State funding has never been removed from a school due to not meeting state accreditation standards. State accreditation standards measure how schools achieve educational excellence. The current accreditation system is twofold: (1) assurances as adult staffing ratios with programming standards and (2) student academics. Even if the assurance standards are met, the measure of academic success requires only 15% of students to receive a C grade or better to be state accredited. This old one-size-fits-all top-down accreditation is not working as the system focuses more on adults than our students. This is unacceptable to me, Montana parents, and Montana teachers alike. The common-sense approach is to allow locally elected trustees to uphold the Constitutional responsibilities granted to them in Article X, Section 8 – “The supervision and control of schools in each school district shall be vested in a board of trustees” – to follow their powers and duties as outlined in statute, §20-3-324, MCA, and allow communities and families to determine what is best for their students, their children, and the future of their community.
