School choice debate likely to reignite in Montana Legislature
Advocates who want to see Montana create programs to allow more students to attend private and religious schools with the aid of tax credits and vouchers will be watching both the Legislature and the courts come January.
Proponents are pushing GOP members in the House and Senate, as well as the new head of the Office of Public Instruction, Republican Elsie Arntzen, to propose new programs even as they all await a final court decision in a still-lingering debate over the constitutionality of a bill passed last session.
In 2013, the Legislature passed a bill without Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s signature that would allow tax credits for donations to scholarships at private schools. But the bill also noted that the Department of Revenue could only enforce it within the restraints of the Montana Constitution.
For Republican supporters, the proposal was seen as a reasonable step to allow parents and others to support religious and private schools.
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