Gov. Greg Gianforte recently expanded work-based learning opportunities for Montana students, signing three bills into law to support schools in offering internships, apprenticeships, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Advancing his pro-student, pro-parent, pro-teacher education agenda this legislative session, Gov. Gianforte delivered a series of wins which support classroom innovation.

First, the governor reformed the Advanced Opportunities Program to support schools in expanding work-based and personalized learning opportunities for students.

The Advanced Opportunities Program provides $4 million annually to schools for programs that advance students’ career and educational success.

House Bill 257 doubles the amount of funding individual elementary, high school, and K-12 districts may receive through the program while increasing the percentage of funding that goes directly to students.

Second, the governor signed House Bill 458, sponsored by Rep. Fred Anderson, R-Great Falls, to get career coaches into more Montana schools to support students in their educational and career endeavors.

Lastly, the governor signed House Bill 382, to triple funding for Career and Technology Student Organizations (CTSO) in Montana.

City College at Montana State University Billings has been awarded a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Nursing Expansion Program to diversify and expand the nursing workforce in rural Montana.

The Nursing Expansion Grant Program will allow City College to grow the existing Registered Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse workforce in rural eastern and south-central Montana, creating the Rural Eastern Montana Nursing Expansion Program. Through this funding, City College will be able to accept additional students into both nursing programs and will be able to respond to shortages in the rural health care workforce through recruiting, training, and graduating rural Montana students who are likely to return to their hometowns to work.

“I am excited that this grant will allow us to expand our partnerships with eastern Montana to better meet the critical health care needs in rural areas,” says City College Dean Vicki Trier. With over 90 percent of RN and LPN program graduates passing the NCLEX exam on their first attempt, City College offers high quality nursing degrees; this funding will allow the project to serve a total of 300 participants from rural and low-income backgrounds from eastern and south-central Montana over the grant period; will establish or strengthen relationships with rural hospitals, increasing available preceptorships and clinical sites; and will increase City College’s training capacity by 25 percent.

The LPN program will increase from 15 students to 22 per year while the RN program will increase from 40 students to 56 per year. “This grant will increase our simulation facilities and provide funding for recruitment and assistance to potential students in rural areas of Montana,” says Susan Floyd, director of nursing at City College. “We are excited to be able to help with the crucial nursing needs in rural areas of Montana.”

The Rural Eastern Montana Nursing Expansion Program encompasses twenty-four counties and over 63,000 square miles. Counties to be served include Sheridan, Daniels, Valley, Roosevelt, Fergus, Petroleum, Garfield, McCone, Richland, Dawson, Prairie, Wibaux, Golden Valley, Musselshell, Treasure, Rosebud, Custer, Fallon, Stillwater, Carbon, Yellowstone, Big Horn, Powder River, and Carter. Partners within these counties will be the key to the program’s success as they will provide a range of services including participant referrals, supportive services to participants, educational services, employment services, and clinical sites.

The Nursing Expansion Grant Program is designed to improve the nation’s healthcare system through diversifying the pipeline of the nursing field through training people from historically marginalized and underrepresented populations. City College is one of 25 public-private partnerships within 17 states awarded funding through the Nursing Expansion Grant Program.

“The increase in our capacity to train nursing students made possible through the Nursing Expansion Grant Program is part of a planned growth in nursing and other health programs at MSU Billings, with a clear focus on meeting the workforce needs of Billings and Montana,” notes MSUB Provost Sep Eskandari. “Over the next five years, the university will work intentionally to significantly increase the enrollment capacity of LPN and RN offerings at City College as well as the RN to BSN Degree Completion Program offered by the College of Health Professions and Science.”

California Law Could Affect all States…

By Victor Skinner, The Center Square

North Carolina hog farmers could take a major hit from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a California animal cruelty law regulating pork sales in that state.

“Right now we’re still trying to digest the ruling to understand exactly what it says,” Roy Lee Lindsey, CEO of the NC Pork Council, told The Center Square. “It was a very complex opinion.”

Agriculture is North Carolina’s largest industry, and the state is home to the top two hog producing counties in the country: Duplin County with nearly 2 million hogs, and Sampson County with more than 1.8 million. Bladen County is 11th nationally for hog production, while Wayne County is 17th.

Overall, North Carolina consistently ranks in the top three pork producing states at about 4.2 billion pounds annually, behind only Iowa at about 13.2 billion pounds and Minnesota at about 4.6 billion, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer, operates the world’s largest plant in Tar Heel – a small Bladen County community between Elizabethtown and Fayetteville. The industry has economic output of more than $10 billion for the state and 19,298 jobs, according to 2019 N.C. State University data.

The Supreme Court, with a 5-4 decision that was nonpartisan, upheld a California animal cruelty law that requires pork sold in the state to come from sows raised with a minimum of 24 square feet of space.

The ruling seemingly outlaws common metal enclosures used in the industry for breeding pigs for producers who want to sell pork in California, significantly reducing capacity.

“It has an impact as a whole across the country,” Lindsey said. “Its impact is not going to be limited to one state or two states, it’s going to affect all of us.”

In a prepared statement released later in the day, Lindsey added, “Hog farmers in North Carolina do not understand how the State of California should have any say in how hogs are raised in NC. Every day, hog farmers across North Carolina work to provide the proper care for OUR hogs. Just as we have for generations, our farmers will continue to work on continuous improvement – being just a little better every day – in everything we do. That includes raising animals responsibly, producing safe food, caring for the environment, caring for our employees, and investing in our communities.

“This is not a message of doom and gloom. NC hog farmers, and hog farmers across the country, are resilient. They have faced challenges before and always found a way forward. Proposition 12 is just THE latest in a long list of challenges our farmers will overcome.”

The National Pork Producers Council predicts the ruling will result in higher prices for consumers and fewer small farms.

“We are very disappointed with the Supreme Court’s opinion,” said Scott Hays, a Missouri pork producer and president of the national council. “Allowing state overreach will increase prices for consumers and drive small farms out of business, leading to more consolidation.

“We are still evaluating the court’s full opinion to understand all the implications. NPPC will continue to fight for our nation’s pork farmers and American families against misguided regulations.”

California’s law stems from Proposition 12, approved by voters as an animal cruelty law in 2018 to allow sows room to turn around and lie down during gestation. The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Pork Producers Council challenged the law, arguing nearly all of the pork sold in California comes from hogs raised elsewhere.

The pork industry noted that nearly three-quarters of farmers raise sows in pens that do not comply with the law, which could cost the industry up to $350 million.

California produces one-tenth of 1% of the nation’s pork.

Justice Brett Kanvanaugh wrote within his dissent, “If one State conditions sale of a good on the use of preferred farming, manufacturing, or production practices in another State where the good was grown or made, serious questions may arise under the Import-Export Clause.”

The Humane Society of the United States was a party to the case and cheered the Supreme Court’s decision not to restrict the California law.

Kitty Block, CEO of the Humane Society, said, “It’s astonishing that pork industry leaders would waste so much time and money on fighting this common sense step to prevent products of relentless, unbearable animal suffering from being sold in California.