With slightly more than a dozen students currently participating in Montana’s fledgling Education Savings Account program, state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen opened a second application window ahead of the spring semester late last month, enabling more parents of students with special needs to seek access to state funding for non-public education resources.According to the Office of Public Instruction, the agency had received 24 applications for students in 15 separate school districts across the state as of Wednesday and will continue accepting additional applications for the spring semester through Dec. 1. A total of 19 families signed education savings account contracts with the state following the first application window earlier this year, but OPI spokesperson Brian O’Leary told Montana Free Press via email that five of those families have since withdrawn from the program, bringing the total number of participating students to 14 in 12 public school districts. O’Leary added those families do not have to submit a second application in order to maintain their eligibility.“The Education Savings Account program focuses on flexibility and personalized learning for students of all abilities,” Arntzen, a termed-out Republican who will be succeeded in January by Republican Superintendent-elect Susie Hedalen, said in an email statement. “Montana parents know the unique educational needs of their children.” In a press release Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte encouraged eligible families to submit applications ahead of the latest deadline, stating that “each child is unique and deserves access to the best education possible to meet his or her individual needs.” Gianforte signed the program into law in May 2023 alongside several other school choice measures including a bill allowing homeschool and private school students to enroll part time in public schools and another bill, now temporarily halted by a state court, establishing a system of “community choice” schools that would operate separately from the public K-12 system.To fund the education savings accounts created under House Bill 393, a school district with a participating student is required to remit to OPI the state funding associated with that student, with the money then used to reimburse families for approved expenses such as online courses and private school tuition. Supporters have said the approach would help students with special needs access the educational resources — public or not — that best fit their circumstances. But opponents, including key statewide education associations, argue the program would divert critical state funding to non-public institutions and threaten a district’s ability to maintain special education services for students who remain in the public system.Concerns over diverting public funding to private education sparked a legal challenge earlier this year as the Montana Quality Education Coalition and Disability Rights Montana — two nonprofits advocating for public school students — sought to strike down HB 393. The plaintiffs were unsuccessful in securing a court order halting the program while the litigation continues, and the case remains active in Lewis & Clark County District Court.“Across the country, we’ve seen voucher programs like this start as a trickle before totally swamping schools’ budgets and leading to worse outcomes for students,” Montana Quality Education Coalition President Doug Reisig told MTFP in a statement this week. “MQEC is standing with students and families against this unconstitutional, unaccountable voucher scheme because we believe every student — whether they’re in Choteau or Billings — deserves the free, quality public education guaranteed in this state.”According to O’Leary, districts with participating students have remitted a combined $18,900 to OPI, with those students’ families being reimbursed for $7,245 in expenses as of Oct. 30. A list of reimbursed expenses provided to MTFP by OPI included books, dry erase boards, games and fidget spinners, as well as laptops, a printer, a desk, a computer chair and a musical instrument. Those agency records, which contained no identifying information associated with individual students, families or districts, also listed transportation mileage for educational services, private school tuition and a total of $3,217 for a variety of apps and subscription-based online educational courses and programs.The amount that individual families are able to access through the education savings accounts varies from district to district, but tends to range between $5,300 and $8,300 per student. Interest has varied around the state, with participating students hailing from smaller rural districts such as Choteau and White Sulphur Springs as well as larger districts like Bozeman and Billings, according to OPI. 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