Rick Hill: “This bill is designed to solve a funding crisis for the Dodson School District in Dodson, Montana. This is a small…”

“This bill is designed to solve a funding crisis for the Dodson School District in Dodson, Montana. This is a small, rural community. It has historically provided a quality, progressive education opportunity for a unique bicultural group of students. It is located about 3 miles outside the eastern border of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The Dodson schools are near closure. What happened is a former administrator sent the application for Impact Aid entitlement to the wrong location, and that would impact about a third of the district's funding. The current law prohibits the Secretary of Education from reconsidering any school that misses that application deadline, making it necessary for the Montana delegation to offer this legislation to correct the problem. This school is the hub and the life of this community, and the loss of these funds would likely mean the demise of the entire public school system, a system that serves many residents of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The economic state of Montana's reservation economy is suffering and losing this school district would also have adverse economic impacts.”