Board amends administrative rule to let USDB charge outreach fees as work group studies funding

The board voted to approve administrative rule R277-801, which governs services for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired and deafblind, and amended the rule to remove language that capped when the Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB) could charge local education agencies for outreach services.

The change clears a regulatory limit that had said USDB "shall provide all funded outreach services at no cost for qualifying students within the LEA with less than 3%," and instead allows USDB to enter contracts and charge fees for LEAs that fall below that threshold. Vice Chair Wood, who moved the measure, described the amendment as “taking out that 3% so that we don't have that kind of guardrail in place as we move forward on this discussion.”

Board members said the amendment does not itself set a new payment policy. It simply permits contracts or fees while a newly formed work group studies sustainable funding models. "This rule does not dictate anything," Vice Chair Wood said. "We haven't set up any process of who's paying, what's paying, how are they paying. It's simply saying taking out that 3% so that we don't have that kind of…