53F-2-308.  Preschool special education appropriation — Extended year program appropriation — Appropriation for special education programs in state institutions — Appropriations for stipends for special educators.

(1) 

Terms Used In Utah Code 53F-2-308

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(a)  Money appropriated to the state board for the preschool special education program shall be allocated to school districts to provide a free, appropriate public education to preschool students with a disability, ages three through five.

(b)  The money shall be distributed on the basis of the school district’s count of preschool children with a disability for December 1 of the previous year, as mandated by federal law.

(2)  Money appropriated for the extended school year program for children with a severe disability shall be limited to students with severe disabilities with education program goals identifying significant regression and recoupment disability as approved by the state board.

(3) 

(a)  Money appropriated for self-contained regular special education programs may not be used to supplement other school programs.

(b)  Money in any of the other restricted line item appropriations may not be reduced more than 2% to be used for purposes other than those specified by the appropriation, unless otherwise provided by law.

(4) 

(a)  The state board shall compute preschool funding by a factor of 1.47 times the current December 1 child count of eligible preschool aged three, four, and five-year-olds times the WPU value, limited to 8% growth over the prior year December 1 count.

(b)  The state board shall develop guidelines to implement the funding formula for preschool special education, and establish prevalence limits for distribution of the money.

(5)  Of the money appropriated for Special Education – State Programming, the state board shall distribute the revenue generated from 909 WPUs to school districts, charter schools, and the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind for stipends to special educators for additional days of work pursuant to the requirements of Section 53F-2-310.

Amended by Chapter 186, 2019 General Session