Parents understand best how each child is unique with different learning needs. You see, when you’re educating a child, one-size doesn’t fit all. But what if one-size didn’t have to fit all? What if every child could access the school, or customized education, that worked best for them? 

Now they can! Utah Fits All is a universal school choice program signed into law during the 2023 legislative session! Families can use it to customize each child’s learning with a scholarship that travels to the education options of their choosing.  

All K-12 students who are residents of Utah qualify to receive the full amount whether they currently attend public, private, homeschool, or are just starting kindergarten. Scholarships will be available for use beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

It’s for every child, in every zip-code, from every financial background, with every learning style.

Every child in Utah will be able find their fit in education!

Here’s the law if you want to read it!

H.B. 215 Funding for Teacher Salaries + Optional Education Opportunities

The law requires the selected Program Manager to open an online application portal beginning March 1, 2024. The first scholarships will be awarded for the 2024-2025 school year.

By Pre-Applying you will be kept up-to-date on all the scholarship information as soon as it becomes available. Once the application is live, you will be immediately notified and provided with instructions and a link taking you directly to the application portal.

Pre-Apply HERE NOW

Every child who is awarded a scholarship will receive $8000 from funds appropriated by the Utah legislature. The exciting news is that each year that scholarship amount will automatically increase based on what’s called the CPI (Consumer Price Index), or five-year rolling average inflationary factor as defined by the law.

Well, this is the exciting part! Finding your child’s fit will be easy. There are so many options. This is the most customizable education program out there!

Here is a list of some of the many ways the Utah Fits All Scholarship can be used. You can combine services and goods for a truly customized fit.

• tuition and fees of a qualifying provider such as private schools or microschools
• tutoring services
• fees for after-school or summer education programs
• textbooks, curriculum, or other instructional materials, including any supplemental materials or associated online instruction
• educational software and applications
• supplies or other equipment related to a scholarship student’s educational needs
• computer hardware or other technological devices that are intended primarily for a scholarship student’s educational needs
• educational services for students with disabilities from a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider, including occupational, behavioral, physical, audiology, or speech-language therapies
• fees and instructional materials at a technical college
• fees for qualifying exams or prep courses such as norm-referenced, AP, industry certification exams, college or university admission
• contracted services that the program manager approves and that an LEA (public school) provides, including individual classes, after-school tutoring services, transportation, or fees or costs associated with participation in extracurricular activities
• expenses related to extracurricular activities, field trips, educational supplements, and other educational experiences
• ride fees or fares for a fee-for-service transportation provider to transport the scholarship student to and from a qualifying provider, not to exceed $750 in a given school year
• any other expense for a good or service that a parent or scholarship student incurs in the education of the scholarship student, and the program manager approves, in accordance with statute.

Remember, all allowable expenses must be explicitly for the education of the scholarship recipient. Therefore, the scholarship includes accountability tools to protect taxpayers and ensure the scholarship is used for the intended purpose—To educate Utah students!

You can join the growing list of interested families and become part of this important movement by Pre-Applying below. In doing so, you will be kept up-to-date on all important information about the Utah Fits All Scholarship as soon as it is made available. Once the application goes live, we will notify you immediately. We will provide you with instructions and will link you directly to the application portal.

PRE-APPLY HERE NOW!

There are still details of implementing the scholarship that are awaiting the selection of the Program Manager. Once selected, the Program Manager must provide an online portal for the parent of a scholarship student to access the scholarship student’s account, ensuring that scholarship funds in a scholarship account are readily available to you, as the parent. 

The Program Manager will also establish an approval process for providers to become qualified. Qualified providers selected by the parent are paid directly within the online portal from your child’s account through a funds transfer to ensure accountability. Additionally, parents can have eligible expenses pre-approved and/or reimbursed for services or goods purchased from a provider who has not previously gone through the approval process to be added to the list of qualified providers.

This means that scholarship dollars can be accessed to pay for eligible education expenses in three different ways:

1. Select from the marketplace of approved qualified providers
2. Approval of expenses prior to purchase 
3. Reimbursement of expenses with receipts

Every K-12 child who is a resident of Utah qualifies to receive the full amount of the scholarship, whether they currently attend public, private, homeschool, or are just starting kindergarten, they are eligible to apply for the Utah Fits All Scholarship. 

Yes, we said every child! So, if you’re wondering whether you qualify because you’re already in a private school or you homeschool, the answer is yes, and yes!

We have received questions about eligibility of students enrolled in public schools, both district and charter. For clarification purposes, a student receiving a scholarship cannot simultaneously be enrolled in a public school where they are counted as a student for funding purposes. To receive a scholarship, you are agreeing to opt out your child from public school. You cannot be funded for both public school and a scholarship. 

Does that mean you can’t use your scholarship to be a part-time student in a public school? There is still an avenue for scholarship students to use a proportional part of their scholarship at a public school. See our FAQ titled, Can my child use a proportional part of their scholarship to attend a public school part-time?

Students already receiving either the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship or the Special Needs Opportunity Scholarship cannot simultaneously receive the Utah Fits All Scholarship. 

A student receiving a scholarship cannot simultaneously be enrolled in a public school, district or charter, where they are counted as a student for funding purposes. To receive a scholarship, you are agreeing to opt out your child from public school. You cannot be funded for both public school and a scholarship.

While every Utah K-12 child is eligible, applicants qualifying as low-income and siblings of approved applicants are prioritized to ensure the funds go where most needed first. All remaining applicants in all other income ranges are then eligible. 

Here is the specific order of preference that the law requires the Program Manager to follow when awarding scholarships.

1. An eligible student who used a scholarship account in the previous school year.
2.  An eligible student who did not use a scholarship account in the previous school year, with a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level ($60,000 for a family of four).
3. An eligible student who is a sibling of an eligible student who uses a scholarship account at the time the sibling applies for a scholarship account or used a scholarship account in the school year immediately preceding the school year for which the sibling is applying for a scholarship account.
4. An eligible student who did not use a scholarship account in the previous school year with a family income between 200% and 555% of the federal poverty level (Up to $166,500 for a family of four).
5. All other students.

According to the law, if the number of applications exceeds the available scholarship funds for a school year, the Program Manager shall select students on a random basis, following the guidelines for first issuing scholarships to applicants given preference as defined above. 

Approximately 5,000 scholarships will be awarded to students in the 2024-2025 school year based on the initial legislative appropriation of $42 million dollars. 5,000 students is a very good start for a program in its inaugural year.

However, we believe demand will be higher than that and we plan to take that proof directly to our legislative representatives. Between now and the beginning of the next legislative session in January of 2024, we are gathering a waitlist of all the families who intend to apply for a scholarship for their child. We can’t afford to just wait and see what happens on March 1st when the application portal opens. We must plan ahead for demand. That is why we are asking you to share your intent to apply now below. Our goal is to have the legislature increase the appropriation amount to meet the demand of waitlisted families before the portal even opens, so that no child who wants to receive a Utah Fits All Scholarship will be turned away!

Be Proactive – Pre-Apply NOW

If you want a scholarship, you can increase your child’s chances to receive one. How? Pre-Apply NOW and become part of the growing waitlist of families desiring to participate in the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program. We will demonstrate to the Utah Legislature that demand for this program is high and funding must be increased to accommodate the need.

Should I be discouraged about applying?

Absolutely not! We fully expect the program funding to grow over time no matter what. However, we want to ensure it grows fast enough to keep up with demand. The best way to make that happen is for you to:

1. Share your intent to apply by Pre-Applying NOW!
2. Complete an application for your child as soon as the portal is opened.

Pre-Apply NOW!

Yes! This is just another way the Utah Fits All Scholarship allows you to find the best fit for your child. For example, your child may choose to attend an eligible public school part-time and, according to the law, the Program Manager will prorate the amount of the award in proportion to the extent of the scholarship student’s partial enrollment in the LEA (charter or district school). This leaves the remainder of the scholarship to be used for expenses customized by you for your child’s education.

How does a public school become an “eligible school”? As per the law, to be eligible to receive scholarship funds on behalf of a scholarship student as an eligible school, a charter or district school must go through the same qualifying process as all other providers and enter into an agreement with the Program Manager. Once designated an “eligible school”, they can then offer courses or programs to scholarship students in accordance with the agreement. Some examples of contracted services that the program manager may approve, and an eligible school may provide, are services like individual classes, after-school tutoring services, transportation, or fees or costs associated with participation in extracurricular activities. 

The Program Manager must make available to the public a list of approved eligible schools.

Rest assured that requirements were intentionally kept at a very minimum by the legislature. This program is about educational freedom for families and your ability to customize the education that fits your child best! 

In fact the law has a whole section on your parental rights! In part it says—regarding a parent’s right to academic accommodations, nothing in this chapter restricts or affects a parent’s interests and role in the care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the duty and right to nurture and direct the child’s upbringing and education.

Other protections have been placed within the law specifying that no state agency is granted additional authority over the following:

• to regulate or control a private school, qualifying provider, or homeschool; students receiving education from a private school, qualifying provider, or homeschool or affect the freedom of choice of a homeschool student, including the curriculum, resources, developmental planning, or any other aspect of the homeschool student’s education;
• or expands the regulatory authority of the state, a state office holder, or an LEA to impose any additional regulation of a qualifying provider beyond any regulation necessary to administer this part;
• a qualifying provider has a right to maximum freedom from unlawful governmental control in providing for the educational needs of a scholarship student who attends or engages with the qualifying provider; and is not an agent of the state by virtue of the provider’s acceptance of payment from a scholarship account in accordance with this part;
• a program manager may not require a qualifying provider to alter the qualifying provider’s creed, practices, admissions policies, hiring practices, or curricula in order to accept scholarship funds.

Maintaining Scholarship Eligibility is simple 

In order to maintain eligibility for the scholarship year after year, a portfolio must be completed and submitted annually to the Program Manager either by the student or student’s parent. The content of the portfolio needs to include a description of the student’s educational opportunities and achievements under the program for the given year. The Program Manager may not disclose the content of a student’s portfolio except to the parent. An alternative to completing the portfolio is the completion of a qualifying optional assessment outlined in the law that is requested by the parent. 

A Program Manager will be selected by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) to run and manage the program. They will be selected through a standard business practice called an RFP (Request for Proposal) process governed by Utah’s procurement code. The RFP must be issued no later than the statutorily required date of September 15. It will be an open application process. Final selection is scheduled to take place at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Utah State Board of Education on November 2, 2023.

The contract between the Program Manager and the USBE cannot impose any requirements on the program manager that are not essential to the basic administration of the program.

What will be required of the Program Manager? 

The Program Manager must be a non-profit organization with 501(c(3) status in order to apply. They will be required to comply with all accountability measures and responsibilities as outlined in the law, including but not limited to, not being permitted to harvest data for the purpose of reproducing or distributing the data, protection and confidentiality of personal information, no involvement in guiding or directing any curriculum standards, forbidden from receiving donations from outside sources, and required to provide the most flexibility to providers and to students to accommodate their unique learning needs. The program manager must implement the program as the law dictates. 

Stay Informed: Pre-Apply

Those parents who Pre-Apply will receive up-to-date information about the selection of the Program Manager and all other important information.

Share your intent to apply by clicking below and completing the form!

Pre-Apply HERE NOW!

• The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) issued an RFP for the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program Manager on September 1 
• The deadline for Program Manager applicants to submit their proposals to the USBE is September 29
• The Program Manager is scheduled to be selected on November 2, at the USBE’s regularly calendared meeting 
• The anticipated starting date of the Program Manager contract is December 1
• The 2024 Utah Legislative Session begins on January 16, 2024
• The law requires the scholarship application portal to be opened by March 1, 2024 
• The first Utah Fits All Scholarships will be awarded for the 2024-2025 school year