§ 20-5-323 — Tuition -- Transportation

20-5-323 . (Temporary) Tuition -- transportation. (1) (a) Except as provided in subsections (1)(b), (1)(c), and (2) through (5), whenever a child enrolls in and attends a school outside of the child's district of residence under the provisions of 20-5-320 or 20-5-321 , the district of residence shall pay the district of attendance a percentage equal to the lesser of the percentage of either school district's adopted general fund budget funded by BASE and over-BASE property tax levies in the year of attendance not to exceed 35.3% of the tuition per-ANB amount for the year of attendance as described in 20-5-324 .
(b) If the district of residence is a nonoperating district, the required tuition is the percentage of the adopted general fund budget funded by over-BASE property taxes in the district of attendance in the year of attendance, not to exceed 20% of the tuition per-ANB amount for the year of attendance as described in 20-5-324 .
(c) Tuition amounts for partial-year attendance, including midyear changes in residency under 1-1-215 , must be prorated for the portion of the year the student is enrolled as a nonresident student, based on the percentage calculated by dividing the number of days the student is enrolled by the number of pupil instruction days scheduled by the school district of attendance in the year of attendance.
(2) Except for the tuition paid by the district of residence and the superintendent of public instruction under 20-5-324 (2)(b), the district of residence shall pay the district of attendance as described in 20-5-324 the tuition for a child with a disability, and the amount of tuition must be the regular rate under subsection (1), plus the special education tuition rate determined by the district of attendance under rules adopted by the superintendent of public instruction for the calculation of tuition for special education pupils. The rules must provide:
(a) that tuition amounts must be reduced by the funding generated by the district of attendance due to the child's attendance; and
(b) an option for tuition set at the actual unique costs of providing a free appropriate public education.
(3) The state-paid tuition rate for out-of-district placement pursuant to 20-5-321 (1)(d) and (1)(e) in addition to the tuition paid by the district of residence under 20-5-324 (2)(b) for a student without disabilities who requires a program with costs that exceed the average district costs must be determined as the actual individual costs of providing that program according to the following:
(a) the district of attendance and the district or entity responsible for the tuition payments shall approve an agreement for the tuition cost;
(b) for a Montana resident student, 120% of the tuition per-ANB amount, received in the year for which the tuition charges are calculated, must be subtracted from the per-student program costs for a Montana resident student; and
(c) the maximum tuition rate paid to a district under this subsection (3) may not exceed $2,500 per student.
(4) When a child attends a public school of another state or province, the amount of daily tuition may not be greater than the average annual cost for each student in the child's district of residence. This calculation for tuition purposes is determined by totaling all of the expenditures for all of the district budgeted funds for the preceding school fiscal year and dividing that amount by the October 1 enrollment in the preceding school fiscal year. For the purposes of this subsection, the following do not apply:
(a) placement of a child with a disability pursuant to Title 20, chapter 7, part 4;
(b) placement made in a state or province with a reciprocal tuition agreement pursuant to 20-5-314 ;
(c) an order issued under Title 40, chapter 4, part 2; or
(d) out-of-state placement by a state agency.
(5) When a child is placed by a state agency in an out-of-state residential facility, the state agency making the placement is responsible for the education costs resulting from the placement.
(6) (a) An attendance agreement established under 20-5-320 or 20-5-321 must set forth the financial obligations, if any, for costs incurred for transportation as provided in this subsection (6) and Title 20, chapter 10.
(b) If the attendance agreement is for a child with a disability who has transportation included in the child's individualized education program, transportation or the costs of transportation must be paid by the child's district of residence.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (6)(b) and unless otherwise agreed to in the out-of-district attendance agreement:
(i) when a child has approval to attend a school outside the child's district of residence because of a parent's or guardian's request under the provisions of 20-5-320 or 20-5-321 (1)(c), the parent or guardian of the child is responsible for transportation and the child is not an eligible transportee as defined in 20-10-101 . The district of attendance may discretionarily provide transportation for a child who is not an eligible transportee pursuant to 20-10-122 .
(ii) when a child attends a school outside the child's district of residence under the provisions of 20-5-321 (1)(a) or (1)(b), the district of residence is responsible for transportation; and
(iii) when a child attends a school outside the child's district of residence under the provisions of 20-5-321 (1)(d) or (1)(e), the district of attendance is responsible for transportation consistent with and subject to the provisions of 20 U.S.C. 6312(c)(5).
(d) The amount, if any, charged for transportation may not exceed the average transportation cost for each student in the child's district of residence. The average expenditures for the district transportation fund for the preceding school fiscal year must be calculated by dividing the transportation fund expenditures by the October enrollment count for the preceding fiscal year.
(7) As used in this section, "tuition per-ANB amount" means the applicable per-ANB maximum rate established in 20-9-306 , plus the per-ANB amounts of the instructional block grant and related services block grant under 20-9-321 .

Legislative History

En. Sec. 4, Ch. 563, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 60, Ch. 633, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 529, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 99(4), Ch. 51, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 409, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 464, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 462, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 4, Sp. L. December 2005; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 371, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 368, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 424, L. 2025; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 431, L. 2025, Sec. 9, Ch. 431, L. 2025.