Montana Code 20-9-806. School closure by declaration of emergency
20-9-806. School closure by declaration of emergency. (1) (a) Except as provided in subsection (2), if a school is closed by reason of an unforeseen emergency that results in a declaration of emergency by the board of trustees, the trustees may later adopt a resolution that a reasonable effort has been made to reschedule the pupil-instruction time lost because of the unforeseen emergency. If the trustees adopt the resolution, the pupil-instruction time lost during the closure need not be rescheduled to meet the minimum requirement for aggregate hours that a school district must conduct during the school year in order to be entitled to full BASE aid.
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-9-806
- Aggregate hours: means the hours of pupil instruction for which a school course or program is offered or for which a pupil is enrolled. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- BASE: means base amount for school equity. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- BASE aid: means :
(a)direct state aid for 44. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- Declaration of emergency: means a declaration by a board of trustees that an unforeseen emergency has occurred in the district. See Montana Code 20-9-802
- 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
- Reasonable effort: means the rescheduling or extension of the school district's instructional calendar to make up at least 75% of the hours of pupil instruction lost due to an unforeseen emergency through any combination of the following:
(a)extending the school year beyond the last scheduled day;
(b)the use of scheduled vacation days in the district's adopted school calendar pursuant to 20-1-302;
(c)the conduct of pupil instruction on Saturdays as provided in 20-1-303; or
(d)extending instructional hours during the school day as provided in 20-1-302. See Montana Code 20-9-802
- 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 day: means the school day set by the trustees as provided in 20-1-302. See Montana Code 20-9-802
- Trustees: means the governing board of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Unforeseen emergency: means a fire, flood, explosion, storm, earthquake, riot, insurrection, community disaster, or act of God or a combination of the foregoing that acts as a principal cause for a school district's inability to conduct a portion of the minimum aggregate hours of instruction required by 20-1-301. See Montana Code 20-9-802
(b)At least 75% of the pupil-instruction time lost due to the unforeseen emergency must have been made up before the trustees can declare that a reasonable effort has been made.
(2)The board of trustees may close school for 1 school day each school year because of an unforeseen emergency and may not be required to reschedule the pupil-instruction time lost because of the unforeseen emergency. The 1-school-day closure under this subsection is not subject to the reduction in BASE aid pursuant to 20-9-805.