A cap in extracurriculars and no more skiing under new Utah Fits All proposal

About 80% of Utah Fits All scholarship recipients are homeschoolers and the remaining 20% use the funds for private school, according to Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman. Photo: Photo by Imgorthand//UND

The ‘school choice’ voucher program may also see an increase in funding

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Fits All Scholarship program may tighten its requirements and guidelines on how Utah families can use their educational voucher dollars during the 2025 legislative session. But, with those new restrictions may also come more funding.

The program, created in 2023, has now been effective for a year, giving lawmakers an idea of what tweaks need to be made to make it sustainable. This year, Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman is sponsoring HB455, a bill strengthening the requirements for the program and establishing limits for extracurricular and physical education expenses.

To the dismay of some of the parents whose kids benefit from the program, if HB455 passes, the scholarship won’t cover ski passes or lift tickets, or chaperone expenses for field trips.

The House Education Committee voted unanimously to move the bill to the House Floor for its consideration.

“This bill really works to create guardrails around expenses and program management, clears up confusion on the policy and implementation and management, and really works to create stability and structure to the program for success moving forward,” Pierucci told the committee.

About 80% of scholarship recipients are homeschoolers and the remaining 20% use the funds for private school, putting Utah in a unique position compared to other “school choice” programs across the country, she said.

While families of all incomes can apply to Utah Fits All, there are income preferences in place, and HB455 makes clear the state will take into consideration the household’s income, not just an individual. The proposal also allows the state to verify that recipients’ primary addresses are in Utah and puts specific requirements for program managers.

But what caused the most concern among the program’s advocates who spoke in the public comment period was the new expense limit — physical education and extracurriculars each cannot exceed 20% of the full $8,000 scholarships.

Ray Ward, a parent of two Utah Fits All recipients, said that homeschooling restored her kids’ confidence after experiencing a tough time in the public school system. While she supports the bill’s enhanced guardrails, she urged lawmakers to reconsider the caps on extracurriculars.

“Public school students have unrestricted access to elective sports and clubs, only limited by their schedules. Homeschoolers deserve the same flexibility,” she said. “The less I spend on a subject, the more labor I take on as the primary teacher. A lower cost does not mean less emphasis. It means more of my time.”

Jennifer McClellan, who has three children in the program, said the bill would have an impact on parents’ curriculum choices.

“As a homeschool parent, we have the right to choose our curriculum for our child. So defining what is extracurricular seems like something that just can’t really be done. How can the state define what we feel is curricular for our children?” she said.

Arts, music and languages are part of core standards, Pierucci said, so these wouldn’t be considered extracurricular activities. She also reminded the committee that the cap is a compromise, since there has been a lot of pushback to eliminate extracurriculars altogether.

The Utah Fits All program has been controversial among the education community. It has even been challenged in court by the Utah Education Association, the state’s large teacher union, arguing that the program takes much-needed funds away from public schools.

“When I initially ran this bill, I feel like I made a commitment to make sure that we were good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Pierucci said. “And I think that this bill moves us in the right direction of allowing innovation, education and customization, while also being responsible for the funding structure.”

More funds

While there are some similar state-funded scholarships, Utah is a bit unique because most recipients are homeschooled, Cullimore told reporters on Monday.

“I think there’s just been some confusion for the program manager on what’s appropriate. So the cleanup bill just establishes better parameters for that, and says what extracurricular things can be done,” he said.

When looking at the expense data, Cullimore said, close to 80% of the funds for homeschoolers were used to cover curriculum costs. About 10% went to educational supplies and “far less than 10%” was for extracurricular activities.

Cullimore made an ongoing appropriation request of $80 million, which would provide scholarships to 10,000 more students. That’s on top of the $82.5 million in annual taxpayer funding.

“We have 27,000 applicants, so another $80 million doesn’t even fund the full waiting list. But like I said, it’s a tight budget year. We put the request out there. It’s likely to come down, maybe substantially come down,” Cullimore said.

But that’s still part of the budget negotiations, he said.

When asked whether Pierucci’s bill acknowledges a lack of accountability on the scholarships expenses, Cullimore stood in defense of the program, arguing that every expense has been registered.

“When we hear about the accountability argument, most of the time they’re talking about educational accountability, which, we can talk about the philosophical differences there and trusting parents and families to know what’s best for their kids’ education,” Cullimore said. “But as far as the finances, that’s pretty transparent.”

Senate Minority Whip Karen Kwan, D-West Valley City, said that every time the state takes money out of public education, it hurts schools, families and teachers.

“To put an additional $80 million will further exacerbate some of the issues that were happening in our local schools,” Kwan said.