Arbor Day, Flag Day, Freedom Week? Bill requiring schools to educate students about sacrifices made for the U.S. awaiting governor’s signature.
By Jordan Hansen DAILY MONTANAN
A weeklong celebration of “freedom” is likely coming to Montana schools under a law passed during the 2025 legislative session.
House Bill 591 adds “Freedom Week” to a list of codified “commemorative days” that includes Washington’s birthday, Arbor Day, Flag Day and American Indian Heritage Day, among several others. All other commemorative days are for a single day, while the celebration of freedom will last a week.
The law, which is awaiting Gov. Greg Gianforte’s signature, requires school districts to adopt a policy to “ensure the effective conduct of appropriate exercises for the commemorative days,” according to the legislation.
Rep. Greg Oblander, R-Billings, brought the legislation and said its intent “is to educate students about the sacrifices that were made for freedom in the founding of the United States” during a House hearing on the bill in February.
Schools are already doing much of the work the bill seeks to accomplish, said Gordon Klasna, who is the executive director of secondary education for the Billings Public Schools. Klasna oversees the middle and high schools in the district.
Klasna said the district will look for guidance from the Montana School Boards Association as well as its attorneys as they adopt the new bill. The district was keeping an eye on the bill during the process, as it does with other legislation impacting schools, he added.
No funding was attached to the bill, but the new commemorative week won’t be a cost to the district, and Klasna added it is, “something that we can easily do.” As he understands it, the bill directs districts to commemorate sacrifices made for this country while also “expounding” upon the values the United States was founded on.
The bill initially received pushback from the Montana School Boards Association in the form it was presented to the House. Originally, the bill asked for three hours of study on the U.S. Constitution, the Montana Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
As originally written, it would have also required “school districts to ensure that pupils in grades 3 through 12 recite a certain passage from the Declaration of Independence.”
That language was amended out. During the Senate hearing for the bill, both the Montana School Boards Association and Office of Public Instruction supported the legislation.
“We think we struck the right balance with the amendments here, without taking any of the value of what Representative Oblander brought to the table in the first place,” said Lance Melton, with the school boards association.
If signed, Freedom Week would be the last full week of September.
