Staff from the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office presented final recommendations from the accountable process budget (APB) review for public education programs and the Utah State Board of Education's contract-based initiatives during the Senate Education Appropriation Subcommittee meeting.

Kiki Hudson, LFA analyst, told the subcommittee that multiple college-and-career, health-and-wellness, and technology-related programs cleared the APB review and were recommended for inclusion in the base budget without change. "These programs cleared the accountable process budget, standards, and funding review process," Hudson said. She recommended renaming one program's federal label (Federal Commodities Grama to USD A Foods and Schools) and moving several technology contracts into a new state technology contracts line item to improve transparency.

Rochelle Gunderson, LFA financial analyst, reviewed more detailed recommendations on career and technical education (CTE). She said some items should be included in the base, some moved administratively (for example, transitioning a "CTE comprehensive guidance" carve-out into a Basic School Program line item called College and Career Counseling), and others should be withheld pending the results of an internal USBE audit of CTE operations that the analysts expect next month. "Our recommendations in this section are pending the audit results," Gunderson said.

The analysts proposed withholding two technology-related items from the base: the IT Academy (certification structure no longer matches the original RFA) and early-literacy software licenses (vendor usage data showed only about 43% of students reached minimum recommended usage). Hudson said, "The vendor data did not prove strong enough results to show the program is still effective," and recommended retaining the ongoing funding in the subcommittee allocation for further review.

A substantial portion of the committee discussion centered on funding for CTE student organizations and an administrative carve-out historically associated with them. Analysts explained that the legislature removed specific carve-out funding for certain CTE programs during the 2025 session and replaced much of the school-level allocations by increasing the WPU value; many local education agencies reallocated remaining CTE add-on funds to preserve student organizations locally. Gunderson said the CTE funding formula is complex and "hasn't been reviewed in quite some time."

Several lawmakers urged the committee to keep student-organization and CTE program funding clearly visible as line items to signal legislative support. Representative Perucci said the programs "directly impact" workforce readiness and argued that line-item visibility matters to parents and districts. Representative Thompson and Cochair White echoed that support, noting constituent examples of student success in CTSO programs.

Senator Ann Millner pressed staff on whether cutting a carve-out but keeping its administrative allocation made sense. Analysts explained the administrative grants are currently paid to national student organizations and that roughly 30% of those grant funds pay student stipends for national competition travel — about $350 per student for national events. Gunderson said the analysts wanted to clarify whether the state should continue subsidizing travel stipends when other extracurricular competitive travel is not subsidized by the state.

After extended discussion, Senator Millner made a motion to move the CTE student organizations and the career and technical education categories from the "withhold from base" list into the base budget, with language that the programs be reviewed during session and adjusted if necessary after the audit. The motion passed after recorded opposition by Senator Fillmore and Representative McPherson. Committee staff recorded two nays and stated the motion carried.

Other formal actions the committee approved included:
- Approving line-item performance measures for public education (measures remained unchanged from the prior year).
- Including the programs listed in APB Table 3.1 into the base budget as presented.
- Including the programs listed in APB Table 3.2 into the base budget with the technical changes identified by staff.
- Withholding the IT Academy and early-literacy software license items from the base while retaining ongoing funding in the subcommittee allocation for further evaluation.
- Creating a new State Technology Contracts line item and reallocating certain technology programs into that line for clearer tracking.
- Directing $500,000 of an existing $10,000,000 appropriation for a student information system project to pilot vendor connectivity work.

Throughout the discussion members raised recurring concerns about equity for rural districts, the administrative role of the state versus local districts, and the implications of reallocating carve-out funds. Senator Hinkins emphasized travel hardships for students from remote areas such as Navajo Mountain and Monument Valley and warned that removing state support for student competition travel could disproportionately affect rural students. Representative McPherson cautioned that every carve-out reduces local flexibility and said the accountable budget process exists to ensure further review where program information is unclear.

Analysts and USBE staff noted an internal USBE audit of CTE is underway and expected next month; several stakeholders said final policy choices should await the audit findings. LFA and subcommittee staff emphasized that "withhold" recommendations do not mean funding was removed — those funds were retained in the subcommittee allocation to be prioritized during the 2026 general session.

Ending: The subcommittee adopted staff recommendations with the modifications noted above and directed several follow-ups, including awaiting the USBE CTE audit, developing statutory language for a college-and-career counseling program, and creating performance measures and reporting requirements for the new State Technology Contracts line item.