Frequently Asked Questions

Didn’t we just pass a levy?  Why are you asking me again?

The community has successfully passed a High School Levy, and now it's time to focus on investing in our Elementary and Middle schools. These are two distinct districts similar to how a levy for West Valley requires a separate levy for Somers. While we last passed a levy for our Elementary schools in 2023, the District hasn't sought voter support for an Elementary levy since then. With three years of inflation, we must ask for your support to ensure our six elementary schools and one middle school remain funded, allowing our dedicated teachers to thrive in our.

What’s going to happen if the levy doesn’t pass?

The district has already cut teachers so our class sizes are as high as they can be without losing accreditation.  Also, the district has already combined two grade level classes (i.e. combo classes) within our smaller schools to maximize class size.  Teachers salaries make up 91% of our budget.  There isn’t anything left to cut. 

If this doesn’t pass, we won’t be able to pay our teachers what they need to be able to live in our community.  Many of our teachers already have second and third jobs during the school year just to make ends meet.

Why does it matter for Elementary Schools?

• Investment in education at early ages has bigger returns.  Kids learn how to be good community members.  Elementary schools is the foundation for high school and life.

Why do you keep running levies?

The Legislature decides how schools are funded.  The law says the state only funds us at 80%, making us get the other 20% from our communities by levies.  We have been fortunate that our community has supported us and passed levies.  But the law says that those levies are fixed at a specific amount and do not increase yearly for inflation.  So, every year we don’t run a levy we fall behind because our costs increase due to inflation, just like any small business.  The only way we can keep up is to run a levy.

Can’t the schools find money elsewhere?

Grants help, but they are unreliable and expire. The budget shortfall from inflationary increases over the last 3 years is now too great to be filled without a levy. Our legislature does not meet until next year so will not be providing any additional funding.  A small increase from each of us ensures a brighter future for all.

Why doesn’t the Legislature give you more money?

Good question!  Unfortunately, we won’t know until next year (2027) when the Legislature meets.  Because we know how important the state funding is to our schools and to our community (who gets asked to shoulder the burden if the state doesn’t fund us), the District is not planning on running any levies next year and instead focusing their efforts on getting the Legislature to fund us.  If the Legislature doesn’t change the 80/20 funding laws, then the District will need to run a levy the following year (2028).  The hope is the Legislature solves this problem, but until they do, the District will need to ask for levies in the even years (i.e. 2028, 2030, etc.) and lobby the Legislature in the odd years (i.e. 2027, 2029, etc.)

If your school population is going down, why do you need more money?

Our budget is set for us by the state based on how many students we have.  The state only gives us 80% of that budget.  We have to ask our community to provide the other 20%.  So less students means less money from the state to run our schools and less money we can ask our communities for.  But at the end of the day, we still have to run our 6 elementary schools and 1 middle school.

I don’t want my taxes to go up. Why should I vote for this levy?

We understand concerns about taxes. Most homeowners with values under $1.2M saw a property tax decrease this year due to property tax bills passed last year.  Also, as more and more houses are built in our community, the tax burden for our local schools is spread out over more taxpayers.  Additionally, there is approximately $550k of school levies that are not going to be collected next year.  So, passing this $1.1M levy to fund our elementary schools likely won’t have much of an impact on your property taxes.

How does our school district’s budget compare to other Montana AA schools?

When compared to the other AA districts, we allocate more of our budget toward teachers and materials rather than administrative salaries.  91% of our budget goes to pay our teachers.

Why should I care if I don’t have kids in school?

90% of Montana kids attend public schools. These students are the future workforce—our bank tellers, caregivers, police officers, and surgeons. Their education impacts our entire community.

I already paid for my kids’ education. Why should I pay more?

Your education was funded by past generations, including households without children. Now it’s your turn to invest in the next generation.