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Utah House defeats broad textbook-fee relief but reopens bill and narrows scope to grades 7–8
Summary
House Bill 172, which proposed $50 per student toward secondary-school textbooks, failed on first final passage (33–40) after a heated floor debate over costs, AP/concurrent-enrollment language and local control; later the House reconsidered, amended the proposal to cover grades 7–8 only, and sent it to Rules for a new fiscal note.
House Bill 172, a proposal to provide $50 per student for secondary-school textbooks, drew lengthy floor debate before the Utah House initially voted to file the measure after it failed 33–40.
Representative Franson, sponsor of the bill, framed the proposal as a step toward reducing an uneven burden on families who now must pay textbook fees. Franson said the proposal could be scaled (for example, to start with only grades 7–8) if the full appropriation proved too large for the budget. “We try to spread the pain as evenly as we possibly can,” Franson said, urging colleagues to address an inequity that has grown across districts.
Opponents focused…
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