School board tackles voucher eligibility

The state school board, under fire from lawmakers and threats of a lawsuit, attempted Tuesday to be more inclusive in doling out Utah's premiere private school vouchers for students with disabilities.

The board also gave parents one more week to apply to receive a Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship for the coming school year.

But a group advocating for the scholarships says the new board rules on handing out the vouchers smacks of private school regulation.

"In the coming days, we will decide whether to challenge the board's rule in court," Royce Van Tassell, executive director of Education Excellence Utah, said in a prepared statement.

The scholarships, named after a boy attending the $23,000-a-year Carmen B. Pingree School for Children With Autism, were created in March to help parents choose the best education for children with disabilities. They got $2.4 million for the coming school year; parents can receive up to about $5,700 per child.

The State Board of Education created an emergency rule last month on how the program would work. But the effort was confronted with threats of legal challenges and lawmakers' questions on whether it met their intent.

At issue is eligibility.

Students currently in private schools face stiffer eligibility requirements. The law states those students must attend or be accepted into a school that "specializes in serving students with disabilities."

But the law didn't define those specialty schools, so the state school board did: Eighty percent of those schools' students must be disabled, or the schools must be accredited as special purpose schools serving students with disabilities.

Thursday, the board expanded the rule to encompass schools that have Utah-licensed teachers with a special education emphasis, and that they and contracting service providers comply with state special education rules, which include caseload limits, for example.

"I think what we've got here . . . is a good balance in terms of making sure we broaden it enough so more schools can participate in this program, and yet restrictive enough that it follows the statute and gives some assurances taxpayer money is used wisely," board member Laurel Brown said.

But the rule still doesn't set well with Education Excellence Utah.

Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan and sponsor of the scholarships bill, laments the rule sets different eligibility standards for public and private school students.