Montana's largest teachers union has filed two lawsuits against "school choice" measures in the state.

Montana lawmakers passed House Bill 393 last year, creating Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) that would allow parents to use public money to pay for kids' private school tuition.

Montana's is a little different than similar ESAs around the country, in that it applies only to special education student tuition.

Montana Federation of Public Employees President Amanda Curtis said funding the ESAs can't help but affect public school students.

"The voucher scheme will defund Montana's public schools," said Curtis, "which takes away the constitutional right of every Montana kid to a free, quality public education."

Curtis added that in order for a special education student to receive state money in an ESA, the family has to waive its right to federal special-ed benefits - which she contends also unconstitutional.

Supporters of ESAs say they can better meet their children's educational needs outside the public school system. Thirteen states have some form of ESA, and the movement is growing nationwide.

The union has also filed suit against House Bill 562, which creates a charter school system in Montana - with schools that would not be governed by the Montana Office of Public Instruction, but by a group of parents and school staff.

Curtis said the state would have no oversight of such a commission, which has prompted opposition by the Montana Quality Education Coalition - considered the "heavy hitters" in Montana public education.

"It's the School Boards Association," said Curtis. "It is the school administrators. It is all of the rural educators. It's superintendents from every single class of school - nearly every school district - across the state."

Supporters of the charter school measure - like ESA proponents - say as taxpayers, they want more more choice in how to educate their kids using money that would otherwise go to public schools they aren't using.

Both suits await action in state court.




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An elementary school educator from Pennsylvania has been named this year's Education Support Professional of the Year, one of the highest honors in the field.

Becky Marszalek, a paraprofessional at Avonworth Elementary School in Pittsburgh, received the Pennsylvania State Education Association's Dolores McCracken Education Support Award. For 18 years, Marszalek said she has dedicated herself to assisting teachers and students in the classroom, providing the support needed for everyone to succeed.

"I've worked with kids that have been in a wheelchair. I have kids that have had autism," Marszalek pointed out. "It's a matter of if they need help with their work, whether they need help maneuvering through the school sometimes, sometimes just a comfort person to go to and be, like, 'I need a break. I'm having a tough time.'"

Marszalek recently attended the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia, where she addressed more than 500 members and was presented with the state award. The achievement now qualifies her to compete at the national level. In March, she will join other state winners in Louisville, Kentucky, vying for the National Education Support Professional of the Year award.

Chris Lilienthal, assistant director of communications for the association, said it has given the award for more than 20 years and it was recently renamed in honor of McCracken, the first association member who was an education support professional.

"She was herself a paraprofessional in Bucks County and she rose in the ranks to become the first president of PSEA," Lilienthal explained. "When she passed away, unfortunately, in 2018 we renamed the award in her honor, to recognize and remember her amazing work."

With the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania and across the country, Marszalek emphasized being an education support professional is an important field and encourages others to consider a career in education. As she said, "It's all about the kids."

"It's a tough job," Marszalek acknowledged. "But my thing is, you want to be there for the kids and to help the kids and just see them thrive, see them learn, and be willing to help them and have that in your heart to be able to do that."

Marszalek recalled many rewarding experiences, but two stood out. One was a nonverbal kindergartner who began speaking after years of working with the child and melted her heart by calling her "Miss M." Another was a second-grader with behavioral challenges whom she mentored, building a strong rapport, which led to significant improvement and a request to continue mentoring him in fourth grade.

Members of the teacher's union, the Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers, are celebrating the signing of the Social Security Fairness Act.

President Joe Biden recently signed the legislation into law. It boosts retirement benefits for some school district employees and other public servants nationwide.

Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT, said Texas is one of 15 states that denied public servants Social Security benefits, because of money paid into pension plans.

"We had people actually leave education and go back into other industries when they found out this was the case," said Capo, "so that they made sure that they didn't incur these penalties. So, we were actually losing good, qualified people."

He added that teaching is a second career for about 40% of teachers in the state, and they shouldn't be penalized for changing careers.

Capo said he believes the legislation will help school districts recruit more teachers and assist in easing the teacher shortage.

"They're bringing their experience from the workforce," said Capo, "they're bringing their experience from other places - whether they were scientists in different industries or worked in the healthcare system, and are now coming in to teach math and science and workforce classes in our public schools."

He said educators aren't the only ones benefiting from the change.

"They may have made $20,000 or $30,000 their entire career," said Capo. "Cooking lunches, cleaning our classrooms, driving our buses, and they're going to get on average about a $360-a-month increase -- which, for many of them, is the difference between buying groceries and buying medication."

Connecticut educators and other public sector workers are celebrating passage of the Social Security Fairness Act.

The new federal law repealed two provisions which had reduced Social Security benefits for some public sector workers who also receive a pension and who will now be eligible for benefits they would have earned in 2024.

Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, said passing this law rights a 40-year-old wrong.

"The government chose, erroneously, to penalize public service employees to try and balance Social Security, and it was never a just cause," Dias asserted. "It's great to see this overturned; money returned to people who have rightfully earned it."

Supporters of the change said the biggest challenge to passing the law was many people were unaware of these limits for public employees. Some critics charged it could speed up the timelinefor Social Security's insolvency.

Dias feels there's more work to do, including higher teacher salaries to reflect the education required to do the work. Reports show most Connecticut salaries do not keep up with the cost of living.

Feedback on the law has been overwhelmingly positive. Dias noted the money being reimbursed to public sector workers will enable some to retire who otherwise could not, without losing certain benefits.

"We have teachers that are in their 70s that haven't been able to retire," Dias observed. "This is going to enable them to do that. We've gotten the stories from people who called us and said, 'I've been living moment to moment, paycheck to paycheck, and been collecting food stamps, and now I'm not going to have to do that. I'm not going to be a burden to my family.'"

The new law may also help Connecticut recruit second-career teachers, people with previous careers as accountants, engineers and in other in-demand fields. Since the state is in the third year of a teacher shortage, Dias added it could help close widening gaps.

"In terms of retention, those second-career educators we have brought into the profession often have to leave before they are vested in the pension so they don't get penalized," Dias pointed out. "That's a problem as well, because they're only with our profession for a short period of time, as opposed to being able to have a long career."