Title 20, Title 20

Any claim, warrant, voucher, bond, or treasurer's general receipt may be destroyed by any county or school district officer after a period of 5 years.

(1) A clearing account may be used by a school district for bookkeeping purposes if: (a) all funds from the account are disbursed through issuance of warrants as provided in 20-9-221; (b) records are kept showing the source and use of the funds that passed through the account; an…

(1) The trustees of each district shall issue all warrants, and the warrants must identify the fund on which the warrant is drawn. (2) All warrants issued by a district must be countersigned by the presiding officer of the trustees and the clerk of the district before the warrant…

The trustees of any school district shall be authorized to cancel any warrant that has been issued for at least 1 year. However, the contractual obligation of the district that has been satisfied by the issuance of the warrant shall not be terminated until the time specified by 2…

As used in 20-9-226 and 20-9-227, the following definitions apply: (1) "Services" means the furnishing of labor, time, or effort, including construction services, purchased or contracted for by a school district. (2) "Supplies" means all personal property purchased, leased, or co…

(1) Except as provided in 20-9-227, a school district shall pay simple interest at the rate of 0.05% each day on amounts due for supplies and services received if the district fails to make timely payment. (2) For purposes of this section, payment is timely if a warrant is mailed…

Section 20-9-226 does not apply to the following: (1) third-class school districts where the board of trustees does not meet monthly; (2) interdistrict or intergovernmental transactions; (3) claims subject to a good faith dispute; (4) delinquencies due to natural disasters, disru…

(1) The governing body of a local school district receiving tax collections under 15-37-117(1)(e) may establish a metal mines tax reserve fund to be used to hold the collections. The governing body may hold money in the fund for any time period considered appropriate by the gover…

(1) The trustees of a school district may establish investment accounts and may temporarily transfer into the accounts all or a portion of any of its budgeted or nonbudgeted funds. (2) Money transferred into investment accounts established under this section may be expended from …

(1) A school district that has certified to the office of public instruction a current school safety plan or emergency operations plan pursuant to 20-1-401 may transfer state or local revenue from any budgeted or nonbudgeted fund, other than the debt service fund or retirement fu…

(Temporary) Innovative educational program account -- revenue allocated -- appropriations from account. (1) There is an innovative educational program account in the state special revenue fund established in 17-2-102. The funds in the account must be administered by the superinte…

(1) Except as provided in 20-6-502(4)(b), the trustees of any district operating an elementary school of less than 10 ANB or a high school of less than 25 ANB for 2 consecutive years shall apply to have the school classified as an isolated school. The application must be submitte…

(1) An elementary school that has an ANB of nine or fewer pupils for 2 consecutive years and that is not approved as an isolated school under the provisions of 20-9-302 may budget and spend the BASE budget amount, but the county and state shall provide one-half of the direct stat…

(1) In joint districts, the direct state aid of a joint district must be prorated among the counties in which any part of the joint district is located for the purpose of determining the amount of each source of revenue for the direct state aid for which each county is obligated.…

As used in this title, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply: (1) "BASE" means base amount for school equity. (2) "BASE aid" means: (a) direct state aid for 44.7% of the basic entitlement and 44.7% of the total per-ANB entitlement for the…

(1) The trustees of a district shall adopt a general fund budget that is at least equal to the BASE budget established for the district. The trustees of a district may adopt a general fund budget up to the greater of: (a) the current year maximum general fund budget; or (b) the p…

(1) Pursuant to Article X, section 1, of the Montana constitution, the legislature is required to provide a basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools throughout the state of Montana that will guarantee equality of educational opportunity to all. (2) As …

(1) Except as provided in subsection (5), the maximum amount of oil and natural gas production taxes that a school district may retain is 130% of the school district's maximum budget, determined in accordance with 20-9-308. (2) Upon receipt of school district budget reports requi…

(1) Average number belonging must be computed for each budget unit as follows: (a) compute an average enrollment by adding a count of regularly enrolled pupils who were enrolled as of the first Monday in October of the prior school fiscal year to a count of regularly enrolled pup…

The average number belonging of a budget unit of a school district, calculated in accordance with the ANB formula prescribed in 20-9-311, may be increased when: (1) the opening of a new elementary school or the reopening of an elementary school has been approved in accordance wit…

(1) As used in this section, "ANB" means the current year ANB. (2) The 3-year average ANB provided for in 20-9-311 does not apply to the calculation and distribution of state special education allowable cost payments provided for in this section. (3) For the purpose of establishi…

(1) An educational entity eligible for a quality educator and qualified staff payment under 20-9-327 must receive an enhanced quality educator and qualified staff payment for all quality educators and qualified staff, calculated as provided in 20-9-306, if it meets the legislativ…

(1) The state shall provide a data-for-achievement payment to public school districts as defined in 20-6-101 and 20-6-701. The data-for-achievement payment is calculated as provided in 20-9-306. (2) Funds received for the data-for-achievement payment must be used by a school dist…

(1) In preparing and submitting an agency budget pursuant to 17-7-111 and 17-7-112, the superintendent of public instruction shall determine the inflation factor for the basic and per-ANB entitlements, the data-for-achievement payment, the per-ANB amount used to calculate the tot…

(1) (a) The state shall provide a quality educator and qualified staff payment as calculated in 20-9-306 to the following educational entities: (i) public school districts, as defined in 20-6-101 and 20-6-701; (ii) special education cooperatives, as described in 20-7-451; (iii) t…

(1) The state shall provide an at-risk student payment to public school districts, as defined in 20-6-101 and 20-6-701, for at-risk students, as defined in 20-1-101 and referred to in 20-9-309. (2) The at-risk student payment must be distributed to public school districts by the …

(1) Except as provided in subsection (5), the state shall provide an Indian education for all payment to public school districts, as defined in 20-6-101 and 20-6-701, to implement the provisions of Article X, section 1(2), of the Montana constitution and Title 20, chapter 1, part…

(1) The state shall provide an American Indian achievement gap payment to public school districts, as defined in 20-6-101 and 20-6-701, for the purpose of closing the educational achievement gap that exists between American Indian students and non-Indian students. (2) (a) The Ame…

(1) The county commissioners of each county shall levy an annual basic county tax of 33 mills on the dollar of the taxable value of all taxable property within the county, except for property subject to a tax or fee under 61-3-321(2) or (3), 61-3-529, 61-3-537, 61-3-562, 61-3-570…

All fines and penalties collected under the provisions of this title, except those collected by a justice's court, must be paid into the elementary county equalization fund as provided by 20-9-331(2)(a)(iii). In order to implement this section and any other provision of law requi…

(1) The county commissioners of each county shall levy an annual basic county tax of 22 mills on the dollar of the taxable value of all taxable property within the county, except for property subject to a tax or fee under 61-3-321(2) or (3), 61-3-529, 61-3-537, 61-3-562, 61-3-570…

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall calculate the apportionment of revenue available in the elementary and high school county equalization funds in accordance with the following procedure: (a) determine the percentage that the county equalization money available fo…

(1) There is a school equalization and property tax reduction account in the state special revenue fund. Contingent on appropriation by the legislature, money in the account is for distribution to school districts as the second source of funding for state equalization aid as prov…

(1) Subject to deductions made under 77-1-109, as used in this title, the term "interest and income money" means the total of the following revenue, as provided for by Article X, section 5, of the 1972 Montana constitution: (a) 95% of the interest received from the investment of …

(1) Except as provided in 20-9-516, the state board of land commissioners shall deposit the interest and income money for each fiscal year into the guarantee account, provided for in 20-9-622, by the last business day of February and June before the close of the fiscal year in wh…

(1) As used in this title, the term "state equalization aid" means revenue as required in this section for distribution to the public schools for guaranteed tax base aid, BASE aid, and state debt service assistance. (2) The superintendent of public instruction may spend throughou…

(1) The board of public education shall administer and distribute the BASE aid and state advances for county equalization in the manner and with the powers and duties provided by law. The board of public education: (a) shall adopt policies for regulating the distribution of BASE …

The superintendent of public instruction shall administer the distribution of the state and county equalization aid by: (1) establishing the annual entitlement of each district and county to state and county equalization aid, based on the data reported in the retirement, general …

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall: (a) supply the county treasurer and the county superintendent with a monthly report of the payment of BASE aid in support of the BASE funding program of each district of the county; (b) in the manner described in 20-9-344, provi…

The apportionment of state equalization aid shall be the second source of revenue in calculating the financing of the elementary district BASE funding program and the high school district BASE funding program. In order to allow for the estimation of the amount of money to be real…

If the money available for BASE aid is not the result of a reduction in spending under 17-7-140 and is not sufficient to provide the guaranteed tax base aid required under 20-9-366 through 20-9-369 and BASE aid support determined under 20-9-347, the superintendent of public instr…

(1) The trustees of a district may propose to adopt an over-BASE budget amount for the district general fund that does not exceed the general fund budget limitations, as provided in 20-9-308. If the trustees of a district are required to submit to the electors of the district a p…

There is a levy of 40 mills imposed by the county commissioners of each county on all taxable property within the state, except property for which a tax or fee is required under 61-3-321(2) or (3), 61-3-529, 61-3-537, 61-3-562, 61-3-570, and 67-3-204. Proceeds of the levy must be…

Revenue received in support of county equalization under the provisions of 20-9-331 and 20-9-333 is to be used for county equalization aid for the public schools, as provided by law, and must be accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

(1) Pursuant to 20-9-141, the portion of a district's BASE budget not funded by BASE aid, fund balance reappropriated, nonlevy revenue, and, if applicable, a district levy for support of a school not approved as an isolated school under the provisions of 20-9-302 is the district'…

(1) The department of revenue and the office of public instruction shall annually collaborate and jointly assess how reappraisal affects, on a statewide basis, the portions of funding between guaranteed tax base aid and local property tax responsibilities for the general fund BAS…