Montana measure to boost teacher pay nears final stretch

Clayton Murphy

HELENA (UM Community News Service)— It’s the final stretch for a bill that would fund increases to beginning teacher pay in Montana.

Having passed the House and with one more vote left in the Senate, the Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act – the STARS Act – may soon become law.

School districts could then choose to dip into funds created by the act, yearly pools of up to about $350,000 depending on district enrollment.

Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, is carrying the bill through the Senate and said during debate on the bill on Tuesday that it’s worth the price tag. 

“Some of you may know that I'm so tight, I squeak when I walk, but I do support public education and I support it fiercely.”

To qualify for funding in the coming fiscal year, districts would have to pay educators a salary that is at least 62% of 2025’s average teacher pay.

Box Elder Democrat Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy agreed that $55 million in estimated yearly spending seemed steep, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“This is an issue that we have been looking at on the interim, sitting on the interim budget committee. And I think that the shortfalls that school districts across the state have been experiencing in this last interim. This will help. Probably [will] not make it whole, but at least put back some of the shortfalls that the school districts have been experiencing.”

The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance and Claims Committee where lawmakers will discuss how the bill impacts the state’s two-year budget.