Reaction to autism plan mixed

The task force that has been toiling for a month on how to spend a would-be $1.4 million — upon legislative approval of Gov. Olene Walker's veto compromise plan — put the finishing touches Monday on what members feel is a deal that will best serve families with special-needs students in Utah.

"I think the task force came out with a really strong recommendation that will benefit students with disabilities, and I am pleased with the outcome," said interim State Superintendent Patrick Ogden, task force chairman.

But the recommendations were a bit too specific for some task force members.

Only autistic students will be eligible.

The schools eligible for the funds must be research-based, designed to serve autistic populations and demonstrate previous success. Additionally, only nonprofit schools will be eligible. That narrows the field down exclusively to the Carmen B. Pingree School for Children with Autism — which charges $21,000 in yearly tuition.

John Pingree, state board and task force member, said in including for-profit institutions not all the money would go to the students — some of it would go into administrative costs.

"This is just a cleaner way to go about it," said Pingree.

Not all task force members were comfortable with targeting such a specific group of disabled students.

"We have an opportunity with a limited number of funds to do the best job that we can," said state board and task force member Laurel Brown. "Our mandate from the governor is to serve the educational needs of children who are severely handicapped — it didn't say just the children at the Pingree school."

If they are not going to fund it for as many students as they can, Brown wondered, why should they go to the trouble of making all of the criteria when we know it is all going to one school anyway?

But others felt making the target group so specific would enable the funds to do the best for the most.

"We can't swallow the whole elephant," said task force member Stan Beagley. "If we water it down so much that we do a little tiny bit of something for every child it won't do as much good."

Under the recommendations of the committee, around 280 students will be served out of a potential of 600 kids who have specified needs statewide.

Additionally, only those with severe needs requiring three hours or more of special education per day will be eligible. Priority will be given to ages 3-9 as early intervention is key.

Also students must be eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and must reside in Utah.

The committee recommended that those eligible will receive two weighted pupil units (WPUs) which translated to being around $5,000 per year.