All four Democrats running for state superintendent of public instruction want to see the state spend more money on K-12 schools, and they all favor changes to the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind law.

In 2004 and in an expanded decision in 2005, the Montana Supreme Court unanimously declared that the way Montana funded its schools was unconstitutionally inadequate.

Although special legislative sessions in 2006 and 2007 appropriated more money for schools, including some one-time funding, the schools and education groups that sued are back in District Court and contend the state still is not meeting the court requirements.

The Montana School Boards Association recently called for the state to spend $260 million more a year on K-12 school but it could be phased in over six years.

Longtime educator Claudette Morton of Helena said the state needs to increase its share of the payment for K-12 education to 70 percent from the current 60 percent.

"I really do believe we can devise a formula to fund public education," Morton said. "This is a task the Legislature has not completed."

She called for full funding of the state's share of public education; a basic entitlement payment for each school so a district with two high schools received two payments, not the current one, and rural districts would receive a bonus; retention of the one-time money appropriated; an increase in the amount paid for gifted and talented student programs; and an increase in the quality educator payment.

When asked how she proposed to raise the money, Morton said: "It's a revenue issue. The superintendent doesn't suggest revenue to the Legislature."

Morton said when the state does increase its share of paying for public schools, it will ease the burden on taxpayers of funding local schools.

Rep. Holly Raser, a Missoula teacher, called for both short- and long-term approaches.

Over the short term, she said the 2009 Legislature should add to the 2005 funding components not solely dependent on the student enrollments, particularly the quality educator part and district allocations, and to increase special education spending. Local school districts need more flexibility to determine how to spend money, "whether it's for maintenance or textbooks," she said.

Over the long term, Raser called for bringing school advocates, business leaders, taxpayers and others to the table to develop a statewide consensus that education is a worthy investment.

She called for breaking down necessary school components into bits, starting with facilities and then moving on down the road to other topics such as personnel costs, health-care costs, textbooks and other costs.

"So we can be proactive and not reactive," Raser said. "So we can best anticipate what students will need."

Raser did not identify a source of revenue for more money for schools.

Denise Juneau, Indian education director in the Office of Public Instruction, said the state's share of K-12 funding has dropped from 71 percent in 1991 to 63 percent in 2009, even with the recent increases.

Similarly, federal and state governments have greatly reduced their shares for special education.

"It's a total shell game with funding," she said. "These schools have to make up the shortfall. It comes from local taxpayers and a shifting of the money from other programs."

Juneau called for bringing state funding up to historic levels that must be funded. She praised the quality-educator payment component (teachers and counselors) that came out of the 2005-06 state study.

To pay for it, Juneau called for a reprioritization of state government spending and putting more money into schools to meet the constitutional requirement.

For example, she said the $100 million the 2007 Legislature spent on $400-per-household property tax rebates instead should have gone to school instead.

"Public education is for everybody," she said. "It can be the great equalizer."

Sen. Sam Kitzenberg, D-Glasgow, said he is the only candidate thinking outside the box to find new sources of school funding and not putting additional pressure on property taxpayers.

He wants to see the state-owned Otter Creek leases, with 540 million tons of coal, developed south of Ashland, with the proceeds going to the school trust fund.

"We've been sitting on it for about six years," Kitzenberg said. "I see it coming to fruition because there are people out there that want to lease it."

His second revenue source involved the U.S. Defense Department's proposal to put a coal-to-liquids facility near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls to supply jet fuel to the Air Force, which has only a 10-year reserve. Such a facility could produce 20,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil daily. Kitzenberg proposed putting a tax on that potential fuel and dedicating it to schools. Kitzenberg said he would insist that a clean solution be found by removing the carbon dioxide generated by the process.

On the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal law, here's a summary of what the candidates said:

Juneau: She said the law has narrowed the curriculum because only math and reading are tested, with music, art, social studies and writing "pushed aside."

"I don't like punitive measures," Juneau said. "Thirty-six subsets get measured. If that subset doesn't meet average yearly progress, the whole school gets labeled."

Juneau said the law's goal is great, with all students trying to reach their full potential and be proficient on the tests, but that doesn't happen because of individual differences in students.

"Certainly, we can have accountability and look at data and tests to see where our students are, but we should be supporting our schools," she said.

"We should be trying to make them better. A top-down approach like that of punitive measures won't work. Improvement needs to come from the classroom," she added.

Kitzenberg: He praised the law for providing accountability and its emphasis on helping underachieving subgroups of students.

"However, there are some fatal flaws under it," he said. "It's unrealistic to believe that all children, regardless of disabilities, can reach the proficiency levels required by this law. When severe consequences are attached to unachievable results, the school system is harmed because then teachers start teaching to the tests. You have penalties involved. Usually there's a money penalty and there's the penalty of potentially firing teachers."

Kitzenberg criticized the fact that only reading and math are tested. National studies show many schools are spending more time on reading and math to prepare for the tests, but they're cutting other subjects.

"The biggest thing is NCLB has changed local control to federal control," he said.

Morton: She said she's probably had more experience working with the law than her opponents and helped small schools with NCLB and did a policy inventory for the Board of Public Education.

Concluding it was impossible to meet NCLB mandates, Morton said she facilitated a group of representatives from various education organizations, OPI and the governor's office to reach consensus on needed changes.

The law's accountability should be redesigned to improve schools rather than abandon them and to provide maximum flexibility for states and school districts to address assessment and learning needs of English language learners and students with special needs, Morton said.

The federal government must support states and school districts must develop effective testing systems to measure the growth of the "whole student," Morton said.

Raser: Her biggest concern is the punitive nature of the law, with schools or school districts failing to show "adequate yearly progress" in testing having to notify parents and being identified in the media.

The law also fails to provide adequate money for schools to absorb the costs of the testing and staff time.

She favors amendments to accommodate states like Montana, so that rural school districts can hire a single teacher with a broad science endorsement to teach physical and biological sciences.

Some good has come from the law, she said. The testing statistics are broken out by subgroup, such as children in poverty, gender, race to enable schools to know where to better target their resources.

"We are making good gains," Raser said.