# Montana HB 28: Clarify timelines and opening procedures for public charter schools Montana HB 28, Clarify timelines and opening procedures for public charter schools, is a 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) House bill sponsored by David Bedey (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-04-07 (Chapter Number Assigned) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB28-2025 - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Montana HB 28 - State: Montana - Session: 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) - Title: Clarify timelines and opening procedures for public charter schools - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2024-12-06 - Last action: 2025-04-07, Chapter Number Assigned - Sponsor: David Bedey (Republican) - Cosponsors: 1 - Subjects: Education - K-12, Education - School Finance - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 4 (217 yes, 80 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 5 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - No tuition at public charter schools: benefit, medium. Public charter school districts may not charge students tuition or fees. If your child attends a public charter school district, you do not pay tuition or school fees to that district. This applies to schools approved to start in school years beginning on or after 2025-07-01. - Faster charter approvals and renewals: benefit, low. Each year by June 1, the Board issues a request for proposals for new charters. After a proposal is filed, the Board must approve or deny it within 90 business days, then sign the contract within 45 business days. Approved charters are exempt from standard opening rules in Title 20, chapter 6, part… - First-year charter funding uses planned enrollment: mixed, medium. In the first operating year, a public charter school is not eligible for per‑student (per‑ANB) entitlement. Its basic entitlement uses the planned enrollment from its application, converted to ANB. In the first year for a public charter school district, per‑ANB, basic entitlement, and some categori… - How charter districts handle money: mixed, medium. Public charter school districts get set shares of existing K–12 payments: 80% of the basic and per‑ANB entitlements; 100% of quality educator, at‑risk, Indian education for all, American Indian achievement gap, and data‑for‑achievement payments; and 140% of special education allowable cost. That to… - Student counts that set charter funding: mixed, medium. A public charter school run by a local school board is a separate budget unit with its own ANB. It gets a separate basic entitlement when ANB is more than 70 (elementary), 20 (middle), or 40 (high). For charter districts, basic entitlement also requires ANB above those same thresholds, with first‑y… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: David Bedey (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Daniel Emrich (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-03-21 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 42 | 8 | | | 2025-02-19 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 28 | 21 | | | 2025-01-17 | House | Do Pass | pass | 73 | 25 | | | 2025-01-16 | House | Do Pass | pass | 74 | 26 | | ## Actions (43) - 2025-04-07: Chapter Number Assigned (House) - 2025-04-07: Signed by Governor (House) - 2025-04-01: Transmitted to Governor (House) - 2025-04-01: Signed by President (Senate) - 2025-03-28: Signed by Speaker (House) - 2025-03-25: Returned from Enrolling (House) - 2025-03-21: Sent to Enrolling (House) - 2025-03-21: 3rd Reading (Senate) - 2025-03-20: Committee Report (Senate) - 2025-03-20: Committee Executive Action (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Hearing (Senate) - 2025-02-19: Rereferred to Committee (Senate) - 2025-02-19: 2nd Reading (Senate) - 2025-02-06: Committee Report (Senate) - 2025-02-05: Committee Executive Action (Senate) - 2025-02-04: Revised Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-02-03: Revised Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-02-03: Revised Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-31: Revised Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-27: Hearing (Senate) - 2025-01-24: Sponsor Rebuttal to Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-01-24: Sponsor Rebuttal to Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-01-24: Sponsor Rebuttal to Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-24: Sponsor Rebuttal to Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-22: Revised Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-01-21: Fiscal Note Unsigned (House) - 2025-01-20: Revised Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-20: Referred to Committee (Senate) - 2025-01-20: 1st Reading (Senate) - 2025-01-17: Transmitted to Senate (House) - 2025-01-17: 3rd Reading (House) - 2025-01-16: 2nd Reading (House) - 2025-01-13: Revised Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-13: Committee Report (House) - 2025-01-10: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-01-08: Hearing (House) - 2025-01-07: Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-01-07: Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-01-07: Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-06: 1st Reading (House) - 2024-12-20: Referred to Committee (House) - 2024-12-18: Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2024-12-06: Introduced (House) ## Bill text - As Amended (Version 3), 2025-03-24: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=4f704b54-f53d-49d9-b4cf-6c5b621a2164) - Enrolled, 2025-03-24: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=8c9e629c-cfca-4b0b-8440-f5c9b2ae65a7) - As Amended (Version 2), 2025-01-13: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=c9ca4548-e0b1-4d4c-8c67-b4d6597b894b) - Introduced, 2024-12-09: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=bff419d9-8bee-4c7a-9ed2-e5dbc7e85ac1) ## Related bills - SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law (signed) - HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit (vetoed) - HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws (vetoed) - SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act (vetoed) - SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program (vetoed) - SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer (vetoed) ## Sources - [As Amended (Version 3) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=4f704b54-f53d-49d9-b4cf-6c5b621a2164) - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=8c9e629c-cfca-4b0b-8440-f5c9b2ae65a7) - [As Amended (Version 2) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=c9ca4548-e0b1-4d4c-8c67-b4d6597b894b) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=bff419d9-8bee-4c7a-9ed2-e5dbc7e85ac1) ## Related - [SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB437-2025) - [HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB831-2025) - [HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB628-2025) - [SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB410-2025) - [SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB424-2025) - [SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB422-2025) - [Montana bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana/bills) - [Montana state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB28-2025 (as of 2026-10-19).