The Utah Fits All Scholarship program, created by state lawmakers in 2023, is undergoing some changes this year based on feedback and audits. The program offers scholarships for private school and home-based education, with 10,000 scholarship recipients this year and 17,000 on the waitlist.
Key changes proposed in HB455, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci, include:
- Strengthened residency and income standards for scholarship recipients.
- Tighter regulations on how the program is administered.
- A shift in oversight from a third-party manager to the department of financial information.
- Adjustments to the scholarship amounts for homeschool families, with elementary students receiving $4,000 and middle and high school students getting $6,000 annually.
- Restrictions on how the scholarship funds can be spent, such as limiting the use for extracurricular activities and physical education, while fine arts and music classes are considered core education.
The bill also prioritizes lower-income families in the application process, offering them higher priority in receiving scholarships. This bill passed unanimously through the House and is now moving to the Senate.
Another bill, HB192, focuses on clarifying what scholarship money cannot be spent on, including sports, recreational activities, or athletic programs, as well as expenses already covered by local education agencies or other public programs.
These changes aim to ensure responsible use of taxpayer money while providing school choice options for parents.