# Montana HB 252: Create the student and teacher advancement for results and success act (STARS) Montana HB 252, Create the student and teacher advancement for results and success act (STARS), is a 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) House bill sponsored by Llew Jones (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-05-13 (Chapter Number Assigned); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-12). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB252-2025 - As of: 2026-10-12 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Montana HB 252 - State: Montana - Session: 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) - Title: Create the student and teacher advancement for results and success act (STARS) - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-01-17 - Last action: 2025-05-13, Chapter Number Assigned - Sponsor: Llew Jones (Republican) - Cosponsors: 2 - Subjects: Education - K-12, Education - School Finance, Education - Teachers, Appropriations, Rule Making, Labor and Employment, Education - Post-Secondary - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 5 (356 yes, 41 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 17 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Advanced opportunities cut student and family costs: benefit, medium. Qualified school districts receive advanced opportunity aid by October 1 each year, paid into the district flexibility fund. At least 75% of that money must go to lower pupil and family costs, like dual credit tuition, exam fees, workers’ comp for work‑based learning, credential fees, and enrichmen… - More funding for Indian language immersion: benefit, medium. Districts that run Indian language immersion programs get extra state payments. For each American Indian student, the district gets twice the American Indian achievement gap payment, or three times if the district’s American Indian graduation rate rose by at least 5 percentage points from last year… - Clearer K-12 funding and public dashboard: benefit, medium. The law clarifies what counts as the state’s share of K‑12 funding, including items like BASE aid, retirement tax base aid, major maintenance, transportation, debt service help, technology, CTE, advanced opportunities, and gifted and talented funding. It also sets amounts for key payments. For FY20… - Quality educator payments expanded and scheduled: benefit, medium. The law sets the per‑FTE teacher and staff payment at $3,566 for FY2024 and $3,673 each year after. A school that meets the teacher base‑pay goal counts each qualifying FTE twice for this payment and keeps that status unless it fails for two straight years. The state now pays this money on the BASE… - Teacher pay goals and enhanced payments: benefit, medium. The law sets a rising floor for base teacher pay tied to the prior‑year average. The minimum is at least 62% in FY2026, 64% in FY2027, 66% in FY2028, 68% in FY2029, and 70% in FY2030 and after. Entities that meet the competitive base pay goal qualify for an enhanced payment for all their quality ed… - Housing help for school staff in costly counties: benefit, low. If a district meets the base teacher pay goal and sits in a county where the median home value is over 105% of the statewide median, its general fund budget limit increases by a factor based on how much the county median exceeds the statewide median divided by 60. The Department of Revenue calculat… - Advanced opportunity aid set by formula: benefit, low. The state sets advanced opportunity aid as a share of last year’s total quality educator payment after required adjustments. The shares are 4.5% for elementary districts, 30% for high school districts, and 18% for K‑12 districts. This formula creates predictable aid that supports course fees, exams… - Future Ready payments for student credits: benefit, low. Districts get payments based on how many graduates reach set goals while in high school. Level 1 is 15 or more postsecondary or CTE‑equivalent credits, level 2 is 30 or more, and level 3 is an associate degree. Payments equal 10%, 20%, or 30% of the per‑ANB maximum for each qualifying graduate, cou… - Higher school budget room for housing: benefit, low. For FY2026, the law raises maximum general fund budget limits tied to housing costs. The Department of Revenue must send housing cost data to the Office of Public Instruction within 10 days of the law taking effect. The superintendent must tell districts about any budget limit increase by June 1, 2… - Transformational learning funds built into base: benefit, low. The state adds transformational learning aid to the K‑12 present‑law base. The amount equals 50% of the quality educator payment times 10% of statewide full‑time educators from the prior year. This inclusion ends on June 30, 2027. - K-12 expansion only for 1,000+ students: cost, medium. An elementary district may expand into a K‑12 district only if its ANB is at least 1,000. The rule applies only if the district is not in a unified system and not on a joint board with a high school district. If ANB is below 1,000, expansion is not allowed. - Future Ready payments delayed to 2028: cost, low. School districts do not receive Future Ready incentive payments until fiscal year 2028. The first planned distributions move from FY2027 to FY2028. Districts must wait one more year for this funding. - Rules when elementary districts add high school: mixed, medium. After voters approve expansion, trustees have two years to propose a transition levy and a bond. For bond limits and facilities estimates, the initial high school ANB is (elementary ANB ÷ 9) × 4. A voter‑approved bond becomes a bond of the new K‑12 district and is issued after the district is creat… - Transformational learning aid and local levies: mixed, medium. The law gives approved school districts a four‑year block of funding for transformational learning. Payments equal 50% of the prior‑year per‑FTE quality payment times the district’s FTE and arrive by October 1. Districts must spend the money on their approved plan within two years, and no single di… - New teacher pay benchmarks and funding math: mixed, medium. To meet the legislative goal, a district’s teacher base pay must be at least 11 times the per‑educator payment set in law. Teacher average pay now excludes bonuses, stipends, and extended duty contracts. Teacher base pay means the lowest salary for a full‑time beginning teacher in the current year,… - More staff count for school payments: mixed, low. More positions now count toward school staffing payments. Licensed professionals, emergency‑authorized staff (up to three years), and eligible district clerks are included. Emergency‑authorized teachers count starting with FY2026 payments. Eligible district clerks count starting with FY2027, and to… - Indian language immersion funding rules: mixed, low. Districts may use state immersion payments as match to bring in federal or private funds for the program. If the yearly appropriation is not enough, the Office of Public Instruction prorates immersion payments, so recipients get less that year. ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Llew Jones (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Bruce "Butch" Gillespie (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: John Fuller (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-22 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 43 | 7 | | | 2025-04-15 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 40 | 10 | | | 2025-02-22 | House | Do Pass | pass | 88 | 9 | | | 2025-02-21 | House | Do Pass | pass | 92 | 8 | | | 2025-02-10 | House | Do Pass | pass | 93 | 7 | | ## Actions (42) - 2025-05-13: Chapter Number Assigned (House) - 2025-05-08: Signed by Governor (House) - 2025-05-05: Transmitted to Governor (House) - 2025-05-02: Signed by President (Senate) - 2025-05-01: Signed by Speaker (House) - 2025-04-27: Returned from Enrolling (House) - 2025-04-22: Sent to Enrolling (House) - 2025-04-22: 3rd Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-18: Committee Report (Senate) - 2025-04-18: Committee Executive Action (Senate) - 2025-04-17: Hearing (Senate) - 2025-04-15: Rereferred to Committee (Senate) - 2025-04-15: 2nd Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Committee Report (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Committee Executive Action (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Hearing (Senate) - 2025-03-03: Referred to Committee (Senate) - 2025-02-25: 1st Reading (Senate) - 2025-02-24: Transmitted to Senate (House) - 2025-02-22: 3rd Reading (House) - 2025-02-21: 2nd Reading (House) - 2025-02-18: Committee Report (House) - 2025-02-17: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-02-10: Revised Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-02-10: Hearing (House) - 2025-02-10: Rereferred to Committee (House) - 2025-02-10: Revised Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-02-10: Revised Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-02-10: 2nd Reading (House) - 2025-02-06: Committee Report (House) - 2025-02-06: Revised Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-02-05: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-02-05: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-02-05: Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-02-04: Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-02-04: Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-22: Hearing (House) - 2025-01-22: Hearing Canceled (House) - 2025-01-20: 1st Reading (House) - 2025-01-20: Referred to Committee (House) - 2025-01-17: Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-17: Introduced (House) ## Bill text - Enrolled, 2025-04-23: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=d4e087ac-bed3-4cc4-a32d-d367216344b5) - As Amended (Version 3), 2025-02-18: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=bdf17b5b-87b2-4133-ad2e-41c957c6e2d6) - As Amended (Version 2), 2025-02-06: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=940631af-ed50-4e5b-9330-c5ea7f2e46af) - Introduced, 2025-01-17: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=66fd4503-9da8-4d15-be42-74fd4cf2e46b) ## Related bills - SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law (signed) - HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit (vetoed) - HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws (vetoed) - SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act (vetoed) - SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer (vetoed) - SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program (vetoed) ## Sources - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=d4e087ac-bed3-4cc4-a32d-d367216344b5) - [As Amended (Version 3) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=bdf17b5b-87b2-4133-ad2e-41c957c6e2d6) - [As Amended (Version 2) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=940631af-ed50-4e5b-9330-c5ea7f2e46af) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=66fd4503-9da8-4d15-be42-74fd4cf2e46b) ## Related - [SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB437-2025) - [HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB831-2025) - [HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB628-2025) - [SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB410-2025) - [SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB422-2025) - [SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB424-2025) - [Montana bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana/bills) - [Montana state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB252-2025 (as of 2026-10-12).