The Utah Fits All Scholarship is nearing the completion of its first year, and while the program has served over 10,000 students, some areas have required additional clarification. House Bill 455, sponsored by Representative Candice Pierucci, addresses these concerns and strengthens the program’s long-term effectiveness.
While Libertas institute supports the bill, we are concerned by the creation of funding tiers and what it will do to innovation in education.
USBE Oversight, Not Control
There has been some confusion regarding this bill and the role of the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) in the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program. While the bill grants USBE oversight and compliance authority, its role is strictly to ensure accountability and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse—not to manage daily program operations.
USBE will not be involved in the day-to-day administration of the program, except during transition periods when a new program manager is needed. The current program manager, ACE Scholarships, is expected to continue overseeing daily operations for the foreseeable future. As a result, families using the program should not experience disruptions as they move into the next school year.
We support financial audits and transparency to maintain program integrity while ensuring the independence of the scholarship program remains intact.
Rollover Funds
One of the most significant improvements in this bill is the establishment of a rollover provision for unspent funds. This ensures that families can save unused scholarship dollars for future educational expenses, recognizing that the cost of educating an elementary-age child is often lower than that of a middle or high school student. This policy encourages responsible financial planning and allows families to make long-term educational investments for their children.
In future legislation, we hope that the legislature will allow these saved funds to be used post K12 learning. Providing parents an ability to use these funds on things like gap year programs, career exploration programs, and similar expenses will allow families to continue making choices that are outside of the conveyor belt system.
Expanding Educational Access & Opportunities
Another critical component of the bill is the protection of student access to public school extracurricular activities. School districts will be required to provide equal opportunities for scholarship recipients to try out for sports teams, choirs, bands, and other extracurricular activities—just as they do for students in charter and private schools. This ensures that students using the scholarship are not excluded from valuable enrichment experiences.
Ensuring Fiscal Responsibility
Finally, HB 455 adds important safeguards to prevent misuse of funds at the end of each school year. By clarifying fund management procedures, the bill enhances program integrity and ensures that taxpayer dollars are used effectively to support students’ education.
Limits on Spending
This bill puts limits on extracurricular spending and physical education experiences. We do not support these limits. We encourage any rules surrounding these expenses to be as flexible as possible allowing innovation in education to continue to occur.
A Disappointing Change
The Utah Legislature’s new tiered funding system for the Utah Fits All Scholarship creates an uneven playing field for students in flexible education models. Private school students will continue to receive $8,000 per year, while home-educated students will get only $4,000 for K-6 and $6,000 for grades 7-12.
This system bases funding on school structure rather than student needs. Full-time microschool students qualify as private school students and receive full funding, but many microschools operate part-time, classifying their students as home-educated and reducing their funding. This discourages educational innovation and makes flexible learning options less accessible for families.
Libertas opposes this change and will continue advocating for a system that treats all students fairly, regardless of where or how they learn.
Addressing Unmet Demand
The first year of the Utah Fits All Scholarship demonstrated overwhelming demand, with thousands of students applying for the program but unable to receive funding due to limited resources. As the scholarship continues to serve Utah families, we hope that the Utah Legislature will consider increasing funding to meet the needs of more students who would benefit from access to an educational environment that best supports their success.
Education Policy Analyst
Jon is the Education Policy Analyst at Libertas Institute. He previously taught fifth and sixth grade and served as an elementary principal in Weber School District for 14 years.