The money allocated to Montana's new charter schools

Over the past year, we've fielded many reader emails about charter schools in Montana. The curiosity is understandable - one of the two charter school laws passed by the 2023 Legislature is currently tied up in district court, and the other has already generated 19 public charters in nearly a dozen communities. But one recent email posed a question we hadn't yet covered: exactly how much state funding did the Montana Legislature direct toward these new educational institutions?

The short answer is about $1.2 million. Both House Bill 549, which established public charter schools, and House Bill...