The night before the beginning of the new school year, a group of educators and staff from Kalispell Public Schools gathered at Bias Brewing for a town hall hosted by the Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE), a union that represents certified and classified staff in the state’s public schools.

Teachers and staff members raised concerns about the money they spent each year purchasing supplies for their classrooms, saying it regularly totals more than $100 out of their own pockets per school year. Growing classroom sizes make it difficult to give students the individualized attention they need. That challenge, they said, is compounded by not having enough paraeducators to help with students who need extra supports. Those staff members can be difficult to attract due to pay, which b

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