Montana’s Children Are Telling Us Something — And Policy Needs to Catch Up
- Jun 8
- 8 min read
Disclaimer: This blog post is based on and responds to the original reporting by Laura Hatch for Big Sky Connection / Public News Service, published June 8, 2026, under the headline “Child well-being drops in Montana while uninsured kids rise 33%.” The original story reported on findings from the 2026 Kids Count Data Book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This article is commentary and analysis by Shawn White Wolf.
by Shawn White Wolf
Montana’s Children Are Telling Us Something — And Policy Needs to Catch Up
Montana loves to describe itself as a family state. We talk about open skies, strong communities, local schools, church pews, ranch roads, small businesses, and neighbors who still wave from a pickup. That is the Montana many of us believe in, and for good reason. There is still something special here.
But every so often, a report comes along and asks a hard question: are we actually protecting the families we say we value?
According to the 2026 Kids Count Data Book, Montana’s child well-being ranking dropped from 22nd to 24th in the nation. Now, some folks may look at that and say, “Well, 24th is not terrible.” Fair enough. Montana is not at the bottom. In fact, the report gives Montana a score of 590 on a new zero-to-1,000 scale, which is still better than the national score of 547.
But that is not the whole story.
The problem is not just where Montana stands. The problem is where Montana appears to be heading.
The most alarming number in Laura Hatch’s story is this: Montana has seen a 33% increase in the number of children without health insurance since 2019. That is not a tiny bureaucratic footnote. That is a flashing red light. A child without health insurance may miss checkups, dental care, prescriptions, mental health support, or early intervention services. A parent may wait longer before taking a child to a doctor because the bill could break the household budget.
That is not family stability.
That is a gamble.
And when we are talking about children, gambling with basic health coverage is a poor policy choice.
Heather O’Loughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget and Policy Center, warned that more children could lose coverage as Montana begins enforcing Medicaid work requirements in July. That concern should not be brushed aside. When government adds more reporting requirements, paperwork, eligibility checks, and deadlines, some families fall through the cracks. And let’s be plain: families with children are already busy surviving.
They are working. They are driving. They are cooking. They are caring for children. They are paying bills. They are trying to keep life stitched together with thread that is already stretched thin.
Nobody should pretend paperwork is harmless. A child can lose coverage not because the family is undeserving, but because a notice was missed, a form was confusing, internet access was unreliable, a work schedule got in the way, or a deadline passed before the family even understood what was required.
That is not accountability. That is bureaucracy dressed up as discipline.
The report also shows that 11% of Montana children lived in poverty in 2024, which was an improvement from 2019. That is good news, and it deserves to be acknowledged. Montana should celebrate progress where progress exists. But poverty numbers alone do not capture the daily squeeze many families feel.
Many Montana families may not technically fall below the poverty line, but they are still one rent increase, one medical bill, one broken-down vehicle, one missed paycheck, or one childcare problem away from crisis.
That is where housing enters the picture.
Nearly one in four Montana children lived in households spending more than 30% of their income on housing. That means housing is eating too much of the family budget. When rent or a mortgage takes that kind of bite, everything else gets squeezed: groceries, gas, childcare, medicine, school clothes, utilities, insurance, and savings.
A family can be working hard and still falling behind.
This is the part Montana needs to say out loud: we cannot keep calling ourselves family-friendly if regular families cannot afford to live here. Pretty mountains do not pay the power bill. Campaign slogans about family values do not lower rent. A state is family-friendly when parents can afford a safe home, children can see a doctor, schools teach the basics, and wages have some connection to the actual cost of living.
Then there are the education numbers, and they are rough.
The report found that 68% of Montana fourth graders were not proficient in reading, and 68% of eighth graders were not proficient in math. That should stop every adult in the state for a moment. Reading by fourth grade and math by eighth grade are not fancy academic extras. They are foundation stones. If a child cannot read well by fourth grade, every other subject gets harder. If a student is behind in math by eighth grade, future opportunities begin narrowing before that young person even reaches adulthood.
Yes, the pandemic damaged education. That is true. Children lost classroom time. Teachers were pushed to the edge. Families were stressed. Routines broke down. But the pandemic cannot become the forever excuse. At some point, Montana has to ask: what are we doing now?
Early literacy efforts may help, and they deserve support. But Montana needs more than programs that sound good in a press release. We need results. That means honest testing, strong reading instruction, stable classrooms, supported teachers, engaged parents, and a clear return to educational fundamentals.
There is no magic wand. There is only steady work. Montana used to understand steady work.
So what should policy makers consider?
First, Montana should protect children’s health coverage from unnecessary disruption. If work requirements are going to be enforced, the state should build guardrails so children do not lose coverage because of adult paperwork problems. There should be clear notices, simple forms, longer response windows, phone and in-person assistance, and automatic reminders. The state should also track how many children lose coverage during implementation and report those numbers publicly.
Second, Montana should separate child eligibility from unnecessary adult administrative churn wherever possible. Children should not be punished because a parent missed a reporting step. If a child qualifies for coverage, keeping that child covered should be the priority. The policy goal should be health, not paperwork victory.
Third, the state should invest in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment assistance through schools, clinics, libraries, tribal programs, churches, and community nonprofits. Families are more likely to complete forms when help is local, trusted, and plainspoken. Government systems often make sense to the people who designed them and almost nobody else. That is not a slam. That is reality.
Fourth, Montana needs a serious housing strategy for working families. That should include incentives for starter homes, family rentals, manufactured housing where appropriate, and local zoning reforms that allow more practical housing options. Not every Montana community needs to become Bozeman, and thank heavens for that. But communities do need room for teachers, healthcare workers, grocery clerks, construction workers, young parents, and retirees to live without being priced out.
Fifth, state and local leaders should consider targeted housing support for families with children who are at risk of instability. Keeping a family housed is often cheaper than dealing with the consequences of homelessness, school disruption, poor health, and emergency services later. Preventing a crisis is usually cheaper than cleaning one up.
Sixth, Montana should strengthen childcare access as part of the family economic equation. Childcare is not just a private family issue. It is workforce infrastructure. If parents cannot find or afford childcare, they cannot work reliably. If they cannot work reliably, family income falls. If income falls, children suffer. That is a simple chain reaction, and pretending otherwise is political theater.
Seventh, schools need a back-to-basics academic recovery plan. Reading and math should be treated like emergency priorities, not just another agenda item. Montana should expand evidence-based reading instruction, tutoring, summer learning, after-school support, and early screening for students falling behind. The state should also support teachers with training and classroom resources, not just expect them to perform miracles with thin budgets and thicker paperwork.
Eighth, Montana should create a child well-being dashboard that tracks health coverage, housing cost burden, school proficiency, childcare access, and family employment by county and region. If the data is scattered, the response will be scattered. A clear dashboard would help local leaders see where problems are worsening and whether policy efforts are actually helping.
Ninth, the state should listen to rural and tribal communities directly. Montana is not one-size-fits-all. A solution that works in Missoula may not work in Fort Belknap, Browning, Miles City, Havre, or a small town tucked back in the hills. Policy must fit geography, culture, transportation realities, internet access, and local service gaps.
Tenth, both political parties need to stop using children as campaign props and start treating child well-being as a governing responsibility. Republicans should care because stable families, strong schools, work, personal responsibility, and healthy children are supposed to be conservative values. Democrats should care because public education, healthcare access, housing affordability, and economic fairness are supposed to be central to their mission. Independents should care because they are tired of watching both sides yell while families keep slipping.
This should not be a partisan football. It should be a Montana priority.
The truth is that Montana still has strengths. We are not starting from scratch. Many teachers, nurses, social workers, parents, grandparents, pastors, local officials, and nonprofit workers are already doing the hard work. Many communities still care deeply about children. Montana still ranks above the national average on the report’s new scoring scale.
But good intentions do not pay rent. They do not fill out Medicaid forms. They do not teach a child to read. They do not make childcare affordable. They do not keep a family from choosing between groceries and a doctor visit.
The numbers in Laura Hatch’s story are telling us something.
They are telling us that Montana families are under pressure. They are telling us that children’s health coverage is weakening. They are telling us that housing costs are consuming too much of the family budget. They are telling us that too many students are falling behind in reading and math. They are telling us that work alone does not always equal stability anymore.
That last point matters. A lot of Montana families are not asking for a handout. They are asking for the math to work again. They are asking for a fair shot at raising children without drowning in rent, medical bills, childcare costs, school struggles, and government paperwork.
The old Montana promise was simple: work hard, raise your family, help your neighbors, and leave things better than you found them.
That promise is getting harder to keep.
But it is not gone.
Montana can still choose a better path. It can protect children’s health coverage while promoting work. It can support housing without destroying community character. It can strengthen schools without turning classrooms into political battlegrounds. It can help working families without pretending government can fix everything.
The balance is possible. But balance requires honesty.
And the honest truth is this: a state cannot call itself family-friendly while more children lose health insurance, more families are crushed by housing costs, and nearly seven out of ten students miss key reading and math benchmarks.
Montana’s children are telling us something.
Now the adults need to prove they are listening.
