But at a meeting with The Missoulian’s editorial board Friday Schweitzer admitted he’s changing his tune a bit. While he still believes in the importance of targeting education to job skills, he now thinks all-day kindergarten should become another major emphasis in the state as well as the nation as a whole.
Schweitzer’s revelation occurred during a Western Governors Association meeting where four educations specialists - when asked where they thought extra education money would be most effective - agreed on kindergarten.
The governor said those lost students often come from lower-income homes in which both parents have to work and simply don’t have time to spend pushing and helping with their child’s education.
“It isn’t necessarily more money in education that improves an outcome,” Schweitzer said, “but I can guarantee you more parent involvement always improves the outcome.”
The governor hopes all-day kindergarten can help jump start those students who - for any number of reasons - don’t get much educational input from parents or guardians.
On other subjects:
On agriculture, Schweitzer said he would like to see the U.S. Department of Agriculture use some of the money it spends on subsidizing American crops for export to subsidize growing crops for use in fuels.
In higher education Schweitzer said he will continue to push for accessibility and affordability. At the same time the governor said while he probably can’t guarantee lowering college tuition in the state he would guarantee an effort toward stemming the tide of rising tuition while trying to put more money into college scholarships for Montana students. He also said transferability of credits within the Montana University System is going to take a hard push from the Board or Regents and much better cooperation among institutions in terms of making course offerings more equal.
Back on the energy front Schweitzer said he will continue to push for the creation of liquid fuels from coal, adding that he sees other states entering the field not as a detriment but a benefit to Montana. He also continued to push wind power but said it will require a much larger investment in transmission lines and facilities.
Wrapping up the session Schweitzer said he felt very good about the economic attitude in Montana at this time.
“It’s a great place to be,” the governor said. “Lowest unemployment in history. Three out of four Montanans think the state’s on the right track. We’ve got the third-fastest growing economy in America.
“We’ve got a psyche in Montana that says we can do this,” Schweitzer said. “Finally we’re reading about stuff where Montana is leading (the nation) in something. There is an attitude in Montana that not only are we on the right track but we can get it done, and we’re not going to look for somebody else to lead. We can do it in Montana.”
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