Rule 10.22.102 - GENERAL FUND SPENDING LIMITS(1) The trustees must adopt a budget at least equal to the BASE budget. (2) For purposes of determining general fund spending limits, the trustees may add to the current year budget: (a) the sum of any increases in state funding for any/all of the following: (i) the direct state aid associated with the basic entitlement;(ii) the direct state aid associated with the per-ANB entitlement;(iii) the quality educator payment;(iv) the at-risk student payment;(v) the Indian education for all payment deposited into the general fund; (vi) the American Indian achievement gap payment; or(vii) the data-for-achievement payment.(b) in the initial year of implementation of a full-time kindergarten program, an amount equal to (one-half the kindergarten enrollment in the current year) times (the sum of the maximum per-ANB rate for an elementary ANB and the Indian education for all payment for an ANB for the current year).(3) If a district's current year budget, including any additions from (2), does not exceed the ensuing year's maximum budget, the following limits apply. (a) Without voter approval, the trustees may adopt a budget equal to the sum of: (i) the ensuing year's BASE budget;(ii) the highest revenue previously authorized by the electors of the district or imposed by the district in any of the previous five years to support the general fund budget;(iii) the fund balance available to reappropriate to fund the over-BASE budget;(iv) the prior year's excess reserves under 20-9-141, MCA, available to fund the over-BASE budget; (v) the estimated tuition revenue available to fund the over-BASE budget;(vi) the amount of the reduction of flexible nonvoted property tax levy authority in the transportation fund, the bus depreciation fund, the tuition fund, and the adult education fund; and(vii) the estimated oil and natural gas production taxes for school districts available to fund the over-BASE budget. (b) With voter approval of the budget exceeding (3)(a), the trustees may adopt a budget not greater than the ensuing year's maximum. (4) If a district's current year budget, including any additions in (2), exceeds the ensuing year's maximum budget, the following limits apply: (a) Without voter approval the trustees may adopt a budget equal to the sum of: (i) the ensuing year's BASE budget;(ii) the highest revenue previously authorized by the electors of the district or imposed by the district in any of the previous five years to support the general fund budget;(iii) the fund balance available to reappropriate to fund the over-BASE budget;(iv) the prior year's excess reserves under 20-9-141, MCA, that will be used to fund the over-BASE budget; (v) the estimated tuition revenue available to fund the over-BASE budget;(vi) the amount of the reduction of flexible nonvoted property tax levy authority in the transportation fund, the bus depreciation fund, the tuition fund, and the adult education fund; and(vii) the estimated oil and natural gas production taxes for school districts available to fund the over-BASE budget.(b) With voter approval of the amount of budget exceeding (4)(a), the trustees may adopt a budget not greater than the current year budget with additions as calculated in (2).(5) With respect to (3)(a)(vi) and (4)(a)(vi), the ongoing authority for any nonvoted increase in the over-BASE budget levy imposed must be decreased in future years to the extent that any increase in other nonvoted property tax levies is imposed.(6) For a nonoperating district that is reopening, budget limitations for the general fund shall be based on the last operating year's budget for the general fund. The general fund budget adopted for the last year in which the district operated a school will be considered the prior year's budget for purposes of determining budget limitations for the year of reopening. The district must adopt a general fund budget that is at least equal to BASE and does not exceed the maximum general fund budget for the year of reopening. (a) For a nonoperating district that reopens a school under 20-6-502, MCA, the school isolation provisions in 20-9-302, MCA, will be applied based on the budgeted ANB in the last operating year and the budgeted ANB in the year the school reopens. (7) For purposes of determining the spending limit for a school district participating in a full service cooperative for special education programs, the BASE budget amount and maximum general fund budget may include a portion of the payments received by the full service cooperative in support of special education programs. The Superintendent of Public Instruction will notify each school district participating in a cooperative of its payments for use in setting its BASE budget and maximum general fund budget for the ensuing school fiscal year. (8) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall monitor the general fund budgets of each school district to ensure compliance with the spending limits established in 20-9-308, MCA. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may request a revised budget from any district whose general fund budget is not within the limits using the guidelines established in ARM 10.10.503. (9) When budgeting for the first year of operation following a consolidation or annexation: (a) the budgets of the combining districts for the year preceding the first year of operation as a consolidated or annexed district will be summed; (b) the amount calculated in (8)(a) will be used in place of the current year budget in (2) through (4) for purposes of determining the consolidated or annexed district's ensuing year budget limitations; and (c) regardless of the relationship of the individual combining districts' adopted budgets to their individual BASE and maximum budgets for the year preceding the first year operating as a newly consolidated district, the amount calculated in (8)(a) will be assumed to have been no more than the maximum budget of that year for purposes of determining the ensuing year's budget of the newly consolidated district.Mont. Admin. r. 10.22.102
NEW, 1990 MAR p. 508, Eff. 3/16/90; AMD, 1992 MAR p. 219, Eff. 2/14/92; AMD, 1994 MAR p. 1824, Eff. 7/8/94; AMD, 1996 MAR p. 2168, Eff. 8/9/96; AMD, 1998 MAR p. 1719, Eff. 6/26/98; AMD, 2000 MAR p. 632, Eff. 2/25/00; AMD, 2002 MAR p. 1740, Eff. 6/28/02; AMD, 2004 MAR p. 1613, Eff. 7/23/04; AMD, 2006 MAR p. 3070, Eff. 12/22/06; AMD, 2008 MAR p. 1692, Eff. 8/15/08; AMD, 2016 MAR p. 880, Eff. 5/21/2016AUTH: 20-9-102, MCA;IMP: 20-9-308, 20-9-315, MCA