HELENA — In some of Montana’s smallest school districts, community members have put the blame for enrollment challenges on a new state law that took effect last year – but that may be only part of the story.
In 2023, the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 203, sponsored by Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton. It made it easier for families living in one school district to have their students attend public school in another district.
Supporters said it was a way to increase educational choice, but some opponents said it put small districts at a big disadvantage.
Learn how the law is impacting school districts:
Before, it was up to each district whether to allow students to transfer from their local district to another. HB 203 said those transfers must be allowed unless the student had a serious disciplinary record or the new district’s schools simply don’t have enough room. The bill also required districts to pay tuition to the district where their residents are now attending school.
Bedey said he saw HB 203 as a more consistent and fairer statewide policy.
“The taxpayers within the school district where a child resides have an obligation to pay for part of that education,” he said.
But not everyone agreed. In 2024, the Melrose School District in Silver Bow County went into non-operational status, temporarily closing their school because they had no students left to attend. District leaders posted an open letter to Facebook, specifically pointing to HB 203, which they said had led to students moving to other neighboring districts “because of convenience.”
“Parents now have that choice of where to send their students,” the district’s post said. “Unfortunately, yes, this will cause an extreme hardship for the District, the Community, and for all Rural Schools in Montana.”
MTN asked Bedey about the argument that his bill was encouraging students to leave small rural schools.
“House Bill 203 didn't drive students anywhere; it allowed parents, on behalf of their students, to make choices about where to best educate their child,” he said. “If that school district of residence was offering the programs that met the parents’ requirements, the parents probably wouldn't have opted to move their child.”
Bedey said he believed small districts could make interlocal agreements or use tools like the Montana Digital Academy to expand what they can offer. In the end, he argued that the greater freedom HB 203 provided families was worth it.
“At the end of the day, I reject the idea that, because I have a small district, in order to preserve that district itself, I'm going to deny a parent the opportunity to send their child where that child can best be educated,” he said.
One thing is clear: there has been a trend of small rural schools dealing with low enrollment even before the passage of HB 203. Since 2016, the Montana Office of Public Instruction reports that 15 rural school districts across the state have spent time in non-operational status. Eight of them have closed permanently, as required by state law if they remain non-operational for three years in a row.
As MTN reported last month, the most recent district to close its doors for good was the Gold Creek School District in Powell County. It first went nonoperational back in 2022.
“I think it takes away part of our identity as a community,” district clerk Linda Hogan told MTN a few weeks before the district officially closed July 1.
Bedey said he thinks this trend has more to do with changing population patterns and changes in education than with his bill.
“I think parents have different expectations of what they want their children to do now,” he said. “I think we should honor parents’ preferences on this.”
Bedey said this year’s legislative session brought one more change, adjusting what was set up in HB 203. Lawmakers passed HB 156, another of his bills, which switched basic school funding levies from being set at the district level to being set at the county level. Bedey said, as part of that, the new law reduces the tuition payments districts have to make when a student moves to another district. He believes that will reduce some of the pressures on districts that people have been concerned about.
HB 156 will take effect for the 2026-27 school year.
