Overview for Private Schools

>Return to Overview for Parents

Signed into law on March 10, 2005, the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship provides a state-funded scholarship of up to $6,285 for students with disabilities. Parents may use the scholarship to pay for tuition at any eligible private school.

The following is an overview of the program.  For more details, please visit the state government's official website for the Carson Smith Program.

Eligibility Requirements for

Private Schools

Basic Requirements:

• Have a physical location in Utah where scholarship students attend classes and have direct contact with the school’s teachers.
• Comply with the antidiscrimination provisions of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000d. (Click here for more info)
• Meet state and local health and safety laws and codes.  (Click here for more info)
• Employ or contract with teachers who hold baccalaureate or higher degrees OR have at least three years of teaching experience in public or private schools OR have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in the subjects taught.

Disclosure Requirements:

• Disclose to the parents of each prospective student, before the student is enrolled, the special education services that will be provided to the student, including the cost of those services.  Your school doesn’t need to provide special education services in order to participate in the scholarship, as long as you disclose to parents that your school does not offer special education services.

Financial Requirements:

• Obtain an audit and report from a licensed independent CPA, or contract with a licensed independent CPA to perform an agreed-upon procedure as described in statute.  The school may choose between the audit and the agreed-upon procedure.  (Click here for more info)

**Note:  Private schools will only need to complete this financia requirement the first year they submit an application.

Testing Requirements:

• Administer an annual assessment of each scholarship student’s academic progress, and make the results available to the parents and the assessment team.  The law does not dictate which type of assessment you must administer.

The following schools are NOT eligible to participate in the voucher program:

• Home schools
• A residential treatment facilities licensed by the state

Classification as a "School That Has Previously Served Students with Disabilities":

Current private school students and other students without an IEP are only able to obtain a Carson Smith Scholarship if they attend a school that has been classified as a school that has previously served students with disabilities.  In order to obtain this classification, you will need to verify that you have enrolled students with one or more disabilities within the last three years.  If you have not served students with disabilities in the past three years, your school may still be eligible to enroll students with current IEPs.  See the Special Needs Scholarship Program Description for more details. (link here to the program description) 

Assessment Team Meetings:

Students without a current IEP who apply for the scholarship must have an assessment team determine whether they are eligible for the scholarship.  The assessment team is comprised of the student’s parent/guardian, private school teacher, special education personnel from the school district where the private school is located, and (where available) special education personnel from the private school.  Your school does not need to have special education personnel in order to accept students interested in using the scholarship.

The district personnel may perform some testing on the student, and then the meeting will take place to determine whether the child is eligible for the scholarship.  This assessment team meeting takes place after the student’s application has been submitted, when the Utah State Office of Education informs you that an assessment team meeting must be scheduled.  The private school is responsible for arranging these assessment team meetings.  See the Special Needs Scholarship Program Description for more details.

For more info on Assessment Team Meetings, click here.

Important Deadlines

Applications MUST BE RECEIVED by the Utah State Office of Education no later than May 1st, 2007.

Health and Safety Codes:

The school must meet state and local health and safety laws and codes, including compliance with R392-200:  Design, Construction, Operation, Sanitation, and Safety of Schools, and has adopted emergency preparedness response plans that include training for school personnel and parent notification for fire drills, natural disasters, and school safety emergencies.

The Utah Department of Health has established rules for the design, construction, operation, sanitation, and safety of schools.  These rules apply to all schools, public and private.  Inspections of schools are required every six months under this rule.  A copy of the school’s most recent inspection report must accompany this application.  Schools should contact their local city or county health department to discuss compliance with this provision.

If your school stores, prepares, or serves meals to students, a copy of a current and satisfactory Safety and Sanitation Report from the Department of Health must be included with the application.

A copy of the most recent State Fire Marshall Inspection Report must be included with the application.  To set up a State Fire Marshall Inspection, call (801) 284-6350.  ection, call (801) 284-6350. 

Anti-Discrimination Provisions:

Private schools in Utah are already supposed to comply with the antidiscrimination provisions found in 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000d: “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Audit or Agreed Upon Procedure:

A school must obtain an audit and report from a licensed independent certified public accountant, or must contract with a licensed independent certified public accountant, to perform an agreed-upon procedure as described in statute. An applicant school may choose between an audit or the agreed-upon procedure.

If the school chooses to submit an audit and report, the audit and report must be obtained from a licensed independent certified public accountant. The audit must have been performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, the financial statements must have been presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards, and the audited financial statement must be for a period within the last twelve months.

If the school chooses to submit a report of the agreed-upon procedure, the school must contract with a licensed independent certified public accountant to perform the agreed-upon procedure. The agreed upon procedure is to determine that “the school has adequate working capital to maintain operations for the first full year”. The law states that working capital shall be calculated by subtracting current liabilities from current assets. The law does not define what amount is “adequate”. To fulfill this requirement the report of the agreed-upon procedure must state whether or not the school has adequate working capital to maintain operations for the first full year. If the report does not include that statement, then it is inadequate.

The audit report or the report of the agreed-upon procedure must be submitted with the application. A school cannot be eligible to enroll scholarship students if the audit report contains a going concern explanatory paragraph, or the report of the agreed-upon procedure shows that the private school does not have adequate working capital to maintain operations for the first full year.

Contact Information for Help
If you have any questions, please contact:

Laura Anderson

Parents for Choice in

Education Foundation

Email: laura@choiceineducation.org

124 South 400 East, Ste. 230
Salt Lake City, UT 84107

(801) 637-4111 - mobile
(801) 532-1448 - main office

(801) 433-1443 - fax