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Senate bill 35 would ensure funding follows children in out-of-district summer jump-start literacy programs
Summary
Senate Bill 35 clarifies that A-and-B pupil counts and funding should follow children who attend early literacy "jump start" programs outside their resident district; sponsors and early-childhood advocates said the change removes an oversight between recent laws.
Senator Daniel Emmerich (R-Great Falls) told the committee Senate Bill 35 is intended to ensure that when a child attends a summer early-literacy "jump start" program in a district other than the resident district, the A-and-B enrollment counts and funding follow the child to the district that provided the program. "The bill you have before you today is senate bill 35, and it's an act revising education laws to clarify funding enrollment counts for a child participating in an early literacy jump start program in a school district other than the resident district," Emmerich said.
Sarah Froelke, policy analyst for 0 to 5 Montana, testified in support and said the bill "provides a simple fix" to ensure eligible children can access summer intervention regardless of where they live during the summer months. Paul Taylor from the Office of Public Instruction explained that the bill aligns two statutes adopted in the previous session—the early literacy program and tuition provisions—so that funding calculations follow the district that invested in the jump-start programming.
Supporters described the change as technical and corrective: they said it addresses an oversight created when related provisions were passed at the same time. The bill includes a retroactive applicability date to cover the current school year, a sponsor said. No opponents appeared at the hearing.
