• Leasing of district properties to save utilities and maintenance costs and generate revenue, including the Ray Bjork building and 7^th Avenue Gym.
• Establishing three charter schools. In addition to offering additional education choices for Helena families, the charter schools will bring in additional state basic entitlement funding to help offset the General Fund deficit.
• Took advantage of recently passed Montana legislation allowing districts to enroll four-year-old students and created the Helena Public Schools “KinderSprouts” program. We added approximately 140 four-year-olds to our system. This expansion provides a significant academic advantage for those students, positioning them for a boost in early literacy and math, both leading to long-term academic success. It has also strengthened enrollment and generated sustainable revenue.

In 2023, Helena Public Schools established a committee of stakeholders – parents, students, educators, union representatives, community members and others – to recommend reductions to the Helena Public Schools budget for the 2024-25 school year.

The committee prepared three sets of recommendations:

• Best-case scenario: All school levies pass and limited cuts will be required, such as reduced departmental budgets and reductions to some support positions.
• Middle-case scenario: Some school levies pass and deeper cuts are required, such as reduction or elimination of field trips, larger class sizes and deeper cuts to staff.
• Worst-case scenario: All school levies fail resulting in the deepest level of cuts, including reductions in staff at all levels and/or cuts to district programs and curriculum.

Unfortunately, the 2024 levies did not pass. As a result we made some major cuts and hard decisions. We reduced staffing districtwide. At the high school level, teachers moved from teaching five of seven periods to six of seven. Middle school programs were reduced. In elementary schools, we added combination classrooms; closed a specialized elementary program school, relocating its students and staff to existing buildings with available capacity; and reduced staffing for both music and physical education. Due to enrollment declines and budget and infrastructure concerns, we also had to make one of the most difficult decisions that a board and superintendent can make: closing Hawthorne Elementary – a small, beloved elementary school that had stood at the heart of its neighborhood for more than 100 years.

These cuts and decisions have led us back into the budget black. However, with the increase of costs of goods and costs of living across the board, and the lack of adequate funding to MT public schools, we risk financial instability once again.

The Board of Trustees will adopt a 2026-27 budget in August 2026.

“Bonds are for buildings and levies are for learning.” We cannot move money from one fund to another. Montana law is very strict about “fund accounting.” Money approved for the General Fund (Operations) cannot be moved to other Funds, and vice versa.

These levy requests are in a completely different category than the bonds. 

In all, the three proposed voted levies will add roughly $6 a month onto a $400,000 house’s tax bill.

We want to be clear – the operations, infrastructure, and licensing levy is NOT for new laptops and iPads. It aims to fund the maintenance and continuation of licensing on our technology throughout the district. It also aims to enhance cybersecurity infrastructure as well as our physical building safety and security aspects.

While some technology funds are used to update existing teacher and student devices when they reach the end of their useful life (School district devices are most often used for 7 or more years before being replaced), this levy would primarily fund the “invisible” infrastructure that keeps the district running. This includes the maintenance and continuation of licensing on our technology throughout the district. It also aims to enhance cybersecurity infrastructure as well as our physical buildings’ safety and security aspects.

Technology is a basic need in today’s world, including education environments. Examples such as modern state testing, college applications, and vocational training (like CAD for MT’s trades) are now almost exclusively digital. If the district cannot maintain its tech, students lose access to the basic curriculum and the tools required for the workforce.

Local governments and school districts in Montana use mill levies to fund public services, governed by MCA Title 7 and 15. These are authorized by voter ballot questions or governing bodies to raise set amounts of money.

In MT, school funding is a partnership between the state and the local community. While the state provides a “base” level of support, it does not cover the full cost of running a modern school.

Think of the operations or technology levies as the “fuel” for the district’s daily engine. Unlike a bond, which funds the bricks and mortar of a building, a levy is for learning and for people.