Montana Code 20-5-323. Tuition and transportation rates
20-5-323. (Temporary) Tuition and transportation rates. (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) through (5), whenever a child has approval to attend a school outside of the child’s district of residence under the provisions of 20-5-320 or 20-5-321, the rate of tuition charged for a Montana resident student may not exceed 20% of the tuition per-ANB amount for the year of attendance.
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-5-323
- district: means the territory, regardless of county boundaries, organized under the provisions of this title to provide public educational services under the jurisdiction of the trustees prescribed by this title. See Montana Code 20-6-101
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- fund: means a separate detailed account of receipts and expenditures for a specific purpose as authorized by law or by the superintendent of public instruction under the provisions of subsection (2). See Montana Code 20-9-201
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- school: means an institution for the teaching of children that is established and maintained under the laws of the state of Montana at public expense. See Montana Code 20-6-501
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Superintendent of public instruction: means that state government official designated as a member of the executive branch by the Montana constitution. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Transportation: means :
(a)a district's conveyance of a pupil by a school bus between the pupil's legal residence or an officially designated bus stop and the school designated by the trustees for the pupil's attendance; or
(b)individual transportation. See Montana Code 20-10-101
(2)Except for the tuition paid by the district of residence under 20-5-324(2)(b), the tuition for a child with a disability must be determined under rules adopted by the superintendent of public instruction for the calculation of tuition for special education pupils. The rules must provide:
(a)that tuition amounts must be reduced by the funding generated by the district of attendance due to the child’s attendance; and
(b)an option for tuition set at the actual unique costs of providing a free appropriate public education.
(3)The state-paid tuition rate for out-of-district placement pursuant to 20-5-321(1)(d) and (1)(e) in addition to the tuition paid by the district of residence under 20-5-324(2)(b) for a student without disabilities who requires a program with costs that exceed the average district costs must be determined as the actual individual costs of providing that program according to the following:
(a)the district of attendance and the district, person, or entity responsible for the tuition payments shall approve an agreement for the tuition cost;
(b)for a Montana resident student, 120% of the tuition per-ANB amount, received in the year for which the tuition charges are calculated, must be subtracted from the per-student program costs for a Montana resident student; and
(c)the maximum tuition rate paid to a district under this section may not exceed $2,500 per student.
(4)When a child attends a public school of another state or province, the amount of daily tuition may not be greater than the average annual cost for each student in the child’s district of residence. This calculation for tuition purposes is determined by totaling all of the expenditures for all of the district budgeted funds for the preceding school fiscal year and dividing that amount by the October 1 enrollment in the preceding school fiscal year. For the purposes of this subsection, the following do not apply:
(a)placement of a child with a disability pursuant to Title 20, chapter 7, part 4;
(b)placement made in a state or province with a reciprocal tuition agreement pursuant to 20-5-314;
(c)an order issued under Title 40, chapter 4, part 2; or
(d)out-of-state placement by a state agency.
(5)When a child is placed by a state agency in an out-of-state residential facility, the state agency making the placement is responsible for the education costs resulting from the placement.
(6)The amount, if any, charged for transportation may not exceed the lesser of the average transportation cost for each student in the child’s district of residence or 35 cents a mile. The average expenditures for the district transportation fund for the preceding school fiscal year must be calculated by dividing the transportation fund expenditures by the October 1 enrollment for the preceding fiscal year.
(7)As used in this section, “tuition per-ANB amount” means the applicable per-ANB maximum rate established in 20-9-306, plus the sum of:
(a)the data for achievement payment rate under 20-9-306;
(b)the Indian education for all payment rate under 20-9-306; and
(c)the per-ANB amounts of the instructional block grant and related services block grant under 20-9-321.