Montana Code 20-9-166. Financial support for transportation budget amendments and significant enrollment increases
20-9-166. Financial support for transportation budget amendments and significant enrollment increases. (1) Whenever a final budget amendment has been adopted for the transportation fund, the trustees may apply to the superintendent of public instruction for an increased payment for state transportation reimbursement. The superintendent of public instruction shall adopt rules for the application for state transportation reimbursement. The superintendent of public instruction shall approve or disapprove each application for state transportation reimbursement. When the superintendent of public instruction approves an application, the superintendent of public instruction shall determine the additional amount of state transportation reimbursement that will be made available to the applicant district because of additional pupil transportation obligations. The superintendent of public instruction shall notify the applicant district of the superintendent’s approval or disapproval and, in the event of approval, the amount of additional state aid that will be made available for the transportation fund. The superintendent of public instruction shall disburse the state aid to the eligible district at the time the next regular state aid payment is made.
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-9-166
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- ANB: means the average number of regularly enrolled, full-time pupils physically attending a school of the district or an offsite instructional setting or receiving remote instruction from the public schools of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- 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
- BASE: means base amount for school equity. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- Direct state aid: means 44. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- 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
- Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- 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
- Pupil: means an individual who is admitted by the board of trustees pursuant to 20-5-101 and who is enrolled in a school established and maintained under the laws of the state at public expense. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- 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
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- 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
- Trustees: means the governing board of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
(2)(a) When a district experiences an enrollment increase based on the October enrollment count, the district may be eligible for a significant enrollment increase payment in support of the district’s general fund as described in this subsection (2).
(b)To be eligible for a significant enrollment increase payment, a district’s October enrollment count in the current year converted to ANB must exceed the district’s budget limit ANB for the school fiscal year 3 years prior by 110% or more. The significant enrollment increase payment the district qualifies for must be calculated by the superintendent of public instruction no later than December 1 following the October enrollment count as the difference between:
(i)an amount equal to 80% of the district’s total per-ANB entitlement for that fiscal year if the district’s budget limit ANB was calculated using the district’s actual October enrollment count minus the absorption factor; and
(ii)80% of the district’s total per-ANB entitlement for that fiscal year.
(c)(i) The superintendent of public instruction shall notify a district of the district’s eligibility for a significant enrollment increase payment and the amount by December 15.
(ii)The trustees of the district shall determine at the next scheduled board meeting and no later than March 1 whether to accept the full or a partial amount of the payment and adopt a general fund budget amendment for any accepted amount. A budget amendment under this section must be made by resolution of the trustees of the district and is not subject to the requirements of other budget amendments under Title 20, chapter 9, part 1. The trustees shall provide a copy of the budget amendment to the superintendent of public instruction in a manner determined by the superintendent of public instruction.
(iii)On receiving a copy of the budget amendment, the superintendent of public instruction shall disburse from the BASE aid appropriation in House Bill No. 2 the amount of the accepted payment distributed with the remaining direct state aid payments for that fiscal year pursuant to 20-9-344.
(d)A district receiving additional financial support under this subsection (2) shall deposit the money in the district’s general fund and use it to address costs associated with the enrollment increase.
(e)For the purposes of this subsection (2), “absorption factor” means an ANB amount rounded to the nearest whole number equal to the sum of 5 ANB plus 3% of the district’s budget limit ANB for that fiscal year.