The Quality Education Coalition (MQEC) was conspicuously silent during this year's legislative session, but now that the session is over they're amping up their media campaign once again.  Their first salvo was an editorial by Montana School Boards Association exec Lance Melton, which surfaced in the Gazette on May 19.  Another editorial, this one by Alan Nicholson and John Board, has been circulating of late and today appeared in the Gazette.

So why wait until after the session?  That all boils down to a rumored deal cut between the Schweitzer administration and the teacher's union in which the education lobby.  It seems that MT Education Assoc. boss Eric Feaver agreed to curtail all criticism until after the legislature had safely left town.  What the teacher's lobby is getting in return is yet to be seen.

You can expect a full-scale resurfacing of the MQEC in coming months, including gentle reminders that their school funding lawsuit still looms large.