BOZEMAN — At Monday’s Bozeman School Board meeting, the Board of Trustees approved the 93 applications for nonresident enrollment into the district.
“All 93 students that were approved last evening, we have until August 15 to get them formally placed,” says Bozeman Schools Superintendent Casey Bertram.
Last year, the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 203, which opens nonresident enrollment across Montana’s public schools.
BSD7 received dozens of applications to enroll within the district. Most of them are from Belgrade or nonresident families already attending the district and paying tuition.
“Forty of them are new to the district. So the majority of those applications were students that are already attending our schools,” says Bertram.
All applicants were accepted. Thrity-five kindergarten through 5th-graders, 25 middle-schoolers, and 33 high-schoolers.
These students will fill available spots in Bozeman schools. However, all high school students will attend Bozeman High because Gallatin High is already at capacity with roughly 1,500 students.
“We basically fill our classrooms, K-8 to accreditation standards,” says Bertram, “so we'll fit these students in where they fit. And if that results that we need an extra second-grade teacher in the district or an extra first-grade teacher, we’ll go through that process.”
But who pays taxes for these new students?
“If a student comes to Bozeman Public Schools via open enrollment, the local taxpayer contribution to that per-pupil funding number would be paid by Belgrade residents to Bozeman residents. So it's sort of like taxpayer-to-taxpayer relief, or payment that doesn't go to the school district,” says Bertram.
The district is currently working through what schools to place the K-8 students in and has until Aug. 15 to do so.
