Montana Code 20-7-457. Funding provisions for special education cooperatives
20-7-457. Funding provisions for special education cooperatives. (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall pay directly to a special education cooperative the special education allowable cost payments determined pursuant to 20-9-321.
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-7-457
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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)A school district that elects to participate in a cooperative for special education purposes shall agree in the cooperative contract to participate for a period of at least 3 years.
(3)A cooperative that has not met the requirements of 20-7-454 may not be funded under the provisions of this section except by approval of the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent shall adopt rules for approval of full service education cooperatives.
(4)A full service education cooperative may establish a retirement fund, a miscellaneous programs fund, and a transportation fund, as provided for in 20-9-201, for the purposes of a full service education cooperative contract and the purposes allowed by law.
(5)The superintendent of public instruction, after consulting with regional representatives, shall define boundaries for cooperatives established for special education programs that incorporate the territory of all public school districts.
(6)Restructuring of cooperatives established for providing special education services must:
(a)be limited to a statewide total of no more than 23;
(b)include districts that are adjacent to each other and not overlapping into another cooperative’s territory; and
(c)provide that all districts located within a cooperative’s boundary may voluntarily become a cooperative member.