20-4-109. Fees for teacher and specialist certificates. (1) (a) A person applying for the issuance or renewal of a teacher or specialist certificate shall pay a fee for each school fiscal year that the certificate is valid. In addition to this fee, a person who has never held any class of Montana teacher or specialist certificate or for whom an emergency authorization of employment has never been issued shall pay a filing fee. The fees must be paid to the superintendent of public instruction, who shall deposit the fees with the state treasurer to the credit of the state special revenue fund account, created in subsection (2), to be used for fully funding the costs of administering the teacher and specialist licensure program at the office of public instruction, including operations and maintenance of the licensure system and personnel costs.

(b) The superintendent of public instruction shall recommend to the board of public education annual and filing fee amounts sufficient to generate the revenue required to administer the teacher and specialist licensure program. In recommending the fees, the superintendent shall consider the revenues and expenses incurred in the prior 5 licensing renewal years, but the cash balance of the account in subsection (2) may not exceed two times the account's annual appropriation level. The recommendation must include documentation sufficient to support the fees charged to support the licensure program. The board of public education shall set the annual and filing fee amounts based on the superintendent's recommendation.

(2) There is an account in the state special revenue fund. Money from fees for teacher or specialist certificates required in subsection (1) must be deposited in the account and used for administering the teacher and specialist licensure program at the office of public instruction.