Committee sends amended SB 137 to floor after clarifying statewide online education management

Second-substitute Senate Bill 137 (course choice endowment / SOEP amendments) was favorably recommended by the House Education Committee, 8-4 on a roll call. The bill received detailed committee scrutiny about administration, program management, and how the SOEP line item and Utah FitsAll scholarship interact.

Sponsor Senator Collinmore described the measure as a clarifying, not expanding, change to SOEP: it separates administration so public education and homeschool participation remains under Utah State Board of Education (USBE) rulemaking while private-school SOEP participation would be administered separately (but funding line items already exist). The committee heard that Utah FitsAll scholarship recipients would not be eligible for SOEP-funded seats but could still enroll using scholarship dollars or pay privately; private-school students in the same classroom could still participate but FitsAll recipients would be capped at four classes per year.

Committee members asked practical questions about how bifurcation would work, procurement and learning-management-system preference language, and program management. Gailey Klausma, director of the Utah Private Schools Association, said private schools use a range of course lengths and delivery modes and supported bifurcation to allow different operational models. Committee discussion noted an existing requirement (from prior law) that the state office hire a program manager by April 1, 2025; staff said an RFP had been issued and an award was near. Representative Lisenby moved the committee's favorable recommendation of SB 137 sub 2 as amended; the committee recorded a roll-call vote (Yes: Auxier, DeFe, Elison, Lisenby, Peck, Walter, Wilton, Vice Chair Kohler; No: Hayes, Miller, Moss, Peterson) and the motion passed 8-4.