(1) The Superintendent of Public Instruction will determine and report the quality educator payment for each school district and special education cooperative by March 1 for the ensuing school year.

(2) The number of FTE used to determine the payment for FY 20XX+2 will be based on the full time equivalent (FTE) personnel assignments and associated FTE units reported by the district to the Superintendent of Public Instruction on the annual data collection report submitted in the fall of 20XX.

(3) The FTE used to calculate the payment will not include educators employed under emergency authorization granted by the State Superintendent. The FTE used to calculate the payment will include other licensed educators and licensed professionals, providing the employee holds a position for which the accreditation standards require such licensure and eligible licensed professionals as defined in 20-9-327 , MCA.

(4) Educators without a valid license will not be considered in the FTE for the payment. A license must be current as of December 1 of the school year in which the employee is reported in order to be valid for purposes of the quality educator payment calculation for the following fiscal year.

(5) The Superintendent of Public Instruction will provide an opportunity for district officials to review the FTE information submitted on the annual data collection. Changes to FTE reporting used for the quality educator payment calculation will not be accepted after December 31 except in cases of significant reporting error, as determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(6) Payments will be distributed to school districts by the Superintendent of Public Instruction on the schedule for BASE aid distributions provided in 20-9-344 , MCA.