The work of Montana’s School Funding Interim Commission is complete after members voted last week to approve a final report including several draft bills, which if passed would add more than $200 million to the education budget in Montana starting next summer.

Retiring second-grade teacher Sue Ray walked into the gym last October at Chief Charlo Elementary School to nearly 40 of her colleagues dressed up in superhero capes with phrases on them like “Ray! Ray! Save the day!”

University of Montana student and single mom Tristyn Rhodes expected to pursue a master’s degree in literature until the program was officially cut last month.

How are K-12 teachers able to assess learning in a world with readily available generative artificial intelligence? How are students able to access AI tools safely? How are school districts with limited budgets able to keep up with tech advances on top of everything else?

Hamilton High School students Kassidee McKern and Simon Naidl stepped into chemical protection suits and connected to an air source before stepping into a chemical shower room and into a Biosafety Level 4 training lab on the Rocky Mountain Laboratories campus on Thursday.

Quintin Woirhaye’s face has been displayed on a poster in the gymnasium labeling him a Darby Tiger. But Quintin hasn’t attended Darby as a student in two years.

At an artificial intelligence symposium last month on campus, Tammi Fladager, University of Montana student and a commissioner for Daniels County (population 1,600 people), cracked a joke to show the juxtaposition between Montana’s old frontier and technology’s new frontier. “In my county ... people think that AI is what you do to a cow,” Fladager said, referring to the process of artificial insemination. Speaking on a panel at UM’s second annual AI Symposium, Fladager said she thinks students should be taught how to use generative AI, like ChatGPT, so it can be a tool to help them, comparing it to classrooms allowing calculators to do math when it had previously been required by hand.

The University of Montana has recommended master’s degree programs in literature and economics be terminated and recommended a “pause” for both their Chinese and Irish studies minors, citing declining enrollment. The school plans to “teach out” students currently enrolled in the two master’s degree programs, ensuring they can complete their coursework and graduate as planned, but would eventually stop admitting new students, UM spokesperson Dave Kuntz told the Missoulian in an emailed response to questions on Tuesday. The decision needs to be approved by the school's faculty organization as well as the The Office of Commissioner of Higher Education before programs will officially be terminated. University top brass made the decision in part to allocate instructional resources toward “areas of highest strategic priority,” Kuntz said, adding the programs on the chopping block have seen declining enrollment.

A mother has filed a federal lawsuit in Missoula claiming the local school system failed to protect her daughter from bullying that led to her suicide in 2020. Janice Teeter, whose daughter attended C.S. Porter Middle School, accuses Missoula County Public Schools of 10 separate civil claims — including negligence, wrongful death and violations of her daughter’s constitutional right to an education.

Nearly two-dozen Loyola Sacred Heart Choir singers are bringing a story created by an 8-year-old leukemia survivor to life through song, performing it for the first time for the young girl last week. At an event at Zootown Church, Everly Hausmann held her hands to her face in surprise, turning to her three siblings sitting on either side of her as she heard lyrics inspired by her experience spending important holidays in the hospital during treatment for cancer.

About a dozen University of Montana students filled the lobby of President Seth Bodnar’s office on Tuesday morning with a half-inch thick stack of papers filled with more than 700 student signatures in opposition to the new Starbucks slated to come to campus. The national coffee chain was the only bidder for the contract, which UM awarded in May, according to the state’s notice of intent to award the contract. The students told the Missoulian they wanted to see a local vendor get the contract instead, but the wording of UM’s Request for Proposal released in April specified it was seeking a national chain to fill the spot, according to the document.

he Corvallis Public School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a student club called “Club America,” — a local high school branch of the national right-leaning Turning Point USA, which was founded by right wing activist Charlie Kirk. About two dozen Corvallis residents sat in the converted church on Second Street, now owned by the district under the school’s charter, with roughly half talking to the board largely in opposition to the club coming to Corvallis. Turning Point USA garnered national attention following Kirk’s assassination earlier this year, and local chapters of the group noted an increase in involvement after the shooting, including on the University of Montana campus.

Montana’s top education official claims an education conference promoted “extreme far left ideology and classroom indoctrination,” and is backing legislation that would change the credit teachers can receive towards their licensure for attending. Montana’s state Senate president, with support from the state superintendent of public instruction, requested a bill be drafted for the next legislative session to stop teachers from receiving educational credits for attending the state’s largest teacher union’s annual educator conference.

Steam rose from a bison carcass as butchers used an electric knife to cut from the neck down, the warmth of the bison’s cavity meeting crisp autumn air, as students from Missoula County Public Schools helped start to cut back the hide....

Missoula County Public Schools will now allow the Pride flag in classrooms, citing the city’s flag policy changes this summer and skirting a state law passed earlier this year. The Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously on the change at its meeting on Tuesday. The district’s policy is a response to House Bill 819, sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, which bans flags with a “political viewpoint” displayed in government buildings, including flags representing a political party, race, sexual orientation or gender. Montana, Idaho and Utah all passed bans on political flags, including the Pride flag, at government buildings this year.

A teacher in Joliet resigned in December 2023 after an internal investigation found he poked, tickled and made inappropriate comments — both in person and in text messages — toward female high school students about their physical appearances. The Office of Public Instruction became aware of the situation in May 2025 and received the educator’s surrendered teaching license in August. OPI argues the school should have notified the state sooner and alleges the district's decision to not immediately notify the department was based on “faulty legal advice." Members of Montana’s Board of Public Education expressed concern the district didn’t follow protocol when reporting the resignation and surrendered teacher license.

Afear among many in the Victor Public School District came true this year after the state approved a tax change which led to an increase on local residents - to the tune of $300,000 — to pay tuition for students who left to attend school in other districts. But recent changes in property taxes could have the potential to soften the blow this year. And next year those tuition impacts will largely disappear after a countywide system is implemented. And not all small districts suffered under the tuition bill change, with a few bringing in more students than they lost. But Victor lost the most students of any school in the Bitterroot Valley, while also having the lowest total enrollment.

Montana State University-Northern associate professor was placed on leave and faced death threats after making social media comments following the death of conservative Charlie Kirk, though a state law passed in 2023 has thus far prevented her from being fired.

Half of MAPS Media Institute’s funding for this upcoming fall’s programming is in limbo after the federal government froze funds allocated for after-school programming across the country. The program has offices in Hamilton, Helena and Harlem, serving kids on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, providing free media arts education to middle and high school kids in subjects like graphic design, music production and documentary filmmaking. MAPS is one of about 80 organizations in Montana that have received federal funding to provide after-school care and learning programs to kids in Montana. MAPS will likely survive if the funding isn’t released, though at reduced capacity, but administrators worry about smaller programs that may not be as lucky. One state lawmaker said it’s too early to consider whether the state needs to intervene.

A bulletin board in Missoula's Lifelong Learning Center reads “The Road to Success Begins Here,” with a road made of black construction paper winding across. Paper signs along the “road” are labeled with various subjects — English language skills, civics education and U.S. citizenship — with the final exit sign pointing toward college. Down the hall, students sat in Tina Mace’s adult education classroom as she helped them with math concepts. Mace put the number 25 on the whiteboard behind her with a square around it. “I need you to come up with as many ways as you can to come up with the number 25,” she told the class.