schools OPI receives funds for school lunch, breakfast From the office of the Montana Office of Public Instruction
HELENA — State Superintendent Elsie Arntzen is partnering with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide assistance funds to help Montana overcome school nutrition supply chain challenges. This adds to the existing flexibilities that the Superintendent already requested through Federal waivers for school meals for Montana students. Montana will receive a total of $5,159,810 from USDA in funding relief for our schools in three flexible opportunities: Supply Chain Assistance funds are provided to districts to purchase foods. Additional USDA Foods to be available for districts to order. Local foods through State agreements with local producers and/or processers. “The chain supply crisis is a concern for all, especially our Montana schools,” Superintendent Elsie Arntzen expressed. “However, here’s an opportunity for local schools to use this funding to ensure our students are consistently receiving the nutrition needed to prioritize learning. I am particularly pleased with the focus through local farm-to-school foods to showcase our great Montana producers.” Of the $5,159,810 funding from the USDA, Montana will receive a total of $3,639,90 for school districts to purchase unprocessed and minimally processed domestic food such as fresh fruit, milk, cheese, frozen vegetables, and ground meat. Montana Office of Public Instruction School Nutrition staff will allocate the funds to districts based on student enrollment with a minimum amount of $5,000 per district. An additional $791,922 entitlement will be available in additional USDA Food products. The third funding flexibly of $727,981 will be used by the OPI to purchase local products to aid in building a competitive, sustainable local food chain. 32 - January 12, 2022
School districts hit cap on donation tax credits News from Alex Sakariassen Montana Free Press
HELENA — A program offering a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donations to Montana public schools reached its $1 million limit within minutes of launching Monday, with nine school districts claiming credits on behalf of 23 individual donors. The tax credits were offered to individuals and businesses that donated to specific public school districts through the Innovative Education Program, a source of supplemental funding for a variety of district-based initiatives. The Montana Legislature passed a law last spring raising the per-donor limit on the credits from $150 to $200,000 and capping the total amount of the credits to $1 million for tax year 2022. The law, House Bill 279, applied the same increase and aggregate limit to donations made toward scholarships for private school
students. The Department of Revenue began accepting claims for both tax credits at 8 a.m. Monday. In an emailed response to questions, DOR Communications Director Jason Slead told Montana Free Press the $1 million limit for public school donations was reached at 8:05 a.m. Slead said the tax credits were claimed for a total of 23 donations to nine public school recipients: Big Sky School District, Bonner Elementary, Great Falls Elementary, Kalispell Elementary, Livingston Elementary, Shepard Elementary, Somers Elementary, Whitefish Elementary, and Montana City Elementary in Clancy. As of Monday afternoon, $157,000 in credits had been claimed for seven separate donations to private school scholarship organizations. According to Slead, the organizations approved for those donations are ACE
Valley Journal
Scholarships Montana, Big Sky Scholarships, the Missoula Catholic Schools Foundation, St. Matthew’s Catholic School in Kalispell and Holy Spirit Catholic School in Great Falls. With DOR’s tax credit portal operating on a first-come, first-served basis, some public school districts anticipated intense competition for the credits when the portal launched Jan. 3. Kalispell Public Schools added a page to its website dedicated to helping prospective donors seize the opportunity, noting that “time is critical” and “these tax credits will be gone in less than an hour.” Superintendent Micah Hill said Monday
that the district had five staff entering claims on the portal simultaneously at 8 a.m. and was able to submit only four donations for a total of $80,000. “It was over almost before it started,” Hill said, adding that his district had checks from 13 other donors that it will have to return as it was unable to submit the tax credit claims. Karen Ogden, communications director for the Helena Public Schools, told MTFP her district reached out to potential donors individually ahead of the launch date and publicized information on its website. Staff attempted to submit a
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