Montana education savings accounts available for existing families until end of school year

About 50 families who have utilized a program reimbursing parents of special needs kids for educating them outside of the public school system will be able to use said funding through the end of the school year.

That’s according to a February court order that was filed after legal back-and-forth over whether the program, which a judge previously deemed unconstitutional, could continue through the end of the school year.

Plaintiffs in the case, the Montana Quality Education Coalition, challenged the court’s decision to allow the program to continue through June, but Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike Menahan ultimately said it was in the best interest of the public for parents to be able to finish out the school year as planned.

“Undoubtedly, re-incorporating special needs children back into school districts mid-year would likely be disruptive to both the children and school districts,” Menahan said in his order.

In December, Menahan found a 2023 bill which would have created education savings accounts for students with special needs unconstitutional because its funding mechanism doesn’t meet the appropriations requirements outlined in state statute.

A few weeks later, Menahan ruled the program could continue through the end of the school year — a decision applauded by defendants Gov. Greg Gianforte, State Superintendent Susie Hedalen and bill sponsor Sen. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, but plaintiffs challenged in court.

In February, Menahan dismissed the plaintiffs' attempt to request the program halt before the end of the year.

“The public interest weighs heavily in favor of a stay through the current school year,” Menahan said. “While the foregoing balancing of equities tips in favor of a stay through the current school year, the same considerations are not present at the conclusion of the school year.”

House Bill 393, which Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law in 2023, allowed parents of disabled students to access funds in a special needs education savings account to pay for school tuition, homeschool or other educational expenses approved by the Office of Public Instruction.

There are about 50 families currently being reimbursed through the program.

Under the ESA program, some of the funds that would have gone to a student’s public school are redirected into the program.

Plaintiffs said in previous filings that this funding reduction would harm traditional public schools by reallocating enrollment funds to the savings account program.

They also argued the bill took the fiscal responsibility for the district away from the board of trustees and directed it to OPI. However, the court said the bill didn’t violate the section of the constitution referenced for that count.