In the fall of 2008, the Montana Policy Institute sent valid requests to each school district in the state asking for compensation information for
all district employees. The public's right to this information resides in our Constitution's Article II Section 9 and has been affirmed by at least
six Attorney General opinions dating back to the 1980s. The graph below
shows the results of those requests, and we have posted each district's
response (for those that responded) for your consideration.
MPI provided districts a template detailing the data we were seeking in each
of our requests. The first request letter referenced the template's web
address but did not include a paper copy. Based on feedback from that
letter, we immediately followed it up with another request providing more
detail on why we were seeking the data and including a paper copy of the
data template. Because the first letter did not contain a paper copy of the
template some of the district responses stated the template was not
available, when in fact is was available electronically and, with the second
letter, both electronically and on paper.
In addition, we offered the option for districts to automatically upload
data directly to our web site. This would have allowed them to take output
files from spreadsheets, accounting systems, or whatever electronic tools
they use and send them to us with a few mouse clicks rather than make copies
and mail documents. Few districts took advantage of this time and money
saving tool, and instead invited us to either visit their offices or pay for
copying and postage fees, as was their right under current law.
MPI will continue to seek spending data at the district level. As districts
meet their legal obligations to provide data we will update our database
accordingly and provide their responses for your review as appropriate.