Amendment to add preschool funding to state budget fails

A committee today killed a budget amendment on a party-line voted that would have continued state funding for preschool.

A press release from the House Democrats said the amendment would have continued funding nearly 100 preschool classrooms that would provide early childhood education to 1,500 Montana students.

“Today, Republican legislators utterly failed 1,500 of Montana’s youngest learners and their teachers,” House Democratic Leader Casey Schreiner, R-Great Falls, said in the release. “Parents across Montana don’t care about backroom deals or political gamesmanship. What parents care about is that soon, they may not be able to give their children the best shot at their futures because of a single vote lawmakers took today. This is a shameful day for Montana.”

These existing preschools, which have been funded through the STARS pilot program and Montana’s Preschool Development Grant, will now face a loss of resources that could lead to teacher layoffs, student disenrollment or possible closures, the release said.

The STARS pilot program funding was added as an amendment to the budget in 2017 at the end of the last legislative session.