Dear Families and Staff,

Let’s send positive thoughts to Bozeman where our Capital High Boys beat Billings Senior 64-59 in their loser-out game this morning. The Bruins play again tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

The Helena High Boys are preparing to play Billings Skyview in the first semifinal in just a few minutes at 3:30. Go Bengals!

The Lady Bengals ended their season this afternoon in a nailbiter with Missoula Hellgate that ended 50-42. Congratulations to the Lady Bengals and the Lady Bruins on a competitive season well played! We appreciate our coaches, parents and fans who made this exciting Girls Basketball season possible!

In district business, I want to thank all of you who joined us in person and online for Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

We’re incredibly fortunate to live in a community where families are engaged in their schools and where we can come together for thoughtful, civil discourse, even on issues that are deeply impactful and emotional.

I also know that busy schedules left many unable to attend, so I would like to offer a quick recap.

As I shared last week, the Board of Trustees asked me in December to develop a proposed action plan to address a slate of challenges faced by our district and others across Montana:

• Aging facilities. Our district’s school buildings, excluding the three new elementary schools, are on average almost 75 years old. Our high schools lack modern safety features and are need of urgent investments to prevent emergencies as systems such as heating, plumbing and electrical fail.

• Aging technology. At current funding levels, the district cannot replace basic technology that our students and staff rely on daily as it ages out. This includes laptops, projectors, smart boards and components of the district Wi-Fi network, as well as software and licensing agreements for curricular resources.

• Ongoing budgetary strain. Five-year budget projections show continued deficits for Montana’s public schools due to inflation and inadequate state and federal funding formulas. As a result – unless we make adjustments at the district level – we will continue to face:- Inability to appropriately compensate staff.
  – Rapidly escalating costs for employee health insurance.
  – Workforce shortages due to non-competitive pay.
  – Reductions in student programming and student opportunities.

• Federal funding uncertainty. Approximately $8.5 million of the district’s annual budget is at risk due to spending reduction initiatives at the federal level. These include potential changes to funding for federal Title programs to support low-income students, the school lunch program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Carl Perkins Career & Technical Education funding, and funding for our special education programs through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

• Declining birthrate. Demographic forecasts show a continued flattening or decline in Montana’s population of school-age children, including here in Helena. This directly impacts the district’s state funding, which is largely based on enrollment. Lack of affordable housing is another factor making Helena less attractive to young families.

• New and changing neighborhoods. Our community is changing as new housing is built and as existing neighborhoods age or turn over to new generations. The district needs to redraw school boundaries to balance enrollment between its elementary, middle school and high school buildings. This is a vital piece of our efforts to maximize district staffing and resources. Redrawing school boundaries is also necessary to address inequity in high school course offerings between Capital High and Helena High caused by uneven enrollment numbers.

The recommendations below are essentially an action plan to address these challenges. No single piece of the plan can address all of our problems on its own.

Taken together, however, these steps would begin to position our district for a stronger future. Doing nothing is not an option. We must maximize our budget and facilities in every way we can to meet current and future needs for all students.

In the coming weeks, we will continue refining these plans and providing additional detail. We will also continue to host Board meetings, community forums and facility tours.

The Board of Trustees will consider the recommendations at regularly scheduled meetings as well as at special meetings to be announced. As always, Board meetings will be public and will offer opportunity for public comment.

I want to emphasize that no votes were taken on the recommendations I presented to the Board on Tuesday. The Board of Trustees is the sole entity with the authority to close a school and doing so requires adherence to a process established in Board Policy (see policy 9150). Likewise, only the Board can acquire property and redraw district boundaries.

I look forward to continued information-sharing and community discussion as the Board of Trustees considers these recommendations.

Thank you for staying informed and engaged as we embark on this journey together.

Respectfully,

Rex M. Weltz, Superintendent
Helena Public Schools

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Seek elementary and high school construction bonds in Fall 2025

Construction of a new Helena High School, construction of a new Kessler Elementary School and major renovations at Capital High.

Redraw boundaries for the elementary, middle school and high schools by the end of this school year

Families will be offered flexibility during the transition period.

Determine the future of Hawthorne Elementary

Option 1: Closure at the end of this school year.
Option 2: Closure at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Option 3: Status quo – continue with current elementary operations at Hawthorne.

Sell/lease district properties

• Sell the May Butler building.
• Sell the Front Street Learning Center (contingent upon voter approval of a construction bond).

Purchase 60-80 acres for transportation and other future needs 

This would be a positive financial move because the district’s transportation contractor currently rents the site of the transportation facility. The district also leases athletic fields. Purchase of new property would be funded by the sale or lease of existing properties and transportation funds.