(2) In considering a request for approval of an application to have a school classified as an isolated school, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall utilize the following criteria:

(a) an application form has been completed by the trustees, received by the county superintendent, approved by the Board of County Commissioners, and received by the Superintendent of Public Instruction pursuant to the provisions of 20-6-502 (4) and 20-9-302 , MCA;

(b) the applicant school is an operating elementary school district of less than 10 ANB or a high school of less than 25 ANB for the second consecutive year;

(c) another operating school(s) with room to accommodate applicant's students is further than a distance of 20 passable road miles from applicant school; and

(d) less than 50% or more of the students from the applicant school can, under normal conditions, be transported to the closest operating school(s) in a period of one hour or less.

(i) in determining transportation time to the closest operating school with room to accommodate students, available bus transportation, either elementary or high school, will be taken into consideration.

(ii) if a family member rides a bus to another school, that bus will be considered as available transportation for an elementary child in the same family if the bus provides transportation to an available operating school with room to accommodate the student.

(e) extenuating circumstances which support a variance from the requirements of (2) (a) through (d) , must be documented for consideration by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(a) the program must comprise the work of grades 4 through 8 or any combination thereof, as defined in 20-6-501 (1) , MCA;

(b) the middle school must be organized and administered to provide a cohesive unit within the educational system of the school district. A cohesive unit shall be interpreted as a portion of a school system which is located in one area of the school facilities, is under the overall direction of a single administrative leadership, and is easily identifiable as a unique school unit;

(c) sufficient evidence must be provided that, if established, the middle school can meet state accreditation standards for middle schools adopted as set forth in Title 10, chapter 55 by the Board of Public Education;

(d) other factors may be taken into account which are deemed reasonable and appropriate to consider in establishment of a middle school.

(a) the program will comprise the work of grades 7 through 9 or their equivalents, as defined in 20-6-501 (2) (a) , MCA;

(b) the junior high school must be organized and administered to provide a cohesive unit within the educational system of the school district. A cohesive unit shall be interpreted as a portion of a school system which is located in one area of the school facilities, which is under the overall direction of a single administrative leadership and which is easily identifiable as a unique school unit;

(c) sufficient evidence is provided that, if established, the junior high school can meet state accreditation standards for junior high schools as set forth in Title 10, chapter 55 by the Board of Public Education;

(d) other factors may be taken into account which are deemed reasonable and appropriate to consider in establishment of a junior high school.

This rule has been repealed.

(a) a single resolution by the joint board of trustees of an elementary and high school district with the same boundaries; or

(b) resolutions by each of the boards of trustees of the districts that would become part of a K-12 district, if the boards are not joint.

(2) Each resolution must include the legal name of each of the districts, a statement that the two districts share the same boundaries, a statement of the combining of the bonded indebtedness of the districts through the assumption by the high school district of the bonded indebtedness of the elementary district upon attachment, and the effective fiscal year of the attachment.

(3) Each resolution must be filed in time to allow the trustees to prepare the budgets and hold mill levy elections within the legal statutory timeframes.

(4) If for any reason an elementary district's boundaries become the same as a high school district's boundaries, it must attach to the high school district to establish a K-12 district by July of the ensuing fiscal year unless exempt under 20-6-701 , MCA.

(1) When an attachment order has been communicated to the Board of County Commissioners pursuant to 20-6-701 , MCA:

(a) The Board of County Commissioners and the Board of Trustees of the elementary district will proceed to prepare all instruments necessary to convey title to the real and personal property of the elementary district to the high school district, so that these instruments may be executed and effective as of July 1 of the fiscal year of the attachment;

(b) The officials of the elementary district trustees shall entrust the district official records and all district property and materials to the high school district trustees on July 1 of the year of the attachment;

(c) The county treasurer, in accordance with procedures established by the Department of Commerce and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall transfer all elementary district fund balances to the high school district's funds effective July 1 of the year of the attachment. The K-12 school district will assume the cash and liabilities of the attached elementary district, and will maintain a single budgeted or nonbudgeted fund for each of the authorized funds of the K-12 district for the costs of operating all grades and programs of the district, pursuant to accounting and reporting procedures prescribed by the Office of Public Instruction.

(2) The board of trustees of the high school district will become the trustees of the K-12 district effective July 1 of the year of the attachment.

(3) End-of-year elementary district fiscal and nonfiscal reporting will be completed as required for the elementary district for the school year prior to the formation of a K-12 district. If the end-of-year elementary reporting is due after the effective date of the formation of the K-12 district, the reports shall be completed and filed by the officials of the newly formed K-12 district.

(4) The elementary and high school district officials shall prepare a single budget per fund for the K-12 district for the effective year of formation of the K-12 district, and for each year thereafter, using the forms and procedures established by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(a) The school district general fund budget limitations established by 20-9-308 , MCA, shall be determined for K-12 districts in the following manner:

(i) The budget limitations shall be applied to the combined total of the elementary and high school budgets for the fiscal year prior to the effective fiscal year of the attachment. For each year thereafter, the budget limitations shall be applied to the prior year K-12 district budget.

(ii) In order to determine equalized status of a transition K-12 school district for the ensuing fiscal year, the district shall make the following calculation:

If 3c is less than or equal to the Maximum General Fund Budget (line 2c) , the K-12 district will be considered "equalized" in the ensuing school year (FY 20XX+1) . If not, then the K-12 district will be considered "not equalized" for the ensuing school year.

(b) For the purpose of determining guaranteed tax base aid, the BASE budget levy amount for a K-12 district will be prorated between elementary and high school programs using the ratio of the elementary GTBA budget area to the high school GTBA budget area.

(i) The ratio for prorating the BASE budget levy will be determined in the following manner:

Calculation of ratio for proration of GTBA budget area

(ii) The eligibility for guaranteed tax base aid will be determined for the elementary prorated portion and for the high school prorated portion using the procedures established for elementary and high school districts set out in ARM 10.21.101F, on the Office of Public Instruction budget forms. The K-12 district will be eligible to receive the sum of the amounts of guaranteed tax base aid determined for both the elementary and high school prorated portions, or for a single portion if eligibility is determined only for the elementary or the high school portion of the BASE budget amount.

(c) After the resolution to attach and establish a K-12 district, the trustees of the K-12 district will submit a single proposition to the voters for the amount of the K-12 general fund budget that must be submitted to the electorate.

(5) For the initial year of the K-12 district, eligibility for program funding, established by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in the year prior to the formation of the K-12 districts, will be transferred to the K-12 district. Characteristics of the districts (i.e., enrollment, expenditures, low-income data, needs assessment) may be calculated based on the combined districts' characteristics if the funding would be adversely affected when calculated separately, and if allowed by program requirements. Following the initial year of the K-12 district, funding eligibility will be determined for K-12 programs as a single district, or per specific program requirements.

(6) All certified employees of the elementary and high school district who have the right of tenure under Montana law will continue to have tenure in the K-12 district, and all noncertified employees of the elementary district must be given preference in hiring for any K-12 district position for which the employee has substantially equal qualifications, pursuant to 20-6-711 , MCA.

(a) The direct state aid payments will be distributed to the K-12 district based on calculations pursuant to 20-9-306 , MCA, determined by grade level program for budget units of the district.

(b) The special education funding will be distributed to the K-12 district based on 20-9-321 , MCA, as a total of the allowable cost payments for the special education elementary and high school programs of the K-12 district.

(c) For purposes of determining budget limits and eligibility for GTB aid, state special education payments provided to cooperatives for related services will be added with the payment granted directly to the K-12 districts based on separate elementary and high school program calculations as set out in ARM 10.22.102.

(d) The school facility reimbursement will be distributed to K-12 districts per ARM 10.21.101I with each bond identified with date of issue and level of indebtedness.

(2) The basic county tax for the elementary BASE funding program and the basic special tax for the high school BASE funding program will continue to be assessed based on the elementary district and the high school district taxation structure.

This rule has been repealed.

(a) The retirement fund of a K-12 district will be a high school retirement fund, and the eligibility for guaranteed tax base aid will be determined based on the high school mill value per ANB. The guaranteed tax base aid payment for the high school retirement fund will be awarded to a county with a K-12 district using the number of high school budgeted ANB in the county plus the elementary budgeted ANB of any K-12 district in the county times the statewide subsidy per mill per ANB as calculated by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The guaranteed tax base aid payment for the elementary retirement fund will be awarded to a county with a K-12 district using the number of elementary budgeted ANB from elementary districts in the county, but not including the elementary ANB from any K-12 districts in the county. However, the calculations for the statewide and the county mill value per ANB will utilize the elementary budgeted ANB of the K-12 district for the statewide and county elementary calculation and the high school budgeted ANB of the K-12 district for the statewide and county high school calculation.

(b) Tuition calculations will be determined separately for high school and elementary pupils using the rates established in ARM 10.10.301. Tuition will be budgeted in a single K-12 district fund and payment financed as set out in 20-5-324 , MCA, for the elementary and high school tuition amounts.

(c) Unusual enrollment increase eligibility, pursuant to 20-9-314 , MCA, will be determined separately for elementary enrollment and for high school enrollment, and not based on total K-12 district enrollment.

(d) The end-of-year fund balance of a K-12 school district lease or rental agreement fund which exceeds $20,000 shall be transferred to the general fund of the district.

This rule has been repealed.

(a) To determine prior year adopted budget amounts for the elementary and high school portions of the dissolved K-12 district, divide the adopted budget of the K-12 district for the last school year by the maximum budget limit of the K-12. Multiply the result times the maximum limit portion as determined by the elementary program and times the maximum limit portion as determined by the high school program.

(b) To determine prior year ANB for the elementary and high school portions of the dissolved K-12 district to be used to calculate spending limitations for the consolidated district(s) , use budgeted ANB per elementary portion and budgeted ANB per high school portion of the K-12 from the prior year.