Historical public education information in Montana, 2011-2015

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Montana's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Montana's public education page.

The Montana public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Montana had 142,349 students enrolled in a total of 826 schools in 500 school districts. There were 10,153 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 274 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Montana spent $10,639 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 25th highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 84 percent in 2012.

State agencies

See also: Montana Office of Public Instruction

The Montana Office of Public Instruction is led by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Article IV of the Montana Constitution mandates that the Superintendent of Public Instruction be elected to four-year terms. As of June 2015, the officeholder for this position was Denise Juneau.

The Montana Board of Public Education is generally responsible for public education in the state. The board has the following specific responsibilities:

• Adopt standards of accreditation for Montana schools and establish the accreditation status of each school;
• Effect a system of teacher certification, including the accreditation of the teacher and administrator training programs;
• Consider the suspension or revocation of teacher certificates and hear appeals from the denial of teacher certificates;
• Administer and order the distribution of state equalization aid;
• Adopt policies for the special education of handicapped and gifted and talented students; and
• Act as the governing agency for the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind.

The board is composed of eight members, seven of whom are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. Board members serve seven-year terms. The composition of the board must meet the following requirements:

• No more than four may be from one of the two commission districts
• No more than four may be affiliated with the same political party

One student representative is selected by the Montana Association of Student Councils to serve a one-year term.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Montana compared to three neighboring states with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil during the 2011-2012 school year. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Montana	826	500	142,349	10,153	1:14	1:274	$10,639
North Dakota	513	223	97,646	8,525	1:11.5	1:216.4	$11,420
South Dakota	704	171	128,016	9,247	1:13.8	1:309.8	$8,805
Wyoming	354	61	90,099	7,847	1:11.5	1:248.3	$15,849
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Montana as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Montana's K-12 public school system, 2011-2012
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	16,530	11.61%	1.10%
Asian	1,212	0.85%	4.68%
African American	1,436	1.01%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	369	0.26%	0.42%
Hispanic	5,248	3.69%	24.37%
White	115,184	80.92%	51.21%
Two or more	2,370	1.66%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the U.S.

During the 2011-2012 school year a plurality of students in Montana attended rural schools. Approximately 74 percent of the state's students attended rural or town schools, compared to the approximately 26 percent who attended city or suburban schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011 - 2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Montana	23.8%	1.9%	35%	39.4%
North Dakota	26%	8.9%	20.2%	45%
South Dakota	25.8%	0.8%	27%	46.5%
Wyoming	22.8%	1.7%	42.3%	33.2%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming), Montana had the highest share of eighth grade students who scored at or above proficient in reading during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Montana	45%	40%	35%	40%
North Dakota	48%	41%	34%	34%
South Dakota	40%	38%	32%	36%
Wyoming	48%	38%	37%	38%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Montana and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Montana	84%	Second	22	61%	1,595	25%
North Dakota	87%	First	20.7	100%	1,799	2%
South Dakota	83%	Second	21.8	81%	1,760	3%
Wyoming	79%	Third	20.3	100%	1,757	4%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Montana was higher than the national average at 4.3 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 4.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Montana

As of June 2015, school choice options in Montana included inter-district open enrollment policies and online learning programs. In addition, about 6.46 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-12 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-13.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Montana state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Montana spent approximately 15.5 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down 4.30 percentage points, or 21.7 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 19.8 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Montana	15.5%	$10,639	16.35%	44.1%	39.55%
North Dakota	13.8%	$11,420	14.8%	49.93%	35.27%
South Dakota	14.3%	$8,805	20.26%	28.93%	50.81%
Wyoming	3.9%	$15,849	9.41%	53.37%	37.22%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Montana totaled approximately $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Montana and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Montana	$264,594	$713,886	$640,138	$1,618,618
North Dakota	$186,844	$630,430	$445,402	$1,262,676
South Dakota	$262,395	$374,648	$658,100	$1,295,143
Wyoming	$154,955	$878,979	$612,931	$1,646,865
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Montana totaled approximately $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Montana and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Montana	$1,506,467	$103,728	$25,691	$1,635,886
North Dakota	$1,099,271	$124,967	$28,501	$1,252,739
South Dakota	$1,105,964	$199,636	$34,799	$1,340,399
Wyoming	$1,397,339	$234,408	$10,504	$1,642,251
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Montana, the average salary increased by 13.9 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Montana	$43,896	$48,845	$49,354	$49,999	13.9%
North Dakota	$40,810	$45,862	$46,825	$47,344	16%
South Dakota	$39,728	$41,456	$39,450	$39,580	-0.4%
Wyoming	$46,638	$59,628	$58,174	$57,920	24.2%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Montana ranked third overall, or "strongest," which was in the first of five tiers.

The main union related to the Montana school system is the Montana Education Association - Montana Federation of Teachers (MEA-MFT). MEA-MFT is the largest education association in the state. For the 2003 tax period MEA-MFT had: $4.92 million in total revenue, $4.91 million in total expenses and $2.33 million in total assets.

List of local Montana school unions:

• Montana Education Association - Montana Federation of Teachers
• Montana Indian Education Association
• Montana Rural Education Association
• Helena Education Association
• Target Range Teachers Association

Government sector lobbying

See also: Montana government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the Montana School Boards Association.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Montana
• Montana
• Education Policy in the U.S.