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.

Ayear into Montana schools using the new MAST assessment, teachers say it takes too long to administer. Many students seem to like it, but wish they could see their scores. That’s according to teacher and student survey data that was collected by the Office of Public Instruction and presented to the Board of Public Education during their meeting Thursday. More than 70% of teachers reported being unable to schedule the MAST testlets to align with their planned curriculum, which was a selling point for the switch. A majority of teachers also said testing ate into their instructional time. Nearly 75% of educators said they didn’t receive enough MAST training and more than half had trouble accessing testing data.

School districts routinely ask voters for funding help through levies and bonds, but what happens when they don’t pass? In May, Missoula County and Bitterroot Valley voters turned down several school district requests for funding, which has forced administrators to shuffle money and in some cases, cut programs altogether. In Hamilton, the district will no longer be able to move middle school students out of temporary modular classrooms. In Bonner, the schools won't be able to replace broken security cameras and will have fewer paraprofessionals on staff. And at Missoula County Public Schools, administrators are having to move money around to make sure the district's safety infrastructure is intact after one of its three levies failed.

Charlene Miskimen was a “hard no” on the $49 million Hamilton Middle School bond proposal when she walked in the school’s auditorium Monday night, but after taking a tour and seeing the state of the nearly hundred-year-old facility, she considers herself more on the fence. “After touring and seeing some of the things they contend with — heating and cooling — it certainly gave me a lot to think about,” she told the Ravalli Republic. Miskimen was one of about 40 attendees, with about 15 not affiliated with the school, at a presentation Monday night explaining the bond proposal which will appear on the May 6 ballot. If it passes, the funds will go toward renovating another district property for middle-schoolers. But to get it across the finish line the district is working to dispel decades-old myths about previous school board bonds.

“A truly amazing school superintendent is hard to find and impossible to forget.” That’s what one of the signs made by Lone Rock Middle School students said as students held them outside Superintendent Robert DoBell’s house last week. DoBell entered end-of-life care this month after doctors said his leukemia had returned. Doctors gave him weeks to months to live, he told the Ravalli Republic in an interview on Wednesday. “My spirit and my mind are OK, my body is not doing real well,” he said. “We're at the end here, and we're making preparations to go see my family and in heaven and transition to the next life.” Seeing the middle school students in his yard was an “unbelievable show of community support,” he said.

The University of Montana laid off 47 employees after money for a program previously funded by the Department of Defense wasn’t included in Congress’ last bill to fund the government. Director Liz Barrs of the Defense Critical Language and Culture Program, which lost an expected $6.5 million for a program to train special forces in languages and regional histories, said in an interview Tuesday that instructors prepare and support U.S. military personnel to deploy worldwide to counter threats and work with allies. “It's a direct impact on military readiness and U.S. national security,” she said. UM President Seth Bodnar and Montana’s Congressional delegation are aligned on trying to restore funding to the program for fiscal year 2026, Barrs said.

The Florence-Carlton School District is moving forward with a four-day school week as was settled upon at a school board meeting Tuesday night. The board unanimously voted against two grievances filed by Florence parents against the board, which would have overturned the board’s decision to switch to a four-day week, during the most well-attended school meeting of the school year. One grievance claimed the board didn’t follow the correct protocol in soliciting community feedback on the decision to move to a four-day school week. The other claimed the board didn’t properly notice the meeting. The parents claiming the latter have also filed a lawsuit against the board with the same claim.