The Salt Lake City Board of Education approved the school Tuesday night after several months of discussion.

The Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SLSPA) will be built on the Highland High School campus. It will provide everything from dance to theater classes, but students will take their core academic classes, such as math and science, at Highland. And Highland students will be allowed to take elective classes at SLSPA.

As an independent district charter school, it must teach state core curriculum and students are required to take standardized tests. But the school's emphasis on certain subjects can vary from regular public schools. And the school is eligible for federal charter funding as well as per-pupil money from the state.

Many board members say a school with an emphasis on performing arts will be widely popular in Salt Lake City.

“There is a desperate need for other models of high school education,” said board member Heather Bennett. “It's a risk worth taking.”

But there are still some hurdles before the district.

The $3.5 million school building may not be finished by this fall as hoped. If that happens, the charter school will operate in Highland until the permanent facility is built.

Students from any district will be eligible to attend the school. Organizers expect the school to attract 400 students within the first three years.

And in coming meetings, the board will decide how they will pay for the building.

One option board members are heavily considering is to form a building authority that would oversee the construction and financing of the school. The charter school would then lease the building from the district.

Cliff Higbee, a board member, voiced concerns over the financial liability to the district if the school is not successful.

“If over time the school for the performing arts does not succeed and is not here for 15 years, we then have a building that we would probably not have built,” he said.

enardi@sltrib.com