Governor Gianforte Kicks Off New School Year With Drummond Teachers

Celebrates increased starting teacher pay, “cell phone-free” schools

• August 25 2025

DRUMMOND, Mont. – Continuing his 56 County Tour in Granite County, Governor Greg Gianforte today visited Drummond Schools to meet with teachers ahead of the 2025-2026 school year.

“Teachers are critical to delivering the best education possible to Montana’s kids,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Ahead of the first day of school, Susan and I thank all Montana teachers for their hard work and dedication to educating our students.”

Gov. Gianforte talking with teachers at Drummond School

During a visit with Drummond Schools Superintendent Dean Phillips and nearly two dozen teachers and staff, the governor highlighted recent investments to raise starting teacher pay and efforts to encourage cell phone-free schools.

This year, the governor secured historic funding to raise starting teacher pay, signing into law the STARS Act to continue incentivizing school districts to increase to baseline teacher pay.

The STARS Act, or Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act, invests over $100 million to raise teacher pay, with a focus on educators who are just starting their careers.

“The STARS Act has helped us raised the starting wage for our starting teachers. This is a great launching pad for new teachers to have a career where they feel valued and make enough money to live in our state,” Superintendent Phillips said.

In his first week in office, Gov. Gianforte introduced the TEACH Act, or Tomorrow’s Educators Are Coming Home Act, to provide incentives to school districts to increase starting teacher pay. In its first year, the TEACH Act helped nearly 500 teachers begin their careers in Montana. In 2023, the governor increased funding for the program by 40 percent.

Another priority for the governor has been to encourage Montana superintendents and school board trustees to establish “cell phone-free” schools.

Last August, Gov. Gianforte wrote a letter to Montana superintendents and trustees to adopt policies to limit learning distractions in the classroom and improve student academic performance through limiting cell phone use.

Following the governor’s directive, Drummond Schools in 2024 adopted a no cell phone policy.

“Last year, we instituted a cell-free school in classrooms, we do allow students to use their phones at lunch time. The benefit of that policy has been great – far less behavior issues and more student engagement in the classrooms as teachers don’t feel like they are competing with a device to get the attention of the students,” Superintendent Phillips concluded.