SALT LAKE CITY—A bill that would make some changes to a program that has received some push back by traditional schools since it was created by the legislature two years ago passed out of committee Monday, March 2. The Utah Fits All Scholarship (UFA) program provides enrolled K-12 students with money for educational expenses such as tutoring services, curricular materials and private school tuition.

Private school students receive $8,000 a year and home-based students receive $4,000 to $6,000 yearly based on their age. HB467, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, establishes new provisions for the UFA program.

“There’s over 15,000 students who are on this program,” Pierucci told the Senate Education Committee. “That tells you the majority of the funds were spent on tuition. You can see different families and how this program has helped them customize their kids' learning experience and improved that learning experience for them.”

As the legislature continues to fund this program there were some things that became clear, especially as the program manager changed, she said. “Odyssey is a new program manager and has done a great job trying to make sure they are being great stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

Pierucci said last session the legislature put in a lot of guardrails around what the expenses could be in this program. “This clarifies it because there is some confusion whether or not parents would actually need to pre-approve expenses before they purchase anything to show the program manager to make sure that it would qualify as an educational expense.”

As part of that, Pierucci said they’re clarifying private school tuition that parents can pay students’ tuition directly as a private school that isn't listed as a qualified provider then seek monthly tuition reimbursement. But to get that reimbursement, to make sure we’re safeguarding those dollars, they have to provide proof that the school is a registered business entity in Utah.”

“This is one of the programs I get the most questions about,” said Sen. Kathleen Riebee, D-District 15. “Mostly there are people who are frustrated and I’ve had to defend this program saying that we put guardrails around it last year. It still frustrates me that we now have homeschool parents contacting us non stop saying that they feel like they have been left in the dark.”

Riebee asked Pierucci to explain why they are prioritizing private schools with a higher pay. “Does this bill change that at all?”

“Last session the amounts were changed,” said Pierucci. “To your point Sen. Riebee, this is a collaborative process that may not have been my first preference from a policy perspective but I am one of 104 people right? So we needed to find a policy that fit everyone and find a way to get more kids in the programs.”

The amounts are the same as last year, she said. “That is the policy and there were more students that were able to be admitted into the program as a result of that change and then also an increase in funding.”

All the amounts are less than the full amount that is spent per pupil, she said. “The idea of not lowering the private school amount was, if you look at tuition rates, we wanted this program to still be meaningful for low income and middle class families.”

Pierucci said had that amount been dropped it would have just become a voucher for families that actually already could pay for tuition. “We wanted to preserve that choice. So that’s why there was this compromise for the three different tiers.”

“The other question is does this allow a student to participate in extracurricular activities?” said Riebee.

“That was the preexisting language,” said Pierucci. “Right now homeschool students and private school students have that same requirement in place. What this is saying is if a student wants to participate in football, they can use a portion of their scholarship and they need to pay the school for it.”

So it’s not that they’re double dipping, she said. “They have to use a portion of their scholarship to cover the cost of that extracurricular expense. But right now, UFA students are outliers because that same courtesy is extended to private school kids and home school students.”

“The Utah Fits All Scholarship helps make this opportunity possible for us,” said a returning UFA parent, private school grade nine. “As a nontraditional family without significant financial resources, it means everything to have access to a school where (my student) can learn, grow and feel safe. I am deeply grateful for the work you do to empower families to choose the educational setting that fits their children best.”