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Immunization tiff could sting
Districts dispute
state's figures, fight to keep funds
By Jennifer
Toomer-Cook
Deseret News staff
writer
A dozen Utah school
districts could lose more than a half million dollars because some of their
students weren't immunized last school year.
But some of those school districts are contesting the
state's numbers of unimmunized students. Some say they'll lose just a
fraction of state estimates, and some say everything has been cleared up.
Box Elder, Garfield, Granite, Juab, Logan, Murray, Nebo,
Ogden, Provo, Salt Lake, Tintic and Tooele school districts combined lose
$531,500 in state weighted pupil unit funding — the state's basic education
funding — because 271 students couldn't prove they had been immunized or
legally exempted from immunizations under state law, State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Steve Laing said Friday.
Salt Lake, Granite, and Box Elder districts account for
the lion's share of the projected loss, with $175,628, $135,201 and $131,
427, respectively. The others are relatively paltry sums, ranging from Nebo's
$1,516 — not even one full student's worth of WPU money — to $19,044, or nine
students' worth, in Murray and Tintic.
State law says school districts won't receive WPU money
unless they prove students are up to date on immunizations or have been
exempted under certain conditions, including medical or religious concerns.
State Associate Superintendent Pat Ogden couldn't recall
withholding WPU funds because of immunizations in the past. But this year, he
said, school nurses reported who received shots to the Utah Department of
Health instead of to school districts, which may bring more accurate
reporting.
Some school districts, however, dispute that
explanation.
Salt Lake, for instance, has found more than half of the
83 reportedly unimmunized students actually were "not entered into the
computer correctly," spokesman Jason Olsen said. Instead, the district
has found 33 students were not in compliance, bringing its lost funding to
about $70,000.
Granite District also was finding reporting errors,
spokeswoman Michele Bartmess said.
Box Elder Superintendent Martell Menlove said some of
the 62 students the state says were not immunized actually may have received
the shots, but proof was not provided. He also believes a couple of schools
allowed students who didn't receive their shots to attend school.
"I hope (the state will) allow us to go back and at
least look at those records and make sure," Menlove said.
Ogden said his office will examine the district's
reporting examinations before taking action on the WPU money. "We've not
withheld it yet."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com
  
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