Montana Code 20-7-431. Allowable cost schedule for special programs — superintendent to make rules — annual accounting
20-7-431. Allowable cost schedule for special programs — superintendent to make rules — annual accounting. (1) For the purpose of determining the allowable cost payment amount for special education as defined in 20-9-321, the following allowable costs and reports must be reviewed by the superintendent of public instruction for the purposes of determining the amount of the allowable cost payment for special education payments and a district‘s special education expenditures:
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-7-431
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Board of public education: means the board created by Article X, section 9, subsection (3), of the Montana constitution and 2-15-1507. 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
- 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
- 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
- System: means the Montana university system. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Teacher: means a person, except a district superintendent, who holds a valid Montana teacher certificate that has been issued by the superintendent of public instruction under the provisions of this title and the policies adopted by the board of public education and who is employed by a district as a member of its instructional, supervisory, or administrative staff. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Trustees: means the governing board of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
(a)instruction: salaries, benefits, supplies, textbooks, and other expenses, including:
(i)the cost of salaries and benefits of special program teachers, regular program teachers, and teacher aides, corresponding to the working time that each person devotes to the special program;
(ii)the total cost of teaching supplies and textbooks for special programs;
(iii)the purchase, rental, repair, and maintenance of instructional equipment required to implement a student’s individualized education program;
(iv)activities associated with teacher assistance teams that provide prereferral intervention;
(v)the cost of contracted services, including fees paid for professional advice and consultation regarding special students or the special program, and the delivery of special education services by public or private agencies;
(vi)transportation costs for special education instructional personnel who travel on an itinerant basis from school to school or district to district or to in-state evaluation team meetings or in-state individualized education program meetings;
(b)related services, including:
(i)the cost of salaries and benefits of professional supportive personnel, corresponding to the working time that each person devotes to the special program. Professional supportive personnel may include special education supervisors, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychometrists, physicians, nurses, and physical and occupational therapists.
(ii)the cost of salaries and benefits of clerical personnel who assist professional personnel in supportive services, corresponding to the working time that each person devotes to the special program;
(iii)the cost of supplies for special programs;
(iv)activities associated with teacher assistance teams that provide prereferral interventions;
(v)the cost of contracted services, including fees paid for professional advice and consultation regarding special students or the special program, and the delivery of special education services by public or private agencies;
(vi)transportation costs for special education-related services personnel who travel on an itinerant basis from school to school or district to district or to in-state evaluation team meetings or in-state individualized education program meetings;
(vii)equipment purchase, rental, repair, and maintenance required to implement a student’s individualized education program;
(viii)the additional cost of special education cooperatives or joint boards, including operation and maintenance, travel, recruitment, and administration.
(2)The superintendent of public instruction shall adopt rules in accordance with the policies of the board of public education for keeping necessary records for supportive and administrative personnel and any personnel shared between special and regular programs.
(3)An annual accounting of all expenditures of school district general fund money for special education must be made by the district trustees on forms furnished by the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public instruction shall make rules for the accounting.
(4)Allowable costs prescribed in this section do not include the costs of the teachers’ retirement system, the public employees’ retirement system, or the federal social security system or the costs for unemployment compensation insurance.
(5)Notwithstanding other provisions of the law, the superintendent of public instruction may not approve an allowable cost payment amount for special education that exceeds legislative appropriations. However, any unexpended balance from the first year of a biennial appropriation may be spent in the second year of the biennium in addition to the second year appropriation.