68th Legislature HB 203.1
1 HOUSE BILL NO. 203
2 INTRODUCED BY D. BEDEY, M. BERTOGLIO
3
4 A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING EDUCATION LAWS RELATED TO OUT-
5 OF-DISTRICT ATTENDANCE; REVISING OUT-OF-DISTRICT AND TUITION LAWS TO INCREASE
6 EDUCATIONAL CHOICE AND IMPROVE TAXPAYER EQUITY; PROVIDING LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES
7 UNDER WHICH AN OUT-OF-DISTRICT ATTENDANCE APPLICATION MAY BE DENIED; REQUIRING THAT
8 DISTRICTS OF RESIDENCE PAY TUITION FOR RESIDENT CHILDREN WHO ATTEND OUT OF DISTRICT;
9 REQUIRING THE SUBMISSION OF OUT-OF-DISTRICT ATTENDANCE AGREEMENTS TO THE OFFICE OF
10 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION; REQUIRING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION TO PROVIDE
11 AN ANNUAL REPORT; ENSURING THAT TUITION REVENUE RECEIVED BY A DISTRICT OF
12 ATTENDANCE IS USED TO REDUCE LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES; AMENDING SECTIONS 20-5-320, 20-5-
13 321, 20-5-322, 20-5-323, 20-5-324, AND 20-9-141, MCA; AND PROVIDING A DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE
14 AND AN APPLICABILITY DATE.”
15
16 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
17
18 Section 1. Section 20-5-320, MCA, is amended to read:
19 "20-5-320. Attendance with discretionary approval Out-of-district attendance by parent or
20 guardian request with no extenuating circumstances. (1) A child may be enrolled in and attend a school in
21 a Montana school district that is outside of the child's district of residence or a public school in a district of
22 another state or province that is adjacent to the county of the child's residence, subject to discretionary approval
23 by the trustees of the resident district and the district of choice at the request of the child's parent or guardian as
24 described in this section. If the trustees grant discretionary approval of the district of attendance approve of the
25 child's attendance in a school of the district, the parent or guardian may be charged tuition and may be charged
26 responsible for transportation.
27 (2) (a) Whenever a parent or guardian of a child wishes to have the child attend a school under the
28 provisions of this section, the parent or guardian shall apply to the trustees of the district where the child wishes
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1 to attend.
2 (b) The application must be made on an out-of-district attendance agreement form supplied by the
3 district and developed by the superintendent of public instruction.
4 (b) The attendance agreement must set forth the financial obligations, if any, for tuition and for costs
5 incurred for transporting the child under Title 20, chapter 10. Unless otherwise agreed by the district of
6 residence and the district of attendance, the family of a nonresident child whose application for attendance has
7 been approved is responsible for transportation of the child and the child is not an eligible transportee as
8 defined in 20-10-101. The district of attendance may discretionarily provide transportation pursuant to 20-10-
9 122.
10 (c) The trustees of the district of attendance may adopt policies for the application process,
11 including but not limited to reasonable timelines for the submission of applications.
12 (d) The trustees of the district of attendance shall serve children who are residents of the district
13 and nonresident children seeking enrollment under 20-5-321 prior to enrolling children under this section.
14 (e) In reviewing and determining whether to approve an application for attendance by a
15 nonresident child, the trustees of the district of attendance shall approve the application unless the trustees find
16 that the impact of approval of the application will negatively impact the quality of education for resident pupils by
17 grade level, by school, or in the district in the aggregate in one or more of the following ways:
18 (i) the approval would result in exceeding limits of:
19 (A) building construction standards pursuant to Title 50, chapter 60;
20 (B) capacity and ingress and egress elements, either by individual room or by school building, of
21 any fire code authorized by Title 50, chapter 3; or
22 (C) evacuation elements of the district’s adopted school safety plan;
23 (ii) the approval would impede meeting goals, standards, or objectives of quality that the trustees
24 have previously adopted in a plan for continuous educational improvement required under rules adopted by the
25 board of public education; or
26 (iii) the approval would risk jeopardizing the educational quality within the district because the
27 nonresident child who is applying was:
28 (A) truant as defined in 20-5-106 in the last school district attended; or
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1 (B) regardless of the existence of an individualized education program, expelled by another school
2 district at any time or suspended in another school district in any of the 3 school fiscal years preceding the
3 school fiscal year for which attendance is requested.
4 (f) The trustees of a district that receives more applications than the district can accommodate
5 under subsections (2)(e)(i) and (2)(e)(ii) may adopt and implement policy providing priority among the
6 applications on any rational basis that prioritizes the quality of education for students who are residents of the
7 district of attendance and the obligations of resident taxpayers.
8 (c) (i) The trustees of the district of choice may waive any or all of the tuition rate. The trustees of the
9 district of choice may waive the tuition for all students whose tuition is required to be paid by one type of entity
10 and may charge tuition for all students whose tuition is required to be paid by another type of entity. However,
11 any waiver of tuition must be applied equally to all students whose tuition is paid by the same type of entity.
12 (ii) As used in this subsection (2)(c), "entity" includes:
13 (A) except as provided in subsection (2)(c)(ii)(B), a parent or guardian of a student who is a
14 nonresident of the district of choice;
15 (B) a parent or guardian of a student who lives in a location where one unified school system as
16 provided in 20-6-312 is the district of residence for grades K-8 and another unified school system as provided in
17 20-6-312 is the district of residence for grades 9-12; and
18 (C) the trustees of the district of residence.
19 (3) An out-of-district attendance agreement approved under this section requires that the parent or
20 guardian initiate the request for an out-of-district attendance agreement and that the trustees of both the district
21 of residence and the district of choice approve the agreement.
22 (4) If the trustees of the district of choice waive tuition, approval of the resident district trustees is not
23 required.
24 (5) The trustees of a school district may approve or disapprove the out-of-district attendance
25 agreement consistent with this part and the policy adopted by the local board of trustees for out-of-district
26 attendance agreements.
27 (6) The approval of an out-of-district attendance agreement by the applicable approval agents or as
28 the result of an appeal must authorize the child named in the agreement to enroll in and attend the school
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1 named in the agreement for the designated school year.
2 (7) The trustees of the district where the child wishes to attend have the discretion to approve any
3 attendance agreement.
4 (8)(3) This section does not preclude the trustees of a district from approving an attendance
5 agreement for educational program offerings not provided by the resident district, such as the kindergarten or
6 grades 7 and 8 programs, if the trustees of both districts agree to the terms and conditions for attendance and
7 any tuition and transportation requirement. The tuition requirements under 20-5-323 and 20-5-324 apply to
8 agreements under this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, the trustees of the resident district shall
9 initiate the out-of-district agreement.
10 (9) (a) A provision of this title may not be construed to deny a parent or guardian the right to send a
11 child, at personal expense, to any school of a district other than the resident district when the trustees of the
12 district of choice have approved an out-of-district attendance agreement and the parent or guardian has agreed
13 to pay the tuition as prescribed by 20-5-323. However, under this subsection (9), the tuition rate must be
14 reduced by the amount that the parent or guardian of the child paid in district property taxes during the
15 immediately preceding school fiscal year for the benefit and support of the district in which the child will attend
16 school.
17 (b) For the purposes of this section, "parent or guardian" includes an individual shareholder of a
18 domestic corporation whose shares are 95% held by related family members to the sixth degree of
19 consanguinity or by marriage to the sixth degree of affinity.
20 (c) The tax amount to be credited to reduce any tuition charge to a parent or guardian under
21 subsection (9)(a) is determined in the following manner:
22 (i) determine the percentage of the total shares of the corporation held by the shareholder parent or
23 parents or guardian;
24 (ii) determine the portion of property taxes paid in the preceding school fiscal year by the corporation,
25 parent, or guardian for the benefit and support of the district in which the child will attend school.
26 (d) The percentage of total shares as determined in subsection (9)(c)(i) is the percentage of taxes
27 paid as determined in subsection (9)(c)(ii) that is to be credited to reduce the tuition charge.
28 (10)(4) As used in 20-5-320 through 20-5-324, the term "guardian" means the guardian of a minor as
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1 provided in Title 72, chapter 5, part 2."
2
3 Section 2. Section 20-5-321, MCA, is amended to read:
4 "20-5-321. Attendance with mandatory approval -- tuition and transportation. (1) An out-of-
5 district attendance agreement that allows a child to enroll in and attend a school in a Montana school district
6 that is outside of the child's district of residence or in a public school district of a state or province that is
7 adjacent to the county of the child's residence is mandatory whenever any of the following extenuating
8 circumstances exist:
9 (a) the child resides closer to the school that the child wishes to attend and more than 3 miles from
10 the school the child would attend in the resident district and the resident district does not provide transportation;
11 (b) (i) the child resides in a location where, because of geographic conditions between the child's
12 home and the school that the child would attend within the district of residence, it is impractical to attend school
13 in the district of residence, as determined by the county transportation committee based on the following
14 criteria:
15 (A) the length of time that is in excess of the 1-hour limit for each bus trip for an elementary child
16 as authorized under 20-10-121;
17 (B) whether distance traveled is greater than 40 miles one way from the child's home to school on
18 a dirt road or greater than a total of 60 miles one way from the child's home to school in the district of residence
19 over the shortest passable route; or
20 (C) whether the condition of the road or existence of a geographic barrier, such as a river or
21 mountain pass, causes a hazard that prohibits safe travel between the home and school.
22 (ii) The decision of the county transportation committee is subject to appeal to the superintendent
23 of public instruction, as provided in 20-3-107, but the decision must be considered as final for the purpose of
24 the payment of tuition under 20-5-324(5)(a)(ii)(4)(a)(ii) until a decision is issued by the superintendent of public
25 instruction. The superintendent of public instruction may review and rule upon on a decision of the county
26 transportation committee without an appeal being filed.
27 (c) (i) the child is a member of a family that is required to send another child outside of the
28 elementary district to attend high school and the child of elementary age may more conveniently attend an
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1 elementary school where the high school is located, provided that the child resides more than 3 miles from an
2 elementary school in the resident district or that the parent is required to move to the elementary district where
3 the high school is located to enroll another child in high school. A child enrolled in an elementary school
4 pursuant to this subsection (1)(c)(i) may continue to attend the elementary school after the other child has left
5 the high school.
6 (ii) the child is a member of a family that is required to send another child outside of the high
7 school district to attend elementary school and the child of high school age may more conveniently attend a
8 high school where the elementary school is located, provided that the child resides more than 3 miles from a
9 high school in the resident district or that the parent is required to move to the high school district where the
10 elementary school is located to enroll another child in elementary school. A child enrolled in a high school
11 pursuant to this subsection (1)(c)(ii) may continue to attend the high school after the other child has left the
12 elementary school.
13 (d) the child is under the protective care of a state agency or has been adjudicated to be a youth in
14 need of intervention or a delinquent youth, as defined in 41-5-103; or
15 (e) the child is required to attend school outside of the district of residence as the result of a
16 placement in foster care or a group home licensed by the state.
17 (2) (a) Whenever a parent or guardian of a child, an agency of the state, or a court wishes to have
18 a child attend a school under the provisions of this section, the parent or guardian, agency, or court shall
19 complete an out-of-district attendance agreement in consultation with an appropriate official of the district that
20 the child will attend.
21 (b) The attendance agreement must set forth the financial obligations, if any, for costs incurred for
22 tuition and transportation as provided in 20-5-323 and Title 20, chapter 10.
23 (c) (i) The trustees of the district of choice may waive any or all of the tuition rate. The trustees of the
24 district of choice may waive the tuition for all students whose tuition is required to be paid by one type of entity
25 and may charge tuition for all students whose tuition is required to be paid by another type of entity. However,
26 any waiver of tuition must be applied equally to all students whose tuition is paid by the same type of entity.
27 (ii) As used in this subsection (2)(c), "entity" includes:
28 (A) except as provided in subsection (2)(c)(ii)(B), a parent or guardian of a student who is a
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1 nonresident of the district of choice;
2 (B) a parent or guardian of a student who lives in a location where one unified school system as
3 provided in 20-6-312 is the district of residence for grades K-8 and another unified school system as provided in
4 20-6-312 is the district of residence for grades 9-12;
5 (C) the trustees of the district of residence; and
6 (D) a state agency.
7 (3) Except as provided in subsection (4), the trustees of the resident district and the trustees of the
8 district of attendance shall approve the out-of-district attendance agreement. The trustees of the district of
9 attendance shall:
10 (a) notify the county su