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Montana

Montana, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining.

Approximately 38% (39,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 43% (48,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

In June of 2023, Montana’s governor signed the state’s budget for the fiscal 2024-2025 biennium. Total budgeted spending from all funds, including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, is $19.3 billion for the biennium, an 11.8 percent increase from the prior biennium. The primary reasons for the increased spending were one-time income and property tax rebates to Montana residents, one-time payoff of state general obligation debt and state liabilities, inflationary increases in federal special authority for the Department of Transportation for surface areas, statewide infrastructure projects, and provider rate increases. Total general fund expenditures are forecasted at $3.45 billion in fiscal 2024 (a 28.0 percent decrease from fiscal 2023), and $2.97 billion in fiscal 2025 (a 14.0 decrease from fiscal 2024), while ongoing general fund expenditures are forecasted at $2.47 billion in fiscal 2024 (an 8.3 percent decrease from fiscal 2023) and $2.64 billion in fiscal 2025 (a 7.1 percent increase from fiscal 2024).³

Largest Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):⁴

- - Property Taxes: $1,873 per capita
  - Individual Income Taxes: $1,738 per capita

Montana does not levy a general sales tax.

State Budget Rules:⁴

Montana uses a biennial budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget and is prohibited from carrying a deficit over into the following year. The state has no further tax and expenditure limits, and there are no debt limits on either authorized debt or debt service incurred by the state.

Political Alignment: Aligned Republican

During the 2023 session (there was no 2024 session), the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.⁵

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁶Six

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendment – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated Constitutional Amendment – An amendment to a state’s constitution that comes about through the initiative process.
- Legislature-Initiated State Statute – Appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.
- Voter-Initiated State Statute – Earns a spot on the ballot when sponsors collect signatures according to the laws governing the initiative process in Montana.
- Veto Referenda – When citizens of Montana disagree with a statute or legislative bill enacted by the state legislature, they can collect signatures to force the issue to a vote. If enough signatures are collected, the bill is placed on the statewide ballot.
- Automatic Ballot Referrals – In Montana, there is one such question, by law, every twenty years, the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁷

Policy Progress:

The 2023 session, in which appropriations for 2024 and 2025 were made, included these highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community:⁸

HB 352 provides targeted interventions to support 3rd grade reading proficiency

HB 287 revises laws related to Indian language preservation.

HB 648 expands the child care subsidy.

HB 187 clarifies that for the purpose of homeowner’s associations covenants, family and group child care is a residential use of property.

HB 317 provides for the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act.

Advocates defeated SB 450, which would have required a licensed child care provider to serve children with religious or conscience vaccine exemptions.

Advocates defeated HB 688, which would have prohibited social-emotional learning in school settings.

In 2024, there was an interim session for the Montana Legislature. While no policy changes went into effect, advocates participated in legislative interim committee meetings and provided information and context to numerous early childhood and workforce issues, including research on the rising cost of insurance for child care providers — which resulted in a commitment for new legislation to address the problem.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our lead ally in Montana, Zero to Five, is focused on improving access to quality early care and education, forging business partnerships to support working families, building cross-sector collaborations to better understand economic impacts and business needs, fostering community engagement, and promoting efforts and policies that support families. Their promise is to stabilize, innovate, and build the early childhood system so Montana families and communities can thrive.

Zero to Five Montana is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Preschool and Pre-K

Child and
Maternal Health

Infant & Child Health

Family
Supports

Home Visiting

Child Welfare

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Montana’s Push to Improve Early Education Includes a Partnership to Protect Tribal Languages

October 9, 2023

Zero to Five Montana is improving early education by helping to protect the languages of the state’s 12 Native American tribes. It’s an effort to enrich children, support early educators, and draw on the experience and expertise of the larger community. Young children experience a better understanding of their own cultural identity when they can learn their tribal language, and this cultural knowledge helps heal some aspects of generational trauma that many indigenous families live with.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024; and 2024 Prenatal-to-3 Legislative Highlights, Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, July, 2024.