Montana legislation · 2025 Regular Session
Montana HB250: Generally revise education laws related to out-of-district attendance.
Status: Signed into law, May 8, 2025
What the bill says
An act generally revising education laws related to out-of-district attendance; clarifying the tuition and transportation responsibilities of a district of residence for a child with a disability; clarifying and consolidating provisions related to transportation responsibilities; allowing trustees to deny an out-of-district attendance request if accepting the request would jeopardize the district's accreditation status and for students who have been suspended; clarifying the tuition responsibilities for a nonoperating school district; clarifying prorated tuition for partial-year attendance…
From the engrossed text:
AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING EDUCATION LAWS RELATED TO OUT-OF-DISTRICT ATTENDANCE; CLARIFYING THE TUITION AND TRANSPORTATION RESPONSIBILITIES OF A DISTRICT OF RESIDENCE FOR A CHILD WITH A DISABILITY; CLARIFYING AND CONSOLIDATING PROVISIONS RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION RESPONSIBILITIES; ALLOWING TRUSTEES TO DENY AN OUT-OF-DISTRICT ATTENDANCE REQUEST IF ACCEPTING THE REQUEST WOULD JEOPARDIZE THE DISTRICT'S ACCREDITATION STATUS AND FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED; CLARIFYING THE TUITION RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A NONOPERATING SCHOOL DISTRICT; CLARIFYING PRORATED TUITION FOR PARTIAL-YEAR ATTENDANCE; REVISING THE OUT-OF-DISTRICT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION; CLARIFYING REMOTE INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING OUT-OF-DISTRICT; REMOVING THE REQUIREMENT THAT A STUDENT SEEK REMOTE INSTRUCTION FROM THE NEAREST SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFERING THE REMOTE INSTRUCTION; AMENDING SECTIONS 20-5-320, 20-5-322, 20-5-323, 20-5-324, 20-7-118, 20-7-421, AND 20-9-505, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND AN APPLICABILITY DATE. Section 1. Section 20-5-320, MCA, is amended to read: "20-5-320. Out-of-district attendance by parent or guardian request with no extenuating circumstances. (1) A child may be enrolled in and attend a school in a Montana school district that is outside of the child's district of residence at the request of the child's parent or guardian as described in this section. If the trustees of the district of attendance approve of the child's attendance in a school of the district, the parent or guardian may be responsible …