Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind mismanaged money, audit finds

The only school system tailored to Utah’s thousands of deaf and blind students has mismanaged its funds and failed keep accurate enrollment data, state school board auditors found.

The Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind (USDB ) appears to have been misdirecting funds meant to support specific students, according to the 83-page internal report publicly released Thursday by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE).

That’s largely due to a “lack of competence” in financial management, auditors wrote, which they say led to the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind exceeding its budget last fiscal year.

The report also found that in past years, USDB inflated its enrollment data. That “unreliable” data, auditors wrote, appears to have been cited in at least two studies as the school soug