Hundreds gather at Capitol for school choice rally

HELENA (AP) — School choice advocates said Wednesday they are determined to make charter schools, tax credits for scholarships and education savings accounts part of Montana’s education system.

An estimated 350 people, many wearing yellow scarves etched with the words “National School Choice Week,” gathered for a rally in the freezing temperatures outside the state Capitol. Leaders of conservative groups such as the Montana Family Foundation and Americans for Prosperity spoke to the crowd, while U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Office of Public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen sent letters of support.

“We’ve got a way to go, but we know that in the end we’ll win,” Montana Family Foundation President Jeff Laszloffy said. “And when we do, school choice will become a permanent piece of the educational fabric in Montana.”

Three school choice bills have been requested this legislative session. One by Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, to allow charter schools to operate in the state, has failed in previous sessions.

A second measure would expand a 2015 law that allowed tax credits for donations to private school scholarship programs, an alternative to a school voucher program. The 2015 law is in court over a Department of Revenue regulation that barred tax credits from being claimed for donations to religious schools.

A third bill would create education savings accounts for special needs children, essentially taking money that would have been spent on public education and allowing parents to use it instead for private schools.

Democratic House and Senate leaders oppose all three measures, saying they don’t support any policy that diverts funding from public schools.

“That’s not going to happen,” said Sen. Tom Facey, D-Missoula.

Rep. Jenny Eck, D-Helena, the House minority leader, released a statement after the rally expressing opposition to bills that would take funding from public education.

“Parents should be able to make their own decisions about the best way to educate their children,” she wrote. “But we will not support policies that divert funding from our public schools, which continue to welcome all Montana students and provide a wide variety of learning choices.”

Arntzen said she was committed to making sure the public education system brings opportunities for all students.

“Our nation is seeing efforts at the federal level to return power back to the states, and I in turn plan to return that power to Montana’s local communities,” she said.

Arntzen noted examples where charter schools in Montana have brought opportunities to students that they would not have received through traditional school systems.

Staff Writer Phil Drake contributed to this story.