School funding face-off

Republicans

We told you so. Last week we ran several quotes from Gov. Schweitzer where he said unequivocally that his education funding plan for the special session was the final answer to the school funding lawsuit. In fact, when questioned whether he was worried about the state going back to court, Schweitzer said, "Bring 'em on." As we predicted, Gov. Schweitzer flip-flopped on those statements and is now claiming that the plan passed at the special session this week is only meant as "progress" toward that final solution. With wild flip-flops like this, Schweitzer is fast destroying his credibility with Montana.

Gov. Schweitzer didn't just ask Democrat legislators to support his hastily drafted school funding bill at their caucus Tuesday afternoon, he told them to not stray from it and not to cave in to the education lobby. During his 40-minute, non-stop, no-questions-taken lecture, Schweitzer also repeatedly criticized former Gov. Racicot, Former House Speaker Mercer and state Sen. Dave Lewis of Helena, who was Racicot's budget director, for under-funding education for seven of Racicot's eight years in office. Schweitzer did offer praise for former Gov. Martz for her K-12 school spending and said she didn't get the credit she deserved!

"What people do on their annual tax filings is a good barometer of their integrity and suitability for office. The American people have a right to know that nominees…have faithfully complied with the most basic of Federal requirements: filing timely and honest tax returns every year." said Senator Baucus in a press release on his new legislation regarding judicial nominees to release income tax information during the nomination process. Too bad Baucus didn't feel this way last year when then-candidate Brian Schweitzer refused to divulge specifics on his income and property taxes.

Here's a question that needs to be answered: What did Montana's largest teachers' union get in return for rolling over for Gov. Schweitzer's education funding plan? The MEA/MFT abandoned the rest of the education lobby during the special session and told lawmakers the governor's K-12 school funding level was okay with them. Meanwhile, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, which brought the lawsuit challenging the school funding formula, fought hard and lost its fight with the governor and his party's legislators for millions in more money. Will they now carry-out their threat to return to court or roll over like the MEA/MFT? In the meantime, it would be interesting to know how the union's teachers feel about their leaderships' decision to drop its fight for more funding and at the same time abandon the union's long-standing battle to have the state to finance the cost of teachers' health insurance.

The Lee Newspaper's Capitol Bureau got it right, when it reported today that "Democrats RAMMED their $71 million school funding plan through the Legislature Thursday…" And, Republican House Leader Roy Brown had it right when he said the 'big losers' in the special legislative session were the "kids and taxpayers."

Democrats failed again to resolve the school funding lawsuit that brought lawmakers back to Helena for a two day special session. When the '05 session adjourned, Democrats said they'd return in December to fix the unconstitutional K-12 school funding formula, once and for all. But, when all the speeches were made and the floor debate came to an end, Democrats praised themselves for getting another 'good start' on finishing the job at a later date. As Senate President Tester put it, "This is another major step toward finding a long-term solution to school funding."

It was Tester and Rep. Lindeen, who chaired the ill-fated interim legislative education committee whose work was hijacked by Gov. Schweitzer, when he abruptly called the special session, who had told lawmakers last winter the interim committee would find a fix, report it in October and pass it in December. By the way, Tester and Lindeen, who are running for Congress, also told lawmakers in January, as did Gov. Schweitzer, when the regular session convened, that Democrats would have a solution to the funding formula by the time the session ended last April. So much for their predictions!

Taken from a statement released by

the Montana Republican Party.