SALT LAKE CITY — The State School Board may chart a new path for educational services for youths receiving treatment at the Utah State Hospital as the current five-year agreement with Provo City School District is set to expire.
On Friday, the Utah State Board of Education will consider a recommendation to extend the agreement by one year and convene a working group to explore other options and issues such as funding for the contracted services. The annual state appropriation for the contract services, which is $1,153,200, has not been increased since the 1980s, according to state education officials.
No agency has requested an increased appropriation, according to the Office of the Utah Legislative Fiscal Analyst.
The State School Board's Law and Licensing Committee also recommended that the working group visit the Oak Springs School, which is part of the pediatric unit on the state hospital campus and serves up to 72 students a year, said Glenna Gallo, state special education director.
"Of those, probably about half are students with disabilities," she said.
The state funding "is used completely to staff the Oak Springs School, which does not permit any additional funds to be used to purchase curriculum or technology so Provo City School District ... has actually hired those teachers. The staff of Provo School District provides professional development and provides support. We're not sure of the cost of that to the Provo School District," Gallo said.
Given the static state funding for the educational contract, some state board members questioned whether the Provo School District wants to continue as the provider of the services.
Gallo said the school district has indicated a willingness to continue to work with the state board and Oak Springs School regardless of what the board decides.
"How difficult is it to get teachers" given the complexity of the students' needs? asked board member Linda Hansen.
"This is kind of the next level of children with behaviors and things like that. These are very, very, very intensive, challenging kids. I would think it would be difficult to find teachers that are willing to go and stay long term," Hansen said.
Gallo said the "population of teachers who work with this population of students generally stay. These are people who are very dedicated to working with students with these types of needs."
A federal Office of Civil Rights investigation into a complaint filed by a parent of a student hospitalized at the Utah State Hospital in 2015 and 2016 found the school district had "failed to provide the student with a free appropriate public education by not providing the student with qualified teachers."
When a certified teacher took a long-term medical leave, a veteran instructional assistant filled in during the teacher's absence. Although the principal and certified teachers at the school offered formal and informal support to the classroom assistant, he was the sole teacher of the class from December 2015 to March 2016.
The man "is not a fully licensed teacher, does not have special education certification and is not currently enrolled in a special education licensure program.' the findings said.
The document, dated Dec. 16, 2016, notes the certified teacher and the classroom assistant were no longer employed by the school district at the time of the federal investigation.
When asked to comment specifically about the investigation, Provo School District spokesman Caleb Price said the administrators who could best respond to questions would not be available until next week.
With respect to the State School Board's deliberations over the memorandum of understanding with the school district, Price said, "we are interested in working closely with everyone involved to study the issue for the next year to determine the best course of action."
While the unchanged level of funding for educational services is a concern for all parties, Keri Herrmann, clinical director for pediatric services at the Utah State Hospital, said the educational services provided by the school district have "improved and increased" over the two decades she has worked at the hospital.
To be admitted to the hospital and attend Oak Springs School, students must be referred to Utah State Hospital by local mental health authority for treatment of severe mental illnesses.
"To be quite honest, our kids are really sick. They are the sickest kids in the state. They need to be a danger to themselves or others to be admitted. They have just very serious mental health concerns. For a lot of them, school is just a really difficult thing. They haven't been in school. They haven't been attending school. We have found the kids are gaining about two years academically for every one year they are with us so we just feel the school program is so important to what we do," Herrmann said.