Montana — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Montana defines expulsion by what it withholds rather than only by its length: "Expulsion is any removal of a pupil for more than 20 school days without the provision of educational services and is a disciplinary action available only to the trustees." Suspension is capped in two stages: "A pupil may be suspended from school for an initial period not to exceed 10 school days. Upon a finding by a school administrator that the immediate return to school by a pupil would be detrimental to the health, welfare, or safety of others or would be disruptive of the educational process, a pupil may be suspended for one additional period not to exceed 10 school days if the pupil is granted an informal hearing with the school administrator prior to the additional suspension and if the decision to impose the additional suspension does not violate the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq." (MCA 20-5-202(1)) The firearm case carries a floor and an express escape from it: a student determined to have brought or possessed a firearm at school "must be expelled from school for a period of not less than 1 year, except that the trustees may authorize the school administration in writing to modify the requirement for expulsion of a student, up to and including eliminating the requirement for expulsion, on a case-by-case basis." (MCA 20-5-202(2)(a))
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- Suspension belongs to a teacher, superintendent, or principal; expulsion belongs to the trustees alone. "As provided in 20-4-302, 20-4-402, and 20-4-403, a pupil may be suspended by a teacher, superintendent, or principal. The trustees of the district shall adopt a policy defining the authority and procedure to be used by a teacher, superintendent, or principal in the suspension of a pupil and in defining the circumstances and procedures by which the trustees may expel a pupil." (MCA 20-5-202(1)) Before an expulsion under the firearm section the trustees must hold a hearing, and the statute states both its contents and its standard: "Before expelling a student under this section, the trustees shall hold a due process hearing that includes presentation of a summary of the information leading to the allegations and an opportunity for the student to respond to the allegations. The student may not be expelled unless the trustees find that the student knowingly, as defined in 1-1-204, brought a firearm to school or possessed a firearm at school." (MCA 20-5-202(6))
No appeal forum beyond the trustees, and no state office, phone number, or email for parents, appears in the sources; those absences are the finding. - Sources last checked
- Aug 30, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Montana publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and hearing rights, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. Montana states two things before a firearm hearing that few other states in this collection state at all. The family must be told the hearing can be opened and that they may bring people: the trustees shall "in a clear and timely manner, notify the student if the student is an adult or notify the parent or guardian of a student if the student is a minor that the student may:" "waive the student's privacy interest by requesting that the hearing be held in public; and" "invite other individuals to attend the hearing." (MCA 20-5-202(5)) And if the allegation does not hold, the record does not keep it: "When a student subject to a hearing is found to have not violated this section, the student's school record must be expunged of the incident." (MCA 20-5-202(7)) Because expulsion is defined as removal beyond twenty days "without the provision of educational services", a district that keeps teaching a removed student is doing something the statute treats differently from expulsion, and the section says so directly: nothing in it prevents a district from "providing educational services in an alternative setting to a student who has been expelled from the student's regular school setting." (MCA 20-5-202(4)(b)) The conduct rules are the trustees' and the school's, and the duty to follow them is stated as the pupil's own: a pupil "shall comply with the policies of the trustees and the rules of the school that the pupil attends;" and is "subject to the control and authority of the teachers, principal, and district superintendent while the pupil is in school or on school premises, on the way to and from school, or during intermission or recess." A pupil who "otherwise violates district policy regarding pupil conduct is subject to punishment, suspension, or expulsion under the provisions of this title." (MCA 20-5-201(1), (2)) The suspension procedure a family will meet is likewise the trustees' to write, by the express terms of 20-5-202(1). Those delegations will anchor the full page's delegation map. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's Montana special education page; the statute conditions the second suspension period on not violating the IDEA and states that "A decision to change the placement of a student with a disability who has been expelled pursuant to this section must be made in accordance with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act." (MCA 20-5-202(2)(b)) Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| MCA 20-5-202 (suspension and expulsion) | archive.legmt.gov | page heads the text "Montana Code Annotated 2025"; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| MCA 20-5-201 (duties and sanctions) | archive.legmt.gov | page heads the text "Montana Code Annotated 2025"; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| MCA 20-4-302, 20-4-402 and 20-4-403 (the suspension authorities 20-5-202 runs through) | cited in MCA 20-5-202(1) | capture pending |
| MCA 1-1-204 (the definition of "knowingly" the firearm finding uses) | cited in MCA 20-5-202(6) | capture pending |
| Office of Public Instruction guidance on student discipline, and the firearm data it must publish under MCA 20-5-202(8) | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District policies on suspension authority and procedure, and on expulsion | each board of trustees, per MCA 20-5-202(1) | never captured; the full page's delegation map will point at them |
Change log
Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/montana-discipline.json: MCA 20-5-202 and 20-5-201 from the Legislature. Findings recorded: (1) Montana defines expulsion partly by the withholding of schooling — removal beyond 20 school days "without the provision of educational services" — so a long removal paired with alternative instruction is not expulsion under the section, and the section says expressly that nothing in it prevents a district from providing those services; (2) suspension is capped at an initial 10 school days and one further period of up to 10, the second available only on a stated administrator finding and only after an informal hearing, and only if it would not violate the IDEA; (3) expulsion is reserved to the trustees alone; (4) before a firearm expulsion the trustees must hold a due process hearing with a summary of the information and an opportunity to respond, and may not expel unless they find the student acted knowingly as the Code defines that term; (5) the trustees must tell the family, clearly and timely, that the student may waive the privacy interest and ask for a public hearing and may invite others to attend — a notice about the shape of the hearing itself that few states state; (6) where the allegation is not sustained, the school record must be expunged of the incident; (7) the firearm expulsion floor of one year is expressly modifiable in writing, up to and including eliminating the requirement, case by case; (8) the suspension authority and procedure, and the circumstances and procedures for expulsion, are assigned to the trustees by policy — delegations, not absences, and the entries that will anchor the full page's delegation map; (9) no appeal forum beyond the trustees and no state office or parent contact appear in the sources. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the district delegation map, and records access. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-30. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.