Board tables Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind contract after auditor‑general concerns; administration to return with updated fee information

The Osborne School District Governing Board voted to table a proposed contract with the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) after members raised concerns about fees and recent Auditor General findings.

A board member flagged the contract during the consent‑agenda review, citing a publicly available Auditor General report stating ASDB had increased charges to districts and significantly grown its fund balance in recent years. The board member said she feared the proposed five‑year agreement could lock the district into “higher fees” and asked for more information before approval.

Director of Student Services Sarah Boyle told the board she had contacted ASDB staff that day. Boyle said the district currently has six students receiving ASDB itinerant services (up from five last year) and described how reimbursements work: when a student’s primary eligibility is hearing or vision, Osborne’s average daily membership (ADM) shifts to ASDB and the district invoices ASDB for services; when the student’s primary eligibility is not hearing/vision, the district keeps ADM and ASDB charges for services. Boyle said ASDB’s staff told her a new communication and fee schedule would be released next week and said the amount returned to districts would increase under the new schedule.

Boyle provided example figures verbally at the meeting: under the older reimbursement practice the district received roughly $7,383 for certain invoiced services last year; under the new preliminary schedule ASDB staff said the district would have received closer to $37,000. Boyle also said she was told the Auditor General’s published fund‑balance numbers for ASDB were overstated in the earlier report and that final figures were closer to $9–10 million rather than $13 million; she noted these statements were verbal and that the board should expect written confirmation.

Board members agreed there was time to wait: the contract does not expire until November and ASDB has its own governing‑board timeline. Trustees voted to table the ASDB contract so that the board can review the updated fee schedule and any written clarifications from ASDB before approving a multi‑year agreement. The board asked administration to return the item to the September consent agenda with the ASDB letter and updated numbers so trustees can decide with complete documentation.

No changes to student services were reported at the meeting; administrators said they would work to avoid any lapse in services while the board reviews the updated contract information.