Montana Code 20-6-313. Transactions after approved county high school unification
20-6-313. Transactions after approved county high school unification. (1) Whenever a county high school is unified with the elementary district where the county high school building is located, the following transactions must be completed on or before the July 1 when the unification becomes effective:
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-6-313
- County superintendent: means the county government official who is the school officer of the county. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- 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
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- 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
- School election: means a regular school election or any election conducted by a district or community college district for authorizing taxation, authorizing the issuance of bonds by an elementary, high school, or K-12 district, or accepting or rejecting any proposition that may be presented to the electorate for decision in accordance with the provisions of this title. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustees: means the governing board of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
(a)The county high school trustees, who do not have the capacity to govern the high school district upon unification, shall surrender all minutes, documents, and other records of the county high school to the trustees of the high school district.
(b)The county superintendent shall order the establishment of additional high school trustee nominating areas in the manner prescribed in 20-3-352 and 20-3-353, if requested to do so by a majority of the outlying elementary districts located in the high school district. When the county superintendent establishes the areas, the county superintendent shall appoint additional high school district trustees from each area, who shall hold office until a successor is elected at the next regular school election and qualified.
(c)The county treasurer, after allowing for any outstanding or registered warrants, shall transfer all end-of-the-year fund cash balances of the county high school to similar funds established for the high school district. All previous years’ taxes levied and collected for the county high school shall be credited to the appropriate fund of the high school district.
(2)All county high school bonds outstanding at the time of unification shall remain the obligation of the county or that portion of the county against which the bonds were originally issued. The high school district is responsible for the maintenance of the debt service fund for the bonds. It is the duty of the board of county commissioners and the trustees of the high school district to perform the duties prescribed in the school budgeting and bond redemption provisions of this title for the redemption and interest payments of the county high school bonds in the same manner and by the same means as though the county high school had not been unified.