” which would allow the district to charge back taxpayers in the district without voter approval. The deadline for that passed last month, meaning any projected gaps will not be eligible for funding until 2023.

Superintendent Greg Upham told the board that adding 19-year-olds to the school population may not increase costs significantly, but expanding for two years may mean the district has to increase staff or facilities.

By the numbers

The issue, like so many in public education, boils down to a matter of equal access and funding: How long should public schools be required to enroll students? Trustee Scott McCulloch, who voted for the measure and is a former teacher, reminded the board that until the 1990s, the district took students up to the age of 21.

However, with funding concerns and cutbacks, the state gradually rolled back the funding as a way of conserving money. Currently, the per-pupil funding is around $11,000 per student, Upham said. However, that may not cover all the costs for every individual student.

Upham told the Daily Montanan on Tuesday that high school special education usually requires three licensed professionals for every eight students. He said the total cost of education for a special education student in high school is roughly $100,000 annually, meaning that for every additional student the district keeps, it stands to lose as much as $90,000 per year. He estimates that those unfunded costs could run the district as much as $1.2 million per year, and those costs can be directly imposed back on the taxpayers without approval. Upham said it’s a matter of the trustees and the community deciding whether the additional cost is worth the investment.

Numbers provided by the district also show some special education students cost the district more than $100 per day, translating to more than $18,000 per year per student.

“The school district estimates that the average cost to educate a student in Billings is about $10,500, with a low-cost student costing around $6,000 or $7,000,” a memo from district attorney Jeff Weldon said. “Some Special Education students can cost more than 10 times that amount. There is currently an ‘outlier’ special education student costing the district around $300,000 for this school year.”

Pathways to graduation

Part of what’s gotten lost in the fervor surrounding Emily is that there are two different pathways for students to graduate from high school. The first and most common is a general education diploma, which is simply based on the number of credits required for graduation – in Billings’ case, 21. However, the second pathway to graduation is through a diploma based on an individual education plan, often used in special education. That diploma requires individualized goals’ based on the student’s unique needs and abilities. They are custom-tailored, and Upham said that students in those special educational programs graduate not based on age or credits, but based on completion of goals.

While the district could not comment in the case of an individual student and would not comment on Emily, it said that all students on individual education plans graduate because the goals are tailored to that individual student, and not a strict credit system.

Upham admitted that the district’s all-or-nothing policy was likely adopted more than a decade ago to protect the district from accepting students without funding, which would have left the entire cost to the local taxpayers.

Upham said there are plenty of reasons why students may need another year to complete an education; however, he said that the district’s policy allowed for no exceptions, and that granting one would have opened the district up to large legal liability.

HB233 legally fixed the problem faced by school districts who were forced to turn away students who had reached the age of 19, or fund their education completely on their own, something most districts couldn’t afford to contemplate.

When the legislation was passed, a fiscal note attached to the bill estimated that only 25 students per year would fit the category statewide. That has spooked districts, which worry that if the funding runs out, they could be on the hook for the entire amount, even though officials from OPI say the funding is certain.

SD2 officials estimate that in the next four years, in Billings alone, the number of students eligible to continue enrollment in Billings would rise to as many as 62.

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