HELENA, Mont. - After two months of waiting and three calls discussing Montana s Feb. 5 proposal of using local assessments to replace the federally mandated statewide test, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Ian Rosenblum sent a letter denying Montana s request.
According to a release, the state s plan for local testing included 30 days of public comment and was supported by Governor Greg Gianforte, the Montana American Indian Caucus, the Board of Public Education, Representative Matt Rosendale, Senator Steve Daines and the Montana Federation of Public Employees. In Montana, we work for our students and families, State Superintendent Elsie Arntzen said. Statewide mandated testing from the federal government misses the mark of putting our Montana students first. Montana is not alone in the pursuit of maximum flexibility and providing opportunities to assess at the local level. Our proposal was to use local assessments f
Amanda Curtis, president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the stateâs largest union with 25,000 members, said that the Republican landslide in the state in November triggered thousands of her members to get involved.
âAfter the November election results, we knew we would be in hot water,â said Curtis. âWe started meeting with labor leaders in Iowa and Wisconsinâ â Iowa passed a paycheck deception attack on public sector unions in 2017Â â âand we asked them, ‘What do you wish you would have done?’ They really laid out the bills that passed in their states and what they wished they had done differently.â
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Montana lawmakers today heard testimony on two bills that would make it more difficult for citizens to petition for a ballot initiative or state constitutional amendment.
Compared to rural populations, Republican Rep. Steve Gunderson of Libby said urban Montanans have too much power to get initiatives and constitutional amendments on the ballot.
“I’m wanting to raise the bar. I want voices to be heard from northwest Montana all the way to Ekalaka, and every point in between,” Gunderson said.
House Bill 384 would require 10 percent of voters in three-fifths of state legislative districts to sign a petition to get an initiative on the ballot, roughly double the current numbers. It would also require successful ballot initiative petitions to include signatures from at least 10 percent of statewide voters, instead of 5 percent.
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