The Lone Rock School over the last three school years has grown with new families moving into the school district. Three years ago the district had 170 students in grades K-8. Currently, there are 260 students in grades K-8.
According to a press release sent out by Robert DoBell, Lone Rock Superintendent, the district has been able to rely upon Federal ESSER dollars to help with additional student needs over the last three years. The federal funding will no longer be available in the 2023-2024 school year. As a result, the district needs an increase in the general fund to keep current programs and personnel in place. The school district navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, only missing one school day in the last three years and was able to hire five additional teachers (staff) to respond to the need of smaller class sizes. According to the release, students have not missed a beat and have been able to stay on par and above with their counterparts in neighboring school districts.
The school district wants to continue to offer the same services to all students and be an employer of choice where they can retain employees.
Currently, the Lone Rock school district’s starting teacher salary ranks the lowest in the state of Montana at $27,185.
“With the current inflation of nearly 8% we need to be able to recruit and retain teachers to continue to offer the same programming into the future,” states the release. “As a result, a portion of the additional funding will go toward increasing teacher salaries to become more competitive with other area schools in the Bitterroot Valley. Increases in maintenance costs have been realized over the last three years to ensure that the physical plant is safe for students, he said. A portion of the additional funding will be used to help update textbooks, supplies, and curriculum materials for students, and access to educational technology.
“We have offered a wonderful education to area students since 1885 and we continue to offer families a small school atmosphere with dedicated employees that want the best for each student. The additional funding will bring the Lone Rock School back to being a competitive school district offering students the very best education.”
The election will be a mail ballot election and will be mailed out at the end of April with an election day of Tuesday May 2, 2023.
The School District will have the following dates available to ask questions about the upcoming mill levy in the Middle School Library from 6 to 7 p.m.:
February 7th, February 16th, February 28th
March 14th, March 28th
April 13th, April 25th.