Pair of House bills would allow formation of charter schools, differ on how

Two House bills introduced Monday to the education committee in the Montana Legislature agree that charter schools would be a benefit to the state, but differed on how they should be established and operate.

House Bill 549 sponsored by committee chair Fred Anderson, R-Great Falls, would authorize the establishment of a public charter school system in the state while House Bill 562, sponsored by House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, R-Billings, would authorize the establishment of similarly defined “community choice schools.”

Anderson

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Charter schools are funded by taxpayers but operate independently from the public school system to offer alternative types of instruction and curriculum to students who choose to attend them.

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Both bills would allow new school districts to form and operate independently from current local districts and give parents the option to enroll their children through an application process or lottery system if it were to exceed a threshold of availability.

Where they differ is how exactly the new districts would be formed. Both would have new

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