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House passes bill to create task force to study 'choice' in education funding
Summary
The Utah House passed House Bill 226 to form a legislative task force to study funding and options for school choice, including incentives for private funding; sponsor Representative Howard said lawmakers need to gather facts from other states before acting.
Representative Howard urged the House to approve legislation creating a task force to study public education funding and possible private–public choice incentives. "Rather than run a bill to start a process ... we ought to gather the facts," he said, arguing the panel would solicit stakeholder testimony and survey other states that have tried choice programs.
Howard said the measure is intended to produce a factual basis for action next year: either abandon the idea if the task force finds it unworkable or propose informed legislation if evidence supports it. After brief support from Representative Lewis, the House opened and closed the vote; the clerk announced, "House bill number 2 26 have received 51 affirmative votes, 17 negative," and the bill was forwarded to the Senate.
Supporters framed the task force as a fact-finding and stakeholder forum; opponents did not press a floor amendment during this session. The next steps are committee work and any Senate consideration after the bill is received there.
