HOUSE BILL NO. 413

INTRODUCED BY G. BECK

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT PROVIDING ADDITIONAL STATE EDUCATION AID FOR STUDENTS PLACED BY THE STATE IN CERTAIN YOUTH CARE FACILITIES; ESTABLISHING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT WHERE THE YOUTH CARE FACILITY IS LOCATED AS THE DISTRICT OF RESIDENCE OF A CHILD RESIDING IN THE YOUTH CARE FACILITY; REQUIRING THE STATE TO MAKE THE PAYMENT TO THE CHILD'S DISTRICT OF RESIDENCE IN THE YEAR THAT THE CHILD ATTENDS SCHOOL IN THE DISTRICT; REQUIRING A DISTRICT TO DEPOSIT THE ADDITIONAL STATE AID IN THE MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS FUND; APPROPRIATING MONEY TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION; AMENDING SECTIONS 20-5-321, 20-7-420, 20-9-306, 20-9-507, AND 41-3-1142, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE."

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

Section 1. Section 20-5-321, MCA, is amended to read:

"20-5-321. Attendance with mandatory approval -- tuition and transportation -- exception. (1) An out-of-district attendance agreement that allows a child to enroll in and attend a school in a Montana school district that is outside of the child's district of residence or in a public school district of a state or province that is adjacent to the county of the child's residence is mandatory whenever:

(a) the child resides closer to the school that the child wishes to attend and more than 3 miles from the school the child would attend in the resident district and:

(i) the resident district does not provide transportation; or

(ii) the district of residence provides transportation and is not within the same county as the child's school district of choice;

(b) the child resides in a location where, because of road or geographic conditions, it is impractical to attend the school nearest the child's residence;

(c) the child is a member of a family that is required to send another child outside of the elementary district to attend high school and the child of elementary age may more conveniently attend an elementary school where the high school is located, provided that the child resides more than 3 miles from an elementary school in the resident district or that the parent is required to move to the elementary district where the high school is located to enroll another child in high school;

(d) except as provided in subsection (5), the child is under the protective care of a state agency or has been adjudicated to be a youth in need of intervention or a delinquent youth, as defined in 41-5-103; or

(e) except as provided in subsection (5), the child is required to attend school outside of the district of residence as the result of a placement in foster care or a group home licensed by the state.

(2) (a) Whenever a parent or guardian of a child, an agency of the state, or a court wishes to have a child attend a school under the provisions of this section, the parent or guardian, agency, or court shall complete an out-of-district attendance agreement in consultation with an appropriate official of the district the child will attend.

(b) The attendance agreement must set forth the financial obligations, if any, for costs incurred for tuition and transportation as provided in 20-5-323 and Title 20, chapter 10.

(c) The trustees of the district of choice may waive any or all of the tuition rate, but any waiver must be applied equally to all students.

(3) Except as provided in subsection (4), the trustees of the resident district and the trustees of the district of choice shall approve the out-of-district attendance agreement and notify the county superintendent of schools of the county of the child's residence of the approval of the agreement within 10 days. The county superintendent shall approve the agreement for payment under 20-5-324(5).

(4) Unless the child is a child with disabilities who resides in the district, the trustees of the district where the school to be attended is located may disapprove an out-of-district attendance agreement whenever they find that, because of insufficient room and overcrowding, the accreditation of the school would be adversely affected by the acceptance of the child.

(5) The provisions of this section do not apply to a child who is placed by the state in a facility licensed under 41-3-1142 that meets the department of public health and human services' definition of specialized foster care, foster group care, therapeutic group home, therapeutic foster care, or shelter care."

NEW SECTION. Section 2. Residence of child in youth care facility. Notwithstanding the provisions of 1-1-215, a child who is placed by the state in a facility licensed under 41-3-1142 that meets the department of public health and human services' definition of specialized foster care, foster group care, therapeutic group home, therapeutic foster care, or shelter care is a resident of the school district where the licensed facility is located.

Section 3. Section 20-7-420, MCA, is amended to read:

"20-7-420. Residency requirements -- financial responsibility for special education. (1) In accordance with the provisions of 1-1-215, a child's district of residence for special education purposes is the residence of the child's parents or of the child's guardian if the parents are deceased, unless otherwise determined by the court. This applies to a child living at home, in an institution, or under foster care other than the foster care described in subsection (4). If the parent has left the state, the parent's last-known district of residence is the child's district of residence.

(2) The county of residence is financially responsible for tuition and transportation, as established under 20-5-323, for a child with disabilities, as defined in 20-7-401, including a child who has been placed by a state agency in a foster care or group home licensed by the state. The county of residence is not financially responsible for tuition and transportation for a child who is placed by a state agency in an out-of-state public school or an out-of-state private residential facility.

(3) If an eligible child, as defined in 20-7-436, is receiving inpatient treatment in an in-state residential treatment facility or children's psychiatric hospital, as defined in 20-7-436, and the educational services are provided by a public school district under the provisions of 20-7-411 or 20-7-435, the superintendent of public instruction shall reimburse the district providing the services for the negotiated amount, as established pursuant to 20-7-435(5), that represents the district's costs of providing education and related services. Payments must be made from funds appropriated for this purpose. If the negotiated amount exceeds the daily membership rate under 20-7-435(3) and any per-ANB amount of direct state aid, the superintendent of public instruction shall pay the remaining balance from available funds. However, the amount spent from available funds for this purpose may not exceed $500,000 during any biennium.

(4) (a) For children placed by the state in a facility licensed under 41-3-1142 that meets the department of public health and human services' definition of specialized foster care, foster group care, therapeutic group home, therapeutic foster care, or shelter care, the superintendent of public instruction shall pay to the district where the facility is located a state education aid add-on distributed according to the schedule established in 20-9-344 for BASE aid from an appropriation to the superintendent of public instruction.

(b) The payment to the district must be calculated as the annualized state education aid add-on divided by the number of payments for the year multiplied by the prior month's population of the specialized foster care, foster group care, therapeutic group home, therapeutic foster care, or shelter care facilities located in the district as reported to the superintendent of public instruction by the department of public health and human services.

(c) The school district shall deposit the funds into a subfund of the district's miscellaneous programs fund, established in 20-9-507, and shall expend the money for programs for students living in the facilities that generate eligibility for payments.

(5) A state agency that makes a placement of a child with disabilities is responsible for the financial costs of room and board and the treatment of the child. The state agency that makes an out-of-state placement of a child with disabilities is responsible for the education fees required to provide a free appropriate public education that complies with the requirements of Title 20, chapter 7, part 4."

Section 4. Section 20-9-306, MCA, is amended to read:

"20-9-306. Definitions. 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 40% of the basic entitlement and 40% of the total per-ANB entitlement for the general fund budget of a district; and

(b) guaranteed tax base aid for an eligible district for any amount up to 40% of the basic entitlement, up to 40% of the total per-ANB entitlement budgeted in the general fund budget of a district, and up to 40% of the special education allowable cost payment.

(3) "BASE budget" means the minimum general fund budget of a district, which includes 80% of the basic entitlement, 80% of the total per-ANB entitlement, and up to 140% of the special education allowable cost payment.

(4) "BASE budget levy" means the district levy in support of the BASE budget of a district, which may be supplemented by guaranteed tax base aid if the district is eligible under the provisions of 20-9-366 through 20-9-369.

(5) "BASE funding program" means the state program for the equitable distribution of the state's share of the cost of Montana's basic system of public elementary schools and high schools, through county equalization aid as provided in 20-9-331 and 20-9-333 and state equalization aid as provided in 20-9-343, in support of the BASE budgets of districts and special education allowable cost payments as provided in 20-9-321.

(6) "Basic entitlement" means:

(a) $200,000 for each high school district;

(b) $18,000 for each elementary school district or K-12 district elementary program without an approved and accredited junior high school or middle school; and

(c) the prorated entitlement for each elementary school district or K-12 district elementary program with an approved and accredited junior high school or middle school, calculated as follows:

(i) $18,000 times the ratio of the ANB for kindergarten through grade 6 to the total ANB of kindergarten through grade 8; plus

(ii) $200,000 times the ratio of the ANB for grades 7 and 8 to the total ANB of kindergarten through grade 8.

(7) "Direct state aid" means 40% of the basic entitlement and 40% of the total per-ANB entitlement for the general fund budget of a district and funded with state and county equalization aid.

(8) "Maximum general fund budget" means a district's general fund budget amount calculated from the basic entitlement for the district, the total per-ANB entitlement for the district, and up to 153% of special education allowable cost payments.

(9) "Over-BASE budget levy" means the district levy in support of any general fund amount budgeted that is above the BASE budget and below the maximum general fund budget for a district.

(10) "State education aid add-on" means 125.5% of the maximum per-ANB high school entitlement established in subsection (11)(a). A school district shall deposit the state education aid add-on received pursuant to 20-7-420 in the district miscellaneous programs fund.

(11) "Total per-ANB entitlement" means the district entitlement resulting from the following calculations:

(a) for a high school district or a K-12 district high school program, a maximum rate of $4,773 for the first ANB is decreased at the rate of 50 cents per ANB for each additional ANB of the district up through 800 ANB, with each ANB in excess of 800 receiving the same amount of entitlement as the 800th ANB;

(b) for an elementary school district or a K-12 district elementary program without an approved and accredited junior high school or middle school, a maximum rate of $3,410 for the first ANB is decreased at the rate of 20 cents per ANB for each additional ANB of the district up through 1,000 ANB, with each ANB in excess of 1,000 receiving the same amount of entitlement as the 1,000th ANB; and

(c) for an elementary school district or a K-12 district elementary program with an approved and accredited junior high school or middle school, the sum of:

(i) a maximum rate of $3,410 for the first ANB for kindergarten through grade 6 is decreased at the rate of 20 cents per ANB for each additional ANB up through 1,000 ANB, with each ANB in excess of 1,000 receiving the same amount of entitlement as the 1,000th ANB; and

(ii) a maximum rate of $4,773 for the first ANB for grades 7 and 8 is decreased at the rate of 50 cents per ANB for each additional ANB for grades 7 and 8 up through 800 ANB, with each ANB in excess of 800 receiving the same amount of entitlement as the 800th ANB."

Section 5. Section 20-9-507, MCA, is amended to read:

"20-9-507. Miscellaneous programs fund. (1) Other than money received under the provisions of impact aid, as provided in 20 U.S.C. 7701, et seq., or federal money designated for deposit in a specific fund of the district, the trustees of a district receiving money from local, state, federal, or other sources provided in 20-5-324 or from the state education aid add-on, as provided in 20-7-420, shall establish a miscellaneous programs fund for the deposit of the money. The money may be a reimbursement of miscellaneous program fund expenditures already realized by the district, a payment received as a local government severance tax payment for calendar year 1995 production as provided in 15-36-325, indirect cost recoveries, or a grant of money for the financing of expenditures to be realized by the district for a special, approved program to be operated by the district. When the money is a reimbursement or a local government severance tax payment, the money may be expended at the discretion of the trustees for school purposes. When the money is a grant, the money must be expended according to the conditions of the program approval by the superintendent of public instruction or any other approval agent. Within the miscellaneous programs fund, the trustees shall maintain a separate accounting for each local, state, or federal grant project and the indirect cost recoveries.

(2) The financial administration of the miscellaneous programs fund must be in accordance with the financial administration provisions of this title for a nonbudgeted fund."

Section 6. Section 41-3-1142, MCA, is amended to read:

"41-3-1142. Issuance of license -- authority of issuing agency -- rules -- population report. (1) The department may issue licenses to persons operating youth care facilities or grant approval of kinship or extended family care providers and prescribe the conditions upon which licenses and approvals may be issued. The department may make rules necessary for the licensure or approval, operation, and regulation of those facilities consistent with the welfare of the residents.

(2) The department may inspect all licensed facilities or approved homes and, as appropriate, undertake action, including but not limited to the revocation of licenses and approvals.

(3) The person providing care in the facilities or homes shall give the department any information that may be required and afford the department every reasonable opportunity for observing the operation of the facilities or homes.

(4) At the end of each month, the department shall report to the superintendent of public instruction the population of the facilities licensed to provide specialized foster care, foster group care, therapeutic group home, therapeutic foster care, or shelter care. The report must include the name of the school district in which the facility is located, the capacity of the facility, and the actual number of children who resided in the facility during the prior month."

NEW SECTION. Section 7. Appropriation. The following money is appropriated from the general fund to the superintendent of public instruction to fund the state education aid add-on program:

Fiscal year 2000	$3.8 million

Fiscal year 2001	3.85 million

NEW SECTION. Section 8. Codification instruction. [Section 2] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 20, chapter 5, part 3, and the provisions of Title 20, chapter 5, part 3, apply to [section 2].

NEW SECTION. Section 9. Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 1999.

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