Last November the state Supreme Court gave the Legislature one monster of a homework assignment: to define—and then fund—the free, quality public education guaranteed to Montanans by the state Constitution in the wake of the court’s decision that the current system isn’t adequate.

An interim legislative committee has been working overtime to meet the court’s order, and a seminar in Missoula on Friday, Aug. 12, will discuss the progress being made, as well as the larger context of the Montana Constitution and its educational provisions. The one-day event, organized by the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana, will bring together current legislators who are helping develop the new education funding formula, the attorney who successfully argued the current system isn’t working, and delegates to the 1972 constitutional convention who had a hand in developing Montana’s education provisions.

Bob Brown, a senior fellow at the O’Connor Center and former secretary of state who served 26 years in the Legislature and taught in public schools for more than a decade in the Flathead Valley, organized the event. Having spent his career in both public schools and the Legislature, Brown says he wanted to offer some context on the relationship between education and the state Constitution, and the timing of the current task facing the Legislature created a perfect opportunity to examine the broader issue.

“What could be more directly relevant to our lives than the public education system?” says Brown, who’s assembled “blue-ribbon panels of people with a wonderful depth and breadth of knowledge” to address the education issues currently facing Montana.

Butte Sen. Dan Harrington is one such: As a member of the 1972 constitutional convention’s education committee, Harrington was involved in the initial discussions that eventually institutionalized the state public education system as “free,” “quality” and “equal.” In a 1989 special session of the Legislature, he was on the committee that addressed equalization of education funding among the state’s dozens of school districts, and he’s now serving in his fifteenth session. Harrington, along with two other constitutional convention delegates, will form the first panel and address the dynamics, philosophy and spirit of the constitutional convention and the document it produced.

Attorney and keynote speaker Jim Molloy will follow the first panel with a discussion of the Columbia Falls Elementary School District Number 6, et al. vs. State of Montana suit he successfully argued, which prompted the current retooling of the education system.

In April 2004 Helena District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock issued a decision, subsequently upheld by the Montana Supreme Court, that state funding for public education is inadequate. The state was ordered first to define what “quality” means, a task accomplished last session through Senate Bill 152. The state was also told to create a funding system to ensure that quality could then be ensured and maintained. Finally, the state was ordered to follow through with its Indian Education for All Act, which requires public schools to educate all students about American Indian heritage and history.

Molloy says that state funding of education until now has been backward: “We need a cost-based funding formula, not just by default what is available for education,” he says.

“At the most obvious level, we need to determine the resources necessary so that schools can attempt to meet the standards and requirements that we’ve established for them.”

During the trial, educators testified that state funding for education declined from 71 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2004, with unfunded costs gathered through private property taxes. Molloy says teacher pay is a large factor in the funding formula; he says compensation for Montana teachers ranked 28th in the nation in the ’80s, but has fallen as low as 49th in the last few years. The state’s starting salaries currently rank last in the nation, Molloy says.

Once Molloy addresses the education suit and the court’s subsequent decision, members of the Quality Schools Interim Committee will talk about their work hammering out a solution that will satisfy the Constitution’s—and the court’s—requirements.

“They’re in the difficult position of having to come up with a solution both to the statutory problems and a funding formula that’s adequate as well as equitable,” says Brown of the group’s task.

Rep. Monica Lindeen, D-Huntley, says the bipartisan committee will hear Aug. 30 from consultants who have conducted a needs assessment and cost study based on the Legislature’s new definition of “quality.” The committee’s resulting recommendations to the Legislature will be presented in October in the form of draft bills that will likely be considered during a special session in December. Lindeen says the committee has been meeting regularly since the end of the regular session and will likely ramp up its work with weekly meetings through September to meet the court’s deadline. Once bills are drafted, public hearings will be held across the state to give the public a chance to contribute feedback, Lindeen says.

The seminar’s timing, coming just before the committee is scheduled to pull together a solution, is no coincidence, Brown says.

“This is a huge issue with enormous importance that still hasn’t gelled,” he says. “So [the seminar] will give the key leadership of the committee a chance to share their information, and give the people an opportunity to ask questions.”

The Aug. 12 seminar is the first in a series of five titled, “Montana Constitution: Progressive Spirit of the Rocky Mountain West.” The first three—Aug. 12, Oct. 14 and Jan. 19—will revolve around education. The October session will address the Indian education requirement, and the January meeting will look at the Legislature’s solution after the special session. The last two, scheduled for June 9 and July 14, will take up with the Constitution’s environmental provisions.

The first Montana Constitution: Progressive Spirit of the Rocky Mountain West seminar will be held from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 12, in University Center rooms 330-332. The event costs $10, and attendees can earn five Continuing Legal Education credits or five Office of Public Instruction renewal units. Register by calling 243-7700.