The State School Board approved a plan Friday to spend $1.4 million from a vetoed special education voucher bill on helping children at the Carmen B. Pingree School for Children with Autism.
At the same time, the board urged lawmakers to consider helping school districts defray costs of services for students with severe disabilitites, State Office of Education spokesman Mark Peterson reported.
The 8-2 vote marks the final nod on the work of a task force Gov. Olene Walker requested as her compromise on HB115, the so-called "Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarships" bill.
Walker vetoed the bill, which sought to give approximately $5,400 government vouchers to parents of children with severe disabilities to help pay the costs of their education. But Walker preserved the $1.4 million in the budget and charged the state board with disbursing it.
The task force basically decided to offer that money to young children with autism attending the Pingree school, named after the wife of state school board member John Pingree. The study panel said the money was too limited to carry out a statewide program for all special education students who wanted to participate.
But some school board members and the Utah PTA didn't like the idea, which they said essentially leaves out rural students.
Walker has said she will call a special session of the Legislature to get their blessing on the plan.