Superintendent

Dear Billings Community,

I am honored to share a district update that belongs to all of us, from our dedicated educators and school leaders to the essential support staff and service teams who keep our schools running every day.

In 2023, we faced an $8 million deficit. Today, our budget is balanced, and we have redirected our resources where they matter most: our students and our staff. We have raised beginning teacher salaries by 17.3% (from $42,720 to $50,100) and provided average pay increases of 7% to 9%. Through the Billings Teach program, we are also supporting some of our dedicated paraprofessionals in earning their bachelor's degrees.

Our success is not accidental. It is driven by a consolidated strategic plan focused on Cultivating Talent, Safe Schools, Community Engagement, Student Experience, and Student Pathways. Our "North Star" remains our Graduate Profile, ensuring every student leaves us equipped with: Critical Thinking, Academic Readiness, Social-Emotional Well-being, Character Development and Engaged, Productive Citizenship.

With students' success at the forefront, we have implemented the following:

• Early College High School: We opened the first of its kind in Montana, allowing students to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate degree. We currently serve 130 students in this program, entering its third year of implementation, with some of our students attending the MSUB campus. 
• The Opportunity School: We created this pathway for credit-deficient students. This initiative has already prevented students from dropping out, with 26 graduations in the past two years. We currently serve 120 students. 
• Multilingual Academy: We serve 40+ students from over 12 countries, ensuring all students have access to a great education. We have also added language instruction in Crow and are bringing Northern Cheyenne language for our Indigenous Students selecting these pathways. 
• Specialized Support: We launched the Journey Center and Journey Academy to provide the small-group environment and alternative education some of our students need to thrive. For our students with IEPs, our VIP program now provides career-readiness training through age 21, and we’ve added a dyslexia specialist to ensure our teachers have the tools to support every reader. We also launched BPS Connect, a mentorship program in which our own staff provides one-on-one guidance with parental consent. Our goal is to grow this into a community-wide "buddy system." Finally, through our Family Resource Center, we are providing a lifeline for students and families facing the hardships of poverty and homelessness.
• JROTC: Opened a military pathway for students at West HS while adopting the AFJROTC program at Skyview HS.
• Family Friendly School Program: We have launched this parental engagement initiative designed to foster deeper collaboration and partnership between families and our schools. Since its inception, we have seen a consistent year-over-year increase in the number of campuses achieving platinum, gold, and silver distinctions, demonstrating a district-wide commitment to inclusive and welcoming school environments.
• KindeREADy Program: Launched two years ago, our KindeREADy program continues to expand its reach within our most underserved communities. We are proud to announce that 220 four-year-olds are currently pre-enrolled for the upcoming school year. This targeted intervention focuses on essential early literacy and numeracy foundations, ensuring our youngest learners are equipped for long-term academic success.

Academic Excellence by the Numbers

Our focus on "Visible Learning" and the PLC process, guided by best practices and our teacher task force, is yielding significant results:

• K-8 Proficiency: Reading climbed from 52% to 61%, and Math jumped from 49% to 64% since 2022.
• Secondary Success: AP enrollments rose from 1,473 to 2,252, with nearly 80% of students scoring a 3 or higher on the culminating assessment.
• Career Readiness: We nearly doubled our career certifications from 16 to 29, awarding over 1,200 certificates this year. Certificates offered now include FAA drone certification and Cybersecurity, among others. We also built a professional-grade kitchen for our Café Protégé culinary program at the Lincoln Center. In the near future, we anticipate expanding healthcare pathways in downtown Billings.
• National Standing: On the ACT, Montana currently ranks #1 in all subjects compared to the other 11 states with 95%+ participation. Billings accounts for 33% of that statewide participation.
• Dropouts: The number of students dropping out decreased from 333 in 2022 to 140 in 2025. This will significantly impact our future graduation rates.
• Athletic Opportunities: We are committed to expanding opportunities for our student-athletes, recently launching both a boys baseball and girls flag football program. These additions join a storied athletic tradition in Billings; our programs continue to set the standard across Montana, bringing home multiple state championships across a wide variety of sports.
• Music and Arts: We are the first district in the state to have hired an adaptive music specialist, ensuring every student has the opportunity to experience the joy of music. We also just celebrated the successful second season of our All-City Marching Band. This dedication is paying off: enrollment in our middle and high school music and arts programs has reached its highest level in years.
• Indigenous Education: We hired two new certified achievement specialists dedicated specifically to high school Indigenous students. Our commitment to cultural inclusion starts early; every K-5 student now experiences at least one cultural presentation annually, ranging from Indigenous sign language and celestial star stories to traditional teepee and Pow-Wow demonstrations. In our middle schools, this curriculum evolves into hands-on STEM lessons, such as studying teepee thermodynamics. We are also incredibly proud of our students who produced the documentary Walking Between Two Worlds over the summer of 2024. Their work won the 2025 National Student Production Award in the Non-Fiction Long Form Category. We have increased graduation rates among Indigenous Students from 50% to 76% in over two years. 

To our teachers, support staff, school leaders, and the entire Billings community: thank you. Your dedication, daily hard work, and partnership are the sole reason our district is making such extraordinary progress. As we look ahead, we remain fully committed to honoring your trust, remaining fiscally responsible, and staying focused on our strategic priorities—ensuring every student reaches the standard set by our Graduate Profile. Together, we will keep building a bright, successful future for all of Billings’ children.