H.B. 166 Enrolled

NECESSARILY EXISTENT SMALL SCHOOLS
2000 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Bradley T. Johnson
Judy Ann Buffmire
Fred J. Fife
James R. Gowans
Keele Johnson
Tammy J. Rowan
Lawanna Shurtliff
Matt Throckmorton

AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; MODIFYING THE NECESSARILY
EXISTENT SMALL SCHOOLS FORMULA; PROVIDING A $3,168,000 APPROPRIATION;
MAKING CERTAIN TECHNICAL CHANGES; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
53A-17a-109, as enacted by Chapter 72, Laws of Utah 1991
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 53A-17a-109 is amended to read:
53A-17a-109. Necessarily existent small schools -- Computing additional weighted
pupil units -- Consolidation of small schools.
(1) Upon application by each school district, the State Board of Education shall, in
consultation with local school boards, classify particular schools in each district as necessarily
existent small schools.
(a) Applications must be submitted to the state board [of Education] before April 2, and
the [State] board [of Education] must report a decision to each school district before June 2.
(b) The state board [of Education] shall adopt standards and make rules to:
(i) govern the approval of these schools consistent with principles of efficiency and
economy and which shall serve the purpose of eliminating schools where consolidation is feasible
by participation in special school units[.]; and
(ii) ensure that districts are not building secondary schools in close proximity to one
another where economy and efficiency would be better served by one school meeting the needs of
secondary students in a designated geographical area.
(c) A one or two-year secondary school that has received necessarily existent small school

money under this section prior to July 1, 2000, may continue to receive such money in subsequent
years under state board rule.
(2) The state board [of Education] shall:
(a) prepare and publish objective standards and guidelines for determining which small
schools are necessarily existent after consultation with local school boards[.]; and
[(3)] (b) [The State Board of Education shall] conduct comprehensive school surveys of the
school districts in which small schools are operated for the purpose of improving school programs,
bringing about greater economy and efficiency, and reporting to the Legislature changes needed in
the law pertaining to small schools.
[(4)] (3) The additional units for schools classified as necessarily existent small schools are
computed using regression formulas [written] adopted by the state board [of Education].
(a) The regression formulas establish the following maximum sizes for funding under the
necessarily existent small school program:
(i) Elementary 160
[(ii) Junior high or middle] [400]
(ii) One or two-year secondary 300
(iii) Three-year secondary 450
[(iii)] (iv) Four-year [high] secondary school [450] 500
[(iv)] (v) Six-year [high] secondary school 600
(b) Schools with fewer than ten students shall receive the same add-on weighted pupil units
as schools with ten students.
(c) The state board [of Education] shall prepare and distribute an allocation table based on
the regression formula to each school district.
[(5)] (4) (a) To avoid penalizing a district financially for consolidating its small schools,
additional units may be allowed a district each year, not to exceed two years.
(b) The units may not exceed the difference between what the district receives for a
consolidated school and what it would have received for the small schools had they not been
consolidated.

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(c) A district may use the monies allocated under this subsection for maintenance and
operation of school programs or for other school purposes as approved by the state board [of
Education].
Section 2. Appropriation.
There is appropriated for fiscal year 2000-01, from the Uniform School Fund to the State
Board of Education $3,168,000 to fund the changes in the regression formula for necessarily existent
small schools under Section 1 of this act, including Social Security and retirement costs. It is the
intent of the Legislature that this appropriation shall supplement the appropriation made for
necessarily existent small schools in S.B. 3, Minimum School Program Act Amendments.
Section 3. Effective date.
This act takes effect on July 1, 2000.

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