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Yes For Kids Working to Pass School Mill Levy

Yes For Kids is back.

The local group is making its case to Billings voters to pass mill levies for local students.   

Campaign co-chairman Luke Kobold says passage of the levies will mean the district is responding to the demand from parents and the Billings community for things like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) offerings, reduced class size, programs for struggling students as well and gifted and talented, and funding for suicide prevention and school safety.

“This is what our community is asking for,” Kobold says.” This is what we want of our schools.”

Three years ago the Yes For Kids committee has success in working to  pass mill levies to fund two new middle schools and elementary school renovations.

Billings use to have a checkered history in passing school mill levies. Now Kobold believes the district has positive momentum moving forward by delivering projects on time and under budget.

“I think they’ve done a really good job of just being transparent and building trust,” says Kobold.

The two levies total about $2 million. They would cost just under $27 on a $200,000 home.

The absentee  ballots were mailed out April 15.

Kay Erickson has been working in broadcasting in Billings for more than 20 years. She spent well over a decade as news assignment editor at KTVQ-TV before joining the staff at YPR. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduation she worked in Great Falls where she was one of the first female sports anchor and reporter in Montana.