In my last column, I advocated for an education system where the money we spend on each student follows them, allowing them to prioritize their individual needs. I have been told I am being naive and idealistic. Such an approach would cost too much. We would have to tear down the current education system. These criticisms are common defenses of the status quo.
Montana already has the foundation for a better education system. While there is much work to be done, Montana is already moving in the right direction.
Montana’s Tax Credit Scholarships program has been around since 2015, but the program was severely underutilized and overly constrained until last year. TCS provide an opportunity for more Montana families to choose an education that fits the unique needs of their children by providing a tax credit-funded scholarship. Tax credit scholarships allow Montana taxpayers the choice to have a portion of their taxes allocated to a student scholarship non-profit. That organization then provides those funds to families to choose the right school for their children. Everyone wins.
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These tax credits provide the opportunity for personalized education — which has historically only been afforded to the wealthy — to any Montana family that can get access to funds. Tax-credit scholarships allow students to succeed in the classroom and empower them to be better citizens. A 2019 economic impact analysis in Pennsylvania found that TCS expansion in Pennsylvania would generate billions of dollars from increasing kids’ lifetime earnings and reducing criminal activity. Other meta-studies on school choice suggest more options mean better civic responsibility, increased tolerance, and a strengthened democracy.
I can hear some folks muttering that this must have meant fewer dollars went to public schools. In fact, public school funding increased, and raises for public school teachers passed in 2021 alongside HB279, which significantly increased the program’s scale by expanding the tax credit cap and the amount an individual or business could contribute. As a result, more money was raised, and more students were served. Montana’s legislature should consider drastically increasing the tax credit cap. The funds last year hit the ceiling in only a few weeks. The current cap is set at $2 million in 2022 and increases annually by 20 percent from here. That is a good start, but we need to raise this tax cap to further improve educational opportunities for Montana students.
We can also make the program even more impactful by building into it an education savings account option, which funds families directly. This will be especially helpful for the rural families who do not currently have the education market Bozeman and Missoula do but could leverage more educational opportunities for better outcomes.
Education savings accounts like those recently passed in Missouri and Kentucky could increase our state’s competitiveness in providing educational services and more entrepreneurship to assist rural and struggling student populations, addressing poverty, joblessness, and educational achievement gaps in many Montana towns. They are also an especially good option for students who need additional help, such as therapies and classes not typically found at your local public school.
Despite this opportunity, however, a few Democrats on the interim revenue committee, alongside some staffers from the revenue department, are suggesting we instead cut down the TCS program. But scaling it back means fewer students have a chance at an education that better meets their needs.
This is the wrong direction for Montana. We need more, not fewer, choices.
Jesse Ramos writes from a liberty-conservative point of view and is the community engagement director at Americans for Prosperity-Montana and a former Missoula city council member representing Ward 4 from 2018 to 2022.
