Rachel Schillreff, president of Billings Education Association and MFPE Member

Q2 reports:

A proposal to cut nearly 40 positions from Billings elementary and middle schools to dig out of a $4.6 million hole would have a tangible effect on district students and teachers, the teachers’ union president said Thursday.

But Rachel Schillreff, head of the Billings Education Association, added that the recent addition of two middle schools- Ben Steele and Medicine Crow- are not to blame for the current budget problems.

“Building those two middle schools was the right thing to do. We did not have the capacity to have our students in accredited classrooms at a middle school level. If you look at the population of each of those, there’s no way we don’t have two new middle schools with all the students we have. So, I think this is more of a funding formula issue,” Schillreff told Q2 News.

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