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The Gianforte agenda to abolish equity from Montana's public schools – Daily Montanan

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

Date: 2022-04-14 00:00:00

During the past year, we’ve covered more than 40 lawsuits in state and federal court around Montana, many the result of the contentious 2021 Legislature.

Many of the lawsuits are self-inflicted – the Legislature was warned by its own staff that many legislative ideas were likely a violation of state law or the Montana Constitution. The biggest job creation act the Republican-led Legislature provided as they talked about the importance of establishing more good paying jobs in the state was for lawyers and judges.

That’s why it’s painful to have to add to the count of lawsuits that has been filed. But the Daily Montana, along with the state’s largest union, the Montana Federation of Public Employees, has filed suit in a Lewis and Clark County District Court to ask a judge to void the actions of the state’s Board of Public Education because we believe they illegally made a decision, cutting out public comment and participation.

Like lawmakers before them, the Board was warned by its own attorney and the Board chairwoman that what they were contemplating – taking action on an item that was not noticed for action in advance – violated the state’s open meeting laws and the constitution.

Unfazed, four recent appointees by Gov. Greg Gianforte decided not to listen to their attorney, and also decided not to listen to the public. They thought they knew better in their attempt to scratch the word “equity” from the state’s teacher code of ethics.

To make matters worse, Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, the governor’s enforcer, was sent to pressure the members into taking immediate action. Juras, herself a lawyer who loves touting her role as a law professor at the University of Montana, had such a weak grasp on the law that she did nothing to stop the infraction, or agree with the administration’s own lawyer. For someone who takes an oath of office to uphold the constitution and someone who has not only passed the state bar, but has taught law, this lapse should raise serious questions about her dedication to the law versus her dedication to her own political agenda.

Gianforte, like other Republicans, has hopped on a bizarre bandwagon in which “equity,” the concept that giving students an opportunity and resources based on their needs, is somehow a principle that needs immediate expulsion from the lexicon of public education. Equity, the idea that we try to meet students where they are and provide for the individual, embodies the best of what public education in America is, and should be.

While it may sound like a bit of semantics — equity versus equality — it’s important to understand the distinction. One educator recently described it to me like this: Equality is giving every student in the class the same test. Equity is allowing the blind student to have a copy in braille or taking it with adaptive technology.

Instead, the conservative right, including folks like Juras and Gianforte, seem to believe that equity is a code word for critical race theory the way “states rights” has become short-hand for slavery when talking about the Civil War.

As a news organization, we welcome the conversation and the discussion at the Board of Education about the concept of equity, and why it should or should not be included. But that’s really the most important point of all: Those conversations deserve to happen with the public fully aware, and with ample opportunity to participate, comment and lobby their leaders, regardless of the position. The action by the Board of Public Education and Juras cut the public completely out of the conversation because it was politically expedient, and they were much more comfortable to take action before people realized what happened.

So why go to court?

Because Montana law says that the public’s remedy is to take the offending public officials to court, asking a judge, in this case Judge Michael McMahon, to void the decision. Let’s be clear: Even if the action is voided, it doesn’t and likely won’t stop the Board from taking up the issue later.

But what it does do, if we’re successful, is make sure that you – the public – have the right to participate, observe and comment on the policy that would treat equity like a dirty word.

As journalists, we often sit through meetings when public participation is scarce. Yet it’s foolish to equate attendance with importance. And just because Republicans have overwhelmingly taken the reins of state government doesn’t mean that those who create the law are the law.

In other words, rights aren’t something that should be protected when there’s a crowd or when politicians believe the public is watching. And even if there’s little public participation, it doesn’t mean the public can just be cut out to make things that much more expedient.

So, the best way I can think of honoring the state’s constitution on its 50th birthday is to fight like hell for it.

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