Current through Bulletin 2024-06, March 15, 2024
(1) A school may be
classified as necessarily existent if the school's ADM does not exceed:
(a) 160 for elementary schools, including
kindergarten at a weighting of .55 per average daily membership;
(b) 300 for one or two-year secondary
schools;
(c) 450 for three-year
secondary schools;
(d) 500 for
four-year secondary schools; or
(e)
600 for six-year secondary schools.
(2) In addition to the requirements of
Subsection (1), oneway bus travel for any student from the assigned school to
the nearest school of the same type within the same district shall require:
(a) students in kindergarten through grade
six to travel more than 45 minutes; or
(b) students in grades seven through twelve
to travel more than one hour and 15 minutes.
(3) Notwithstanding Subsection (2), the
Superintendent may classify a school that meets the criteria of Subsection (1),
as necessarily existent if:
(a) the school is
in a district which has been consolidated to the maximum extent
possible;
(b) there is evidence
acceptable to the Superintendent of increased growth in the school sufficient
to take it out of the small school classification within a period of three
years, provided that:
(i) the Superintendent
may only classify the school as necessarily existent until its ADM surpasses
the size standard for small schools of the same type;
(ii) the Superintendent shall annually
compare the school's ADM to the school's projected ADM to determine increases
or decreases in enrollment; and
(iii) if the assessment for the first or
second year shows the increase in the school's ADM is less than 80 percent of
the projected annual increase, the school shall no longer be classified as
necessarily existent;
(c)
the Superintendent determines that consolidation may result in undesirable
social, cultural, and economic changes in the community, and:
(i) the school has a safe and educationally
adequate school facility with a life expectancy of at least ten years, as
judged, at least every five years, by the Superintendent after consultation
with the district; or
(ii)
(A) the district would incur construction
costs by combining a school seeking necessarily existent small school status
with an existing school and such construction and land costs would exceed the
insurance replacement value of the exiting school by 30 percent;
(B) the existing school has a life expectancy
of at least ten years; but
(C) In
the event that the ADM from the school seeking necessarily existent small
school status under Subsection (3)(c)(ii), when combined with the ADM at the
existing school exceed criteria in Subsection (1), the Superintendent may not
classify the existing school as necessarily existent;
or
(d) the
school does not qualify under Subsections (3)(a) through (c), and removal of
the necessarily existent status would result in capital costs that the school
district cannot meet within three years when utilizing all funds available from
local, state, or federal sources.
(4) The Superintendent may not recognize a
school with less than six grades as a necessarily existent small school if it
is feasible in terms of school plant to consolidate the school into a larger
school, which, if consolidated, would meet the criteria of Subsections (1) and
(2).
(5) If the Superintendent
determines that a secondary complex or attendance area meets the criteria of
necessarily existent when analyzed on a 7-12 grade basis, the Superintendent
shall not invalidate the qualifying status as a result of a reorganization
pattern by a district.
(6)
(a) In accordance with Subsection
53G-6-305(3)(b)(ii),
the Superintendent shall use NESS Program funds to cover out-of-state tuition
reimbursements under Rule R277-421.
(b) The Superintendent shall distribute any
funding balance in the NESS Program in the current year with:
(i) a minimum of 95% of the distribution
based on the number of WPU funds generated for eligible necessarily existent
small schools; and
(ii) the
remaining funds distributed using a formula that considers the tax effort of a
local board of education.
(7)
(a) A
school district shall utilize additional WPU funds allocated for necessarily
existent small schools for programs at the school for which the units were
allocated.
(b) Funds allocated
under this rule shall supplement and not supplant other funds allocated to
schools by the local board of education.
(8) The Superintendent shall classify a
school after consultation with the district and in accordance with applicable
state statutes and Board rules.
(9)
The Superintendent shall allocate funds to schools with isolating conditions
based on legislative appropriations.
(10) The Superintendent shall distribute
small district base funding in accordance with state law.
(11) If a school district receives small
district base funding, the funding is not subject to the restrictions of
Subsection (7).
