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House approves amendments to education voucher bill, boosting oversight funding and adding background checks
Summary
Lawmakers passed House Bill 174 with amendments to increase startup funding for voucher administration to a total of $200,000, add background-check requirements, tighten income verification language, and move the program audit schedule earlier; the bill passed 54—or, 11 gainst, 10 absent.
The Utah House on Feb. 22 amended and passed legislation changing the state's education-voucher implementation.
Representative Last, who presented the amendments, said the changes are intended to make the voucher program work by strengthening administration and oversight. The substitute adds funding so the state office can write rules and verify parental income; the sponsor said the $200,000 figure is intended to support roughly two full-time staff positions. The bill also adds a requirement for criminal-background checks for certain people affiliated with private schools accepting voucher students, clarifies that transportation costs will not be provided via the voucher, and inserts the word "academic" to specify that test scores for program evaluation relate to students' academic performance.
On audits, the sponsor moved the initial program audit earlier than in prior wording (the bill as amended moves the audit to a sooner date than originally scheduled; floor debate included a failed amendment to move the audit even earlier). Representative Allen and others expressed concern about the program's fiscal projections, citing earlier fiscal estimates including multi-year cumulative costs; Allen urged an earlier audit because of uncertain long-term fiscal exposure.
Representative Last said the program will phase in slowly, argued that a five-year audit timetable was reasonable and that the state office requested the funding level proposed. Representative Holdaway questioned whether additional ongoing staffing costs could be required as the program scales and the sponsor acknowledged that further costs are possible and would be addressed as needed.
After debate and floor amendments (including insertion of "academic" and background-check language), the House passed the amended bill 54 yes, 11 no, 10 absent and referred it to the Senate.
What happens next: The substituted and amended measure will be transmitted to the Senate; sponsors said rules and verification procedures will be developed by the State Office of Education by rule.
Provenance: Debate and amendments introduced by Representative Last; vote announced on the floor (54 yes, 11 no).
