Montana
Our 2012 Policy Priorities
In 2012, America’s Edge members will be urging their state legislators and Congressional delegation to do the following:
Federal Policy Priorities:
- Protect Access to High Quality Early Care and Education and Increase Quality of Programs by:
a) Fighting against cuts, and where possible seek increases, for Head Start, Early Head Start and both the discretionary and mandatory funding streams of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG); and
b) Seeking to, at minimum, maintain the current investment in the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge program to enable States to build up the necessary infrastructure to increase access to high-quality early care and learning programs, especially for the most at-risk children.
Did you know that in Montana:
- 224,000 children (under the age of 18) live in the state;
- Almost 3 out of every 10 children live in a household with only one parent;
- Over 5,400 children participate in the federally-funded Head Start program, including almost 2,200 Native American children;
- 54 percent of eighth graders are below grade level in math;
- 64 percent of fourth graders are reading below grade level; and
- 24 percent of high school students do not graduate on time with a high school diploma.
Click here for the complete Montana Fact Sheet, particular to Native American children.
Business Leaders Meet with Congressional Delegation to Support Early Ed Programs in Montana
America's Edge members sit down to meeting with Congressman Rehberg.
On June 14, two Montana business leaders met with the state’s Congressional delegation to stress the importance of high-quality early care and education to the future of Montana’s business community.
Ken Holmlund, who owns Holmlund Mobile Lock and Key in Miles City, and Ron Schafer, managing member of the Schafer and Company accounting firm in Bozeman, met with Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg to urge continued federal support for early care and education programs which could face severe cuts in next year’s federal budget. Holmlund has owned his firm for 28 years, and Schafer has run his firm for 14 years.
America's Edge members with Senator Tester after their meeting
In separate meetings with the federal legislators, Holmlund and Schafer noted that investments in early care and education provide strong economic benefits to businesses in the state, both in the short-term and over the long-term. They cited the new America’s Edge report, which found that quality early care and education programs in Montana generated $1.61 in total spending for every dollar invested – more than investments in other sectors, such as transportation, construction, and farming, forestry, fishing and hunting.
- The Miles City Star published an article regarding the meetings with the congressional delegation. Click here to read it.
America’s Edge Releases New Report in Montana: Strengthening Montana Businesses through Investments in Early Care and Education
Click here to read the full report.
Letters to the Editor and Op Eds published by America’s Edge Members
- On November 24, 2011, the Montana Standard published a letter-to-the-editor by Shane Ford, owner and president of ReBath entitled, “Key to long-term economic success is start learning early”
- On July 18, 2011, the Missoulian published a letter-to-the-editor by Leslie Womack, president of Montana Educators’ Credit Union entitled, “Debt crisis: Cuts shouldn’t be across the board”
- On June 2, 2011 the Great Falls Tribune published a piece on the findings of the new America’s Edge report by member Michael Morrison. Click here to read the full article.
*For more information, please contact the Montana State Director, Dave Curry, at 406-588-4732, or dcurry@AmericasEdge.org.