Section 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 for transportation.(2)(a) Whenever a parent or guardian of a child wishes to have the child attend a school under the provisions of this section, the parent or guardian shall apply to the trustees of the district where the child wishes to attend.(b) The application must be made on an out-of-district attendance agreement form supplied by the district and developed by the superintendent of public instruction. The attendance agreement must set forth the financial obligations, if any, for costs incurred for transporting the child under Title 20, chapter 10. Unless otherwise agreed by the district of residence and the district of attendance, the family of a nonresident child whose application for attendance has been approved is responsible for transportation of the child and the child is not an eligible transportee as defined in 20-10-101. The district of attendance may discretionarily provide transportation pursuant to 20-10-122.
(c) The trustees of the district of attendance may adopt policies for the application process, including but not limited to reasonable timelines for the submission of applications.(d) The trustees of the district of attendance shall serve children who are residents of the district and nonresident children seeking enrollment under 20-5-321 prior to enrolling children under this section.(e) In reviewing and determining whether to approve an application for attendance by a nonresident child, the trustees of the district of attendance shall approve the application unless the trustees find that the impact of approval of the application will negatively impact the quality of education for resident pupils by grade level, by school, or in the district in the aggregate in one or more of the following ways: (i) the approval would result in exceeding limits of:(A) building construction standards pursuant to Title 50, chapter 60;(B) capacity and ingress and egress elements, either by individual room or by school building, of any fire code authorized by Title 50, chapter 3; or(C) evacuation elements of the district's adopted school safety plan;(ii) the approval would impede meeting goals, standards, or objectives of quality that the trustees have previously adopted in a plan for continuous educational improvement required under rules adopted by the board of public education; or(iii) the approval would risk jeopardizing the educational quality within the district because the nonresident child who is applying was:(A) truant as defined in 20-5-106 in the last school district attended;(B) expelled by another school district at any time; or(C) suspended in another school district in any of the 3 school fiscal years preceding the school fiscal year for which attendance is requested. This subsection (2)(e)(iii)(C) does not apply to a student who is eligible for special education or related services.(f) The trustees of a district that receives more applications than the district can accommodate under subsections (2)(e)(i) and (2)(e)(ii) may adopt and implement policy providing priority among the applications on any rational basis that prioritizes the quality of education for students who are residents of the district of attendance and the obligations of resident taxpayers.(3) This section does not preclude the trustees of a district from approving an attendance agreement for educational program offerings not provided by the resident district, such as the kindergarten or grades 7 and 8 programs, if the trustees of both districts agree to the terms and conditions for attendance and any transportation requirement. The tuition requirements under 20-5-323 and 20-5-324 apply to agreements under this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, the trustees of the resident district shall initiate the out-of-district agreement.(4) As used in 20-5-320 through 20-5-324, the term "guardian" means the guardian of a minor as provided in Title 72, chapter 5, part 2.Amended by Laws 2023, Ch. 368,Sec. 1, eff. 7/1/2024, and applicable to school years and years of attendance beginning on or after July 1, 2024.Amended by Laws 2021, Ch. 238,Sec. 1, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended by Laws 2019, Ch. 271,Sec. 225, eff. 6/1/2020.En. Sec. 1, Ch. 563, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 464, L. 2001.