BILLINGS - School District Two trustees will meet with members of the Montana School Board Association next week to talk about a new superintendent and they expect the search could go national.

On Monday, Jack Copps announced he will step down at the end of the school year, his last day will be June 30th. He has overseen the 15,000 students and 25,000 parents in School District Two since March of 2006. As he prepares to leave he said budget issues will be a challenge for his successor.

"What I see right now in Billings is more individual instruction than I have ever seen in all my years in public education," said Copps. "The teachers are getting to be very good at that. My biggest worry is for the at-risk kids. I never go a day without thinking about those kids. There are a lot of kids that are being short-changed. They're being short-changed at home, they don't have the kind of support that other kids have and the school cannot do it all, especially when these kids come to us at a huge disadvantage. They're on a completely different playing field; they cannot read and the kid sitting beside them can read, or they don't even know their colors yet. I worry a lot about those kids.
The toughest thing we probably have going is resources and whether or not we can continue to keep what we have or whether we're going to lose something that we have. The first things that could go on the chopping block are not things in the classroom it's going to be programs designed to help the kids who come to us at a disadvantage."

Copps, 72, said he is not retiring, just taking some time off.