Montana House District 55 Legislative Update

February 20, 2025

By Representative Brad Barker (Montana House District 55)

Representative Brad Barker, Montana House District 55, official portrait

As of Monday evening, February 17th, we have just finished Legislative Day 32.

543 bills and resolutions have been introduced in the House and 368 in the Senate. 341 bills have passed to the second chamber. Over the past week, I have introduced a group of bills to address both the efficiency of school district spending and simplify the funding. Those committee hearings for those bills are forthcoming.

School Budget Reform: Spending

On the spending side, I am introducing a bill, draft tracking number LC 3601, to expand the use of multi-district agreements among Montana school districts to incentivize countywide cooperation in reducing taxpayer costs for administrative functions. School districts that share funding, services, and operations and meet specific resource-sharing criteria will receive a 50% increase in their total quality educator payment (QEP) to increase teacher pay. Those shared functions include administration; payroll; human resources; elections; custodial services; instructional services and support; selection of textbooks; library and media services; curriculum development and implementation; K-12 career, vocational/technical education; food services; software licensing and other information technology; extracurricular activities; special education programs; and transportation. Nothing requires local school boards to adopt these resource sharing agreements, but all school districts in a county would have to participate to receive the 50% increase in QEP.

Another forthcoming bill that is still in draft with the tracking number LC 3683 simplifies school district reorganization for two or more districts to join. The bill reaffirms that rural schools serve as the foundation of Montana’s rural communities while making it easier for contiguous districts to join. Rural schools foster collaboration among students, families, and educators for strong and effective learning environments. Ensuring administrative efficiencies and financial sustainability will help preserve the viability of small rural schools for future generations. School district reorganization does not equate to school closures but rather promotes resource-sharing and operational efficiency. Aligning district boundaries will expand educational opportunities, enhance school choice, and address tax inequities associated with out-of-district attendance. Unified school districts also provide a seamless educational experience, ensuring curricular consistency and student success from kindergarten through high school graduation. Again, the choice to reorganize is left to local school boards.

School Budget Reform: Funding

On the revenue side, I introduced House Bill (HB) 507 to allow Montana voters to decide on applying a statewide 4% sales tax to buy down the property tax mills that fund K-12 education. I am proposing this initiative as a Constitutional Amendment on the November 2026 ballot to establish that the sales tax can only be used for that purpose unless otherwise appropriated by a three-fourths vote of both chambers of the Legislature. If passed, that language would set a very high bar for using sales tax proceeds for anything other than buying down property taxes. Such a vote would be very public. Constitutional ballot initiatives require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to get on the ballot.

I am also introducing a companion statutory referendum, bill draft LC 3575, that would be on the ballot in 2026. If passed, it would allow voters to establish a statewide K-12 funding model that would dramatically simplify the K-12 funding model statewide and eliminate all but two of the local school district property tax required, permissive, and voted levies. The two remaining state and local school district K-12 education levies would be the local voted above BASE levy and local voted debt levies for facilities. To understand what this could mean to you, reference your property tax bill to see how eliminating all K-12 levies with those two exceptions would reduce your taxes. The initiative would also eliminate the need for tuition payments between districts since the money would follow the student from the State funding model.

The statewide model would be funded almost exclusively by the 4% sales tax and income tax. The State portion of the funding model currently includes $470 million in income taxes, for example. The statewide sales tax would exclude housing, household food, utilities, fuel and health care. I am still working on this language. Statutory ballot initiatives require a simple majority of the Legislature to allow voters to decide in November 2026.

Judicial Reform

As a part of the numerous judicial reform bills, there are several attempting to make all or some of the judicial races partisan. I am concerned about the amount of out-of-state money in our Supreme Court races and the corrosive effect that it can have on the perception of impartiality. While some believe that Supreme Court races should be partisan since they are already partisan in practice, I believe that it will further erode trust in our judicial system.

As an alternative, I introduced HB 506. HB 506 is a Constitutional ballot initiative to allow voters to decide on shifting from electing Montana Supreme Court justices to a fully bi-partisan appointment-based system. Under the new process, a six-person Nomination Committee is comprised of the Senate President, Speaker of the House, both Minority Leaders and an attorney selected by each side. The committee must provide a list of 3 to 5 nominees to the Governor within 60 days. If the committee fails to provide nominees, a lottery system will generate a list of 10 qualified candidates for the Governor to choose from. If passed by two-thirds vote of the Legislature, this ballot initiative would be placed on the November 2026 ballot for voter approval. I want our Supreme Court impartial and trusted.

I am also introducing a bill, LC 3578, to require attorneys of record to disclose campaign contributions to judges hearing their cases.

Please email, text or call with any questions or feedback. I am honored to serve you and remain committed to continuing to earn your trust.