|
Upcoming Due Dates
|
Deadline
|
Topic
|
Contact
|
|
September 15th
|
County Reporting of School Transportation & Retirement Mill Levies - Form FP10a
|
Donell Rosenthal
(406) 444-3249
|
|
October 1
|
County Superintendents must electronically authorize Individual Contracts (TR4)
|
Elsie Workman
(406) 444-2463
|
|
October 6
|
Fall Student Count
|
Andrea Mohammadi
(406) 444-1960
Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins
(406) 444-1964
|
|
October 7
|
County Mill Approval – Form FP9
|
Andrea Mohammadi
(406) 444-1960
|
State School Payments
The FY2025 September State School payments are posted at the following link: State School Payments.
The FY2025 October State School Payments are scheduled for distribution on October 28, 2025.
The October 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, 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.
Compensation Expenditure Reporting and Terms of Employment – Due December 10, 2025
Compensation Expenditure reports must be submitted by the December 10th deadline per ARM 10.10.504 for the previous fiscal year’s data. Data can be entered starting when MAEFAIRS opens and may be advantageous to complete at the same time as the Infinite Campus reporting in October.
Compensation Expenditure Reporting collects data used to determine each district’s payment information pertaining to salaries paid to district employees each fiscal year. Compensation Expenditure Reporting is a multi-step process of entering and certifying data in Infinite Campus and then submitting the data in MAEFAIRS. The process is to assist schools with their responsibility to be transparent with the use of public funds in accordance with section 20-7-104, MCA.
End of Year Personnel Collection: Infinite Campus Reporting – Due June 30th
The End of Year Personnel (Compensation Expenditure) Collection replaces the Compensation Expenditure Terms of Employment (TOE) in AIM. All district staff employed from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, must be included in this collection of data and be certified through entry into Infinite Campus. Only employees certified through Infinite Campus will be available for selection in the MAEFAIRS Compensation Expenditure Report submission. Districts are required to enter all staff employed in the 2024-2025 school year into Infinite Campus by June 30, 2025, to finalize the 2025 fiscal year end process. If you do not have access to Infinite Campus or are having troubles logging in, please contact opiaimhelp@mt.gov.
Fall Terms of Employment (TOE): Infinite Campus Certification – Due October 31st
Infinite Campus Certification replaces the Compensation Expenditure TOE formerly in TEAMS.
All personnel information for all staff members/contractors employed during the 2024-2025 school year must be entered into the Infinite Campus system. Employee Certification is necessary for the completion of the Compensation Expenditure reporting in the MAEFAIRS system. All employed individuals must be certified through the Infinite Campus system.
If you have questions, please contact Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960 or Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins at (406) 444-1964.
Requests for Changes to the TFS - Due Dec 10th
The following steps must be completed.
Step 1: On a photocopy of the originally submitted TFS printout:
- Cross out the amount to be revised.
- Legibly write or type in the revised amount above or beside the original amount or submit a detailed excel worksheet. • In MAEFAIRS run the ESSA School Code Allocation Report. Access that by Views-> ESSA -> ESSA School Code Allocation. If the fund that you are wanting to change is split by school code, please attach a copy of the adjustments made there as well.
- Requestor must sign and date EACH page.
- Send the request and form for changes to:
Montana Office of Public Instruction Attn: Amanda Zigan PO Box 202501 Helena, MT 59620-2501 or Email: OPISchoolFinance@mt.gov
Requests for changes can be mailed or scanned and emailed. All completed requests must be received by the OPI no later than December 10. (ARM 10.10.504).
Step 2: Email a copy of the corrected TFS to the county superintendent with an explanation of the changes requested.
Step 3: After changes have been completed by the OPI, verify that changes have been made accurately and send confirmation to the OPI.
If you have questions, please contact Alivia Skeslien-Jenkins at (406) 444-1964 or Laci Novark at (406) 444-4401.
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.
FP9 – County Mill setting – Due October 7, 2025
Please have all mill setting (FP9) forms received by the county returned to Andrea Mohammadi at andrea.mohammadi@mt.gov on or before October 7, 2025.
If you have questions, please contact Andrea Mohammadi at (406) 444-1960.
Bus Driver Certificate TR35
All school bus drivers (including 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). Type E buses are 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.
If you have questions, 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.
If you have questions, please contact us by email at CentralUpdates@mt.gov.
OPI Application Access Guides for NEW Clerks and Superintendents
The OPI has information for new:
To assist in getting set up with their new roles, please see the documents located on the School Finance webpage.
If you have questions, 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.
If you have questions, 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.
|
