Joliet District Approves School Levies, Others Fail

Belfry, Fromberg and Roberts schools left to make cuts if other funding sources can't be found

By Denise Rivette

The unofficial ballot count is in for the May 7 school elections. The two Joliet school building levies passed, but all of the general fund levies on the ballot in the rest of the county (Belfry, Fromberg and Roberts) failed to receive a majority of the votes.

Jennifer Erdie Hickok, Fromberg Superintendent and High School Principal, reflected on the losses across the state as well as her own district, “We certainly are sad to see the levy go down in Fromberg. I am truly sorry to see the entire state of Montana struggling within the field of Education. I have been involved with education in Montana for all my life and we are resilient folks. Fromberg, too, is resilient and my hope is that we all will be working together and being proactive to help educate our children. The impact of the mill levy not passing will affect all students as we will be looking at cutting positions and programs.  This will also affect school employees with layoffs, shortening of hours and programs being cut within the school.  It is not very fun as our staff are all good people and, no matter how good our staff are, it's positions being cut, not people; but those good people certainly are hurt by the cuts.  The cuts will affect every student we serve.  We hope to find a sustainable solution to address the financial challenges facing the school and our community and the state.  Our stakeholders are tired of paying more and more taxes and, as the Fromberg School Superintendent and a steward of the taxpayers, I need to listen to their needs and struggles and we need to continue to brainstorm solutions with unity and civil discourse, to benefit all children and families that I serve.  We always need to focus on the students and on doing what is best for them.”  

In addition to the levies, on the ballots in Joliet and Roberts were positions on the school board. The final tallies for all of the races are included below.

• Belfry General Fund Levy (Failed)

  • For - 55

  • Against - 71

• Fromberg General Fund Levy (Failed)

  • For - 87

  • Against - 181

• Joliet Elementary Building Levy (Passed)

  • For - 384

  • Against - 250

• Joliet High School Building Levy (Passed)

  • For - 430

  • Against - 319

• Joliet School Board Trustees (Unofficial Final Tally)

  • Kayla Cline 107

  • Josh Cook 144

  • Kathy Grewell 325

  • Kraig Krook 250

  • Benjamin J. Mahoney 188

• Roberts School Board Trustees (Unofficial Final Tally)

  • Amy Bailey 80

  • Michael Bissonnette 169

  • Brandon Crane 79

  • Mariah Holdbrook 86

  • Bradley A. Norman 141

• Roberts School General Fund Levy (Failed)

  • For - 98

  • Against - 196