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Bill to 'clean up' tuition statute draws sharp opposition from OPI superintendent
Summary
Representative David Beatty framed House Bill 669 as code cleanup clarifying tuition formulas for students in treatment facilities; the Office of Public Instruction warned the change would remove a long-used funding tool and could leave schools without critical special‑education support.
Representative David Beatty told the Senate Education Committee that House Bill 669 primarily clarifies how tuition payments should be calculated when a school district provides education to students placed in psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment facilities or group homes. He described the proposal as ‘‘code cleanup’’ to use the same formula applied to other out‑of‑district placements.
Beatty said the bill also strikes a provision that has allowed the superintendent of public instruction to reallocate certain funds, arguing that the provision ‘‘has no business in a statute that deals with education of children at psychiatric treatment facilities’’ and that any mental‑health funding should be created by separate legislation and openly appropriated.
Susie Hedalen, superintendent for the Office of Public Instruction, strongly opposed the bill and asked the committee not to remove the statutory authority. She said the provision is a documented and essential funding mechanism used by schools to obtain resources when they receive students mid‑year with intensive needs, including one‑on‑one aides or ASL interpreters and specialized services that can cost as much as $150,000 for a district. Hedalen said removing the authority would ‘‘pull the rug out’’ from schools that rely on the process and recommended working on the issue in the interim rather than stripping the provision now.
Lance Melton of the Montana School Boards Association said he saw the measure as a reasonable cleanup and urged the committee to consider available sources if the subsection is removed. Representative Beatty said historical appropriations created an appearance of excess funds and that if a new program is needed for mental‑health services in schools, the legislature should fund it explicitly.
The hearing closed with the sponsor asking the superintendent to develop a defined program for legislative consideration if mental‑health services should be funded directly. The committee will take executive action on bills heard at a later scheduled session.
