RESOLUTION OF THE
MONTANA BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
REGARDING THE IMPACT OF CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE 97

WHEREAS, the Montana Board of Public Education notes that a group called Stop Over Spending Montana has proposed Constitutional Initiative 97, sometimes referred to as the Montana SOS Amendment, to impose state spending limits within the Montana Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the Montana Board of Public Education respects the role the Montana Constitution assigns to the State Legislature, whose members are held accountable by a popular vote of their constituents, to determine state fiscal priorities in the interest of the people of Montana; and

WHEREAS, the Board notes that the formula used by CI-97 bear little relationship to the factors driving public expenditures, particularly expenditures for elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education; and

WHEREAS, the Board believes that constitutional limits on state expenditures, as proposed by CI-97, would severely restrict the state's ability to invest in vital public services, particularly public education; and

WHEREAS, CI-97 is closely modeled after Colorado's TABOR initiative which resulted in severe funding cuts and limitations for public schools and higher education; and

WHEREAS, the Board notes that the State of Montana has, during the past fifteen years, restricted education funding levels relative to the rest of the country, using any relative funding measures or indices; and to now impose prospective arbitrary funding limits would lock in or exacerbate the current uncompetitive funding position; and

WHEREAS, the Board believes that Montana's constitutional guarantee of a basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools would be further jeopardized by passage of this initiative; and

WHEREAS, Montana's constitution already requires a balanced budget;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Montana Board of Board of Public Education hereby expresses its grave concern that the impact of the proposed constitutional expenditure limitation would be to exacerbate current k-12 and higher education funding shortfalls in the state of Montana and would undermine the state's progress in meeting its existing constitutional requirements for the funding of education.