By Patrick Haggarty, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools

In October, the Friedman Foundation, along with the Diocese of Helena, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings and others jointly released a school choice survey of Montana. This survey was a statistically representative poll of 1,200 likely Montana voters who gave their opinion on a range of school issues, including school choice.

Three findings stood out. 1) There is considerable popular support for school choice in Montana. 2) There is strong support for creating a tuition tax-credit scholarship system in Montana. And 3) there is a disconnect between schooling preferences and school enrollment, as 90 percent of parents stated that they would prefer to send their children to a private school but only 7 percent of Montana’s K-12 students attend a private school (Friedman Foundation Montana Survey, 2008).

Armed with this information, the Catholic Schools Offices of the Diocese of Helena and Great Fall-Billings joined forces with the Montana Catholic Conference and the Montana Family Foundation to pass a bill that would provide a tuition tax-credit for individuals and businesses in our state. The proposal would also assist those families who desire a private school education for their children but are financially unable to pay private school tuition. It was a win-win proposal for Montana schools and Montana families.

Part of the win-win philosophy was based on the money private schools save Montana. Although it is very difficult to pin down the exact dollar amount that Montana spends on K-12 students, for the sake of this discussion, let us use $8,000 per student per year. The actual amount is probably higher. With 1,350 students attending Catholic schools in the Diocese of Helena and 2,640 students in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, our Catholic schools are saving Montana more than $31 million in education expenses. That’s right. Catholic schools are saving Montanans more than $30 million. Moreover, approximately 4,700 additional students attend private schools in our state, beyond those in the Catholic school systems (Office of Public Instruction, 2008).

If all of the students in Catholic schools and private schools chose to enroll in public schools, Montana would have to generate (tax) and spend an additional $70-plus million to educate these students. Or another way of looking at this would be to say that by sending children to Catholic or private schools, our parents are saving the state more than $70 million. Hence, we are a significant financial savings for Montanans, especially in these economically difficult times. (This does not include the estimated 4,000 home-schooled students registered in Montana!)

Acknowledging the importance of an excellent public school system in Montana, while at the same time advocating the value of private schools, we proposed a moderate tax credit to provide tuition scholarships to those families who qualify for financial assistance. The tuition tax-credit proposal was directed at helping the poor have a choice of where their children attend schools. With the rising costs of education, which translates to the rising cost of tuition, our private schools are quickly becoming too expensive for too many families. They no longer have a school choice.

Therefore, the proposed tax-credit bill was intended to provide scholarship funds for the families in Montana who could not choose a private school for their children for financial reasons. By helping these families, it would keep all private schools viable, including our Catholic schools. By keeping the private schools viable, it saves Montanans millions in educational spending.

Unfortunately, the proposal was voted down, 26-24 on the State Senate Floor.

Discouraged but determined, those of us involved in the tuition tax-credit and tuition scholarship proposal will go back to the drawing board, readjust our aim, and return in 2011 to convince our state legislators of the importance of K-12 education in Montana, including private schools.

It’s a win-win for all of us.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 25, No. 4, April 17, 2009.