10.10.614    PAYMENTS INTO AN INVESTMENT ACCOUNT

(1) The school district or a full service education cooperative for special education that receives direct special education allowable cost payments and a quality educator payment for eligible full-time equivalent educators from the Superintendent of Public Instruction under 20-7-457(1), MCA, may apply in writing to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to distribute the district's or cooperative's payments by direct electronic transfer of funds into an investment account as provided by 20-9-235 and 20-9-346(3), MCA.

(2) To qualify for the electronic transfer, the trustees shall submit a written request to the state Superintendent, including a copy of the trustees' written agreement under ARM 10.10.613 for each affected fund and a copy of the direct deposit signup form (OMB standard form 1199A), signed by the district or cooperative and the investment firm, indicating the routing numbers for the electronic deposit into the school investment account.

(3) The state Superintendent of Public Instruction shall approve the request if:

(a) the district or cooperative is currently in compliance with financial accounting and reporting requirements of the state Superintendent of Public Instruction;

(b) other funds of the district or cooperative held by the county treasurer do not have deficit cash balances; and

(c) the district's or cooperative's most recent audit report discloses no serious financial noncompliance issues, repeated or unresolved financial problems, or significant internal control problems.

(4) The state Superintendent of Public Instruction shall process an eligible district's or cooperative's request for direct depositing beginning with the next scheduled payment if the district's or cooperative's completed request is received by the 10th of a month, barring unforeseen delays.

(5) Federal grant payments may only be made to an investment account that does not earn interest or other income.

(6) The state Superintendent of Public Instruction may rescind the approval of a district's or cooperative's request to receive electronic transfers to investment accounts if the criteria of (3) and internal control provisions of ARM 10.10.615 are not met. Upon receipt of written notice, the trustees may request a hearing to be held within 30 days. If, after hearing, the conclusion is that the criteria of (3) are not being met, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction may discontinue transfers to the district's or cooperative's investment account after a waiting period of 60 days.

History: 20-9-102, 20-9-235, MCA; IMP, 20-9-235, MCA; NEW, 2002 MAR p. 1740, Eff. 6/28/02; AMD, 2004 MAR p. 1613, Eff. 7/23/04; AMD, 2006 MAR p. 3070, Eff. 12/22/06; AMD, 2016 MAR p. 880, Eff. 5/21/16.