1. The state department of elementary and secondary education shall reimburse school districts, including special school districts, for the special educational costs of high-need children with an individualized education program exceeding three times the current expenditure per average daily attendance as calculated on the district annual secretary of the board report for the year in which expenditures are claimed. For any school district with an average daily attendance of five hundred students or fewer, the calculation of three times the current expenditure per average daily attendance shall not include any moneys reimbursed to a school district under this section.

2. A school district shall submit, through timely application, as determined by the state department of elementary and secondary education, the cost of serving any high-need^* student with an individualized education program, as provided in subsection 1 of this section.