Utah’s school voucher program is set for a major overhaul next school year, with a proposed $40 million funding boost, stricter spending rules planned and a potential change that would award homeschooled students less money than those attending private schools.
Right now, the “Utah Fits All” program provides eligible students with an $8,000 taxpayer-backed scholarship, regardless of whether they are homeschooled or attend private school. The main rule: Once awarded, in order to receive the voucher money, students cannot be enrolled in public school full-time.
The scholarship can currently be spent on a range of “educational expenses,” including private school tuition, tutoring, homeschooling expenses and even entirely on extracurricular activities, such as violin or swim lessons.
But HB455, for instance, would introduce new limits on spending for certain extracurriculars — and could introduce varying scholarship amounts, depending on a student’s age and whether they are homeschooled.
As of Monday, that bill had already passed the House before seeing Senate approval on Feb. 28 — with amendments, which means it needs another House vote before heading to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.
Less money for homeschooled students
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, leads a House Education Committee meeting at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.
Currently, 80% of the state’s roughly 10,000 voucher recipients are “home-based learners,” or homeschooled, Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, HB455’s sponsor, said late last month.
The other 20% largely use their scholarship on private school tuition, she said.
But if the bill passes, there would no longer be a flat $8,000 scholarship amount for all students.
Instead, homeschoolers ages 5-11 would receive a $4,000 scholarship, while those aged 12-18 would qualify for $6,000. Students attending private schools would still receive the full $8,000.
This marks a massive shift from an earlier version of HB455, which kept the scholarship amount at $8,000 for all recipients.
Nina Wolf, who chairs the board of the Utah Home Education Association, said that while some homeschooling families may be disappointed by the prospect of reduced scholarships, it would allow more students to participate.
“They’re making an effort to expand this scholarship’s availability to more families,” Wolf said of the bill’s sponsors, both Pierucci and Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy. “And one way to do that without making the funding prohibitive is simply to lower the amount slightly. … It gets spread a little wider that way.”
Spending limits on extracurriculars — and new prohibitions
Right now, there are no limits on how much voucher money can be used on specific extracurricular and physical education activities, like swim lessons or ski passes, so long as they are considered approved expenses.
HB455 would instead cap extracurricular and physical education expenses at 20% each — or 40% — of the total scholarship amount.
For a $4,000 scholarship, for instance, that would allow a maximum of $1,600 to be spent on both categories combined. For an $8,000 scholarship, a max of $3,200 could be spent.
How are those categories defined? An “extracurricular” expense, according to the Utah Fits All website, includes “fees for sports teams,” for instance, and generally refers to “costs associated with activities outside the regular academic curriculum.” The website doesn’t define “physical education” expenses, but it lists rock-climbing gyms and golf club centers, for example, as approved costs under that category.
Pierucci clarified last month that curriculum-based extracurriculars like art, music, and foreign languages wouldn’t count toward the proposed cap, so long as they align with Utah Core Standards. The bill, however, would prohibit using vouchers to buy a musical instrument, though renting one would be OK.
The measure would also introduce new prohibitions. Right now, there are few prohibitions when it comes to how vouchers can be spent.
Under HB455, the new prohibitions would include:
Season tickets or subscriptions to entertainment venues.
Ski passes or lift tickets (which are currently approved expenses).
Access to recreational facilities, unless it’s for a student’s physical education.
Playground equipment.
Furniture.
Clothing.
Food or nutritional items.
General office supplies that are “not specific to an educational activity.”
If HB455 passes, it would take effect May 7, according to the bill. That means any new scholarship amounts or spending restrictions would be in place after the application window closes on April 30 — but before awards are announced.
Wolf said she didn’t find the proposed spending caps or prohibitions “unreasonable.”
“Parameters need to be in place to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent appropriately,” Wolf said. “It’s a juggling act, like any piece of legislation.”
More state funding expected for vouchers
(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
The Utah Fits All scholarship program is only in its first year, and while lawmakers have acknowledged its early challenges, they are proposing a $40 million increase in state funding as of March 3.
If approved by the governor, this would raise the program’s total pot to about $120 million, enabling at least 5,000 more students to participate in the 2025-26 school year.
That’s based on the original $8,000 award amounts. Under the proposed changes, which could introduce varying scholarship amounts, even more students could receive vouchers.
The Republican-led voucher program was approved in just 10 days during the 2023 legislative session. It became the largest school voucher program in state history, with an initial allocation of $42.5 million. But that allocation was nearly doubled last year to $82 million before the first application period launched in a move that lawmakers said was meant to accommodate additional interest.
That updated total was enough to provide roughly 10,000 Utah students with an $8,000 Utah Fits All scholarship for the 2024-25 school year.
Lawmakers say the waitlist for the program remains long, with about 17,000 families in line.
Previous voucher recipients will now be given preference
Though all K-12 students in Utah who don’t intend to attend public school are eligible for vouchers, state law requires that preference to be given to low-income families.
Applications are prioritized in the following order:
Students who participated in Utah Fits All the previous school year (which wasn’t applicable in the program’s first year).
Students with a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, amounting to about $60,000 for a family of four.
Siblings of students who participated in the program the previous school year (which wasn’t applicable in the program’s first year).
Students with a family income between 200% and 555% of the federal poverty level, amounting to a range of about $60,000 to $166,500 for a family of four.
All other applicants.
No changes have been proposed to those outlined priorities, but next school year will mark the first that prior recipients, along with their siblings, will be given preference.
