Smaller schools on the Flathead Indian Reservation are concerned about having to ask local taxpayers for additional funds to cover massive tuition bills — one at $63,000 — for students attending schools in other districts.
This is the result of legislation passed with nearly unanimous support during the 2023 legislative session, with the bill sponsor saying the law is “tax neutral,” and that it’s only fair for home districts to pay for their children’s education elsewhere.
Rural schools worry this is a tool toward consolidating smaller school districts, a trend Montana has tried to buck for decades.
In Dayton — about half an hour north of Polson on Flathead Lake — sits one elementary school with less than 50 students and an administration concerned about how much longer they will be able to keep the doors open in light of House Bill 203.
HB 203 passed during the 2023 legislative session and changes how schools handle open enrollment. Students have been permitted to attend school out of the district they live in, but what’s new with this law is the district of residence will now be required to pay for the education of students who leave.
Districts that absorb students from outside their district lines now bill the district of residence for that child’s education. This means schools that have lost students to other districts will both lose the state enrollment dollars that come with that child, but also still have to pay the local taxes associated with the student’s education.
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