School Finance Compass September 2025

Upcoming Due Dates

State School Payments

The August State School payments for FY2026 are posted at the following link: State School Payments   

The September State School Payments for FY2026 are scheduled for distribution on August 28, 2025.

The September payments will include Direct State Aid, Quality Educator Component, At Risk Component, Indian Education for All, Student Achievement GAP, Data for Achievement and Special Education. 

If you have questions regarding payments, please contact Cori Opie at (406) 444-3533.

State School Entitlements

The State School Funding Entitlement Reports for FY2026 are posted at the following link:

State School Payments-Entitlements

If you have questions, please contact: Cori Opie at (406) 444-3533.

FY2026 Budget Reporting

To access the Budget Instructions, go to:

School Finance> Budgets> Budget Spreadsheet &Guidance> FY2026 Budget Instructions

A checklist is provided on Page 6 of the instructions.

Once you have successfully completed the TFS, follow the steps below to access the Budget:

1. Click on the data entry Tab
2. Hover your curser down to the Budget (another menu box will slide open), Start with Step 1: Taxable Valuation and work through all the steps.
3. Highlight your district or click on the Select All Districts button.

FY2026 Budget reports are due to the county superintendent within 3 days after the budget adoption meeting 20-9-131, MCA.

School districts must submit both TFS and Budget Reports electronically to the Office of Public Instruction no later than September 15, 2025.

Other helpful links include:

Budget Timeline

Historical TFS – Reference for past years TFS reports

TRS Employee Reports – Teachers Retirement Net Pension Liability

PERS Employee Reports – Public Employees Retirement Net Pension Liability

ESSER Consolidated Guidance – Accounting Guidance for ESSER TFS Reporting

ESSER Expense and Revenue Comparison – ESSER Revenue and Expenditure Report by year

Preliminary Budget Data Reports – Preliminary Budget Data Sheets (PBDS)

If you have questions, please contact Laci Novark at (406) 444-4401, Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins at (406) 444-1964, Autumn Belmont at (406) 444-9852, or Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960.

ESSA PPE Reporting – Due September 15^th with TFS Submission

The Federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires school-based expenditure reporting. This guidance is designed to help districts comply with statewide uniformity to fulfill the federal requirements. District compliance is essential for Federal compliance. The federal law requires all districts report expenditures by School Code (SC), regardless of enrollment, number of school buildings, or location.

The OPI has limited authority to make changes in the district’s financial records after the Trustees’ Financial Summary (TFS) report has been approved by the Board of Trustees and County Superintendent of Schools.  All expenditures, including mandatory ESSA entries are the responsibility of the district. The allowable circumstances in which the OPI can make changes to the TFS are prescribed in ARM 10.10.504.

All Local Education Agencies (LEAs) report per-pupil expenditure data at the school or LEA level, including allocations of district wide expenditures to the school level. Expenditures are disaggregated by the source of (revenues) funds (state, local and federal). School level expenditure reporting is submitted to the OPI in MAEFAIRS, which publishes the information in the Montana Report Card as mandated by ESSA reporting requirements.

LEAs with only one designated SC are the only LEA’s that do not have to allocate expenditures. If the LEA is designated as the Prime Agency for expenditures in the School Food Service Fund (12), Miscellaneous Programs Fund (15) and the Interlocal Agreement Fund (82) those expenditures will be reported separately in the TFS. The TFS data entry will allocate the expenditure to the appropriate entity or LEA.

If you have questions, please contact: Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960 or Laci Novark at (406) 444-4401.

New Bus Reimbursement Rates

When entering the TR1 Bus Routes in the Pupil Transportation System for FY2026, please verify that the increased reimbursement rates are calculated correctly upon saving, and prior to providing a copy to the county superintendent.

These increased rates reflect recent legislative changes, and confirming accurate calculations will help ensure districts receive the correct funding amounts.

Further details of the increased Bus Reimbursement Rates can be found on the OPI Pupil Transportation webpage.

If you have questions, please contact Elsie Workman at (406) 444-2463

October 7, 2025 – Fall Student Count Due

The official fall count day is Monday, October 6, 2025. You may import data once Aggregate Hours are entered in Infinite Campus and Certified. Uncertified data will not be allowed to import to MAEFAIRS.

To access MAEFAIRS, CLICK HERE.

The MAEFAIRS web application is ready for Fall Student Count for ANB importing from Infinite Campus. The instructions may be found HERE.

If you have questions, please contact Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960 or Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins at (406) 444-1964.

FY2025 County Reporting Forms

The Office of Public Instruction (OPI) has posted the FY2025 County reporting forms at the following link: County (mt.gov)

• County Treasurer Statement (FP6a)
• FY2025 Countywide School Funds (FP6b)
• Joint District Basic Data (FP8a)
• Joint District Tax Levy Summary (FP8b)

If you have questions, please contact Autumn Belmont at (406) 444-9852.

FP10a - County Transportation/Retirement Fund Mill Levy Calculation – Due September 15^th

The FP10a County Transportation/Retirement Fund Mill Levy Calculation is due to the Office of Public Instruction by September 15, 2025, for FY2026. The FP10a is submitted on the OPI County application through the OPI Secure Portal.

FP10a instructions can be found on OPI’s website, County.

If you have questions, please contact Donell Rosenthal at (406) 444-3249.

FP9 – County Mill setting – Due October 3, 2026

Please have all FP9 forms that have been sent to the county returned to Andrea Mohammadi at andrea.mohammadi@mt.gov on or before October 3, 2026.

If you have any questions email or call Andrea Mohammadi at 406-444-1960.

FY2026 Special Education Cooperative Reports

The Office of Public Instruction (OPI) has posted the FY2026 Special Education Allowable Cost Funding Cooperative Preliminary reports at the following link: State School Payments (mt.gov)

If you have questions, please contact Autumn Warren at (406) 444-9852.

Bus Driver Certificate TR35

All school bus drivers (includes a Superintendent) must hold a valid Montana School Bus Driver Certificate (TR35) for a district to receive state reimbursement.

Qualifications for bus drivers are prescribed by 20-10-103, MCA, and by the Board of Public Education in ARM 10.64.201. The bus driver certificate forms are provided and must be maintained electronically in the Pupil Transportation System.

The Chair of the board of trustees must sign the certificate which is issued to a driver who is authorized and qualified to drive a school bus pursuant to all applicable rules, regulations, and laws. The district must retain a current copy of each bus driver’s certificate, provide a copy to the bus service contract, if applicable, and file a copy with the county superintendent. The bus driver is required to always carry a current and valid hard copy of the certificate while driving a school bus.

If you have questions, please contact Elsie Workman at (406) 444-2463.

Type E School Bus Requirements

Before a type E school bus is purchased, the school is required to complete a cost analysis of a traditional type A – D school bus versus the type E school bus before acquiring this bus type. This cost analysis must be on file for review. MCA 20-10-148

The analysis must detail. the costs associated with purchase and operation of the school bus compared to the costs associated with purchase or contract and operation of a school bus designed to carry more than 10 passengers.  The overall purpose of the cost analysis is to demonstrate that the purchase and operation of a school bus as defined in 20-10-101(4)(a)(ii) is the most cost-effective means of transporting eligible transportees on the bus route(s).  The Type E is required to have an overall safety rating of 5 Stars as per NHTSA.   These results must also be on file for review.

If you have questions, please contact Elsie Workman at (406) 444-2463

In District Special Education Permissive Tuition Levy

The Special Education Permissive Tuition Levy spreadsheet for FY2026 has been updated and posted to the OPI Webpage at the following location: Tuition and Attendance (mt.gov).

If you have questions, please contact Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960 desk or email opischoolfinance@mt.gov.

Audit Letter for FY-2025

The annual letter to auditors can be found on the OPI website by clicking this link. The letter provides general information for the fiscal year 2025 regarding issues affecting Montana school district audits and special items the OPI would like auditors to review for compliance with statute and administrative rule.

For more information, please contact Amanda Zigan (406) 444-3583 or email us at OPIAuditReports@mt.gov.

Emergency School Closures

School Closures are a local decision based on the needs of the community. Information on Emergency School Closures can be found on the School Finance Webpage. The document is titled “School District Closures – Unforeseen Emergencies.”

It is important to be familiar with the laws, but a couple of important reminders are as follows:

• Trustees should notify the County Superintendent of Schools and the OPI as soon as a school district closure has been declared.
• Trustees may close school for one school day each year for unforeseen emergencies that is not subject to a state funding reduction 20-9-806(2), MCA.
• If a school has an emergency closure for longer than the one-day exception, the Trustees may later adopt a resolution that a reasonable effort has been made to reschedule the pupil-instruction time lost. Not taking this action could result in a reduction to the school district’s BASE aid.

Adherence to the statutes is necessary to prevent reduction of state entitlement funding for the district.

Please sent notice to the OPI at OPISchoolFinance@mt.gov or call Amanda Zigan at (406) 444-3096 or contact Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins at (406) 444-1964.

Updating School Contact Information with OPI

District Clerks are responsible for keeping their district’s contact information up to date. According to § 20-3-307, MCA, Trustee Contact information is required to be updated within 14 days following the qualification and oathtaking of a newly elected trustee or for the filling of vacancy on the board (the county superintendent is responsible for providing information to the district clerk for the purpose of updating the Trustee Repository). Contact information also affects the Budget and TFS reports as well as how the AR for OPI and E-Grants updates. The instructions on how to update your schools’ information can be found at the following link: Instructions.

PERSONNEL CHANGES:  All school districts please go to the OPI website - Directory of Montana Schools - to verify your schools’ information.

Changes must be made by the Clerk in OPI Contacts for:

• Trustees (required by HB 811).
• Board chair.
• Clerk/business manager.
• Superintendent.
• Principal.

For more information, please contact us by email at CentralUpdates@mt.gov.

OPI Application Access Guides for NEW Clerks and Superintendents

The OPI has information for new:

• District Clerks
• District Superintendents
• County Superintendents

To assist in getting set up with their new roles, please see the documents located on the School Finance webpage.

For more information, please contact us by email at opischoolfinance@mt.gov.

Sending Confidential Information

When sending confidential information to the OPI, the best method is to use the Montana File Transfer Service (FTS).  You can find the link to the Montana FTS on the School Finance home page, however, there are two requirements for the use of the Montana FTS:

• The recipient must be a state employee.
• The file must be sent to an individual (not a group email).

Regular email is not a safe or recommended communication method when sending confidential or personally identifiable information.

For more information, please email us at OPISchoolFinance@mt.gov.

Active Expenditure String tool

A spreadsheet of active expenditure strings is available on the School Finance website. All open MAEFAIRS expenditure strings that have been used since 2017 are available for review. Expenditure strings can be filtered or enter your string to determine if the coding string is valid.

If you have questions, please contact School Finance at OPISchoolFinance@mt.gov.

OPI Compass Webpage

The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.