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Senate approves bill allowing statewide online course choice, funding tied to completion
Summary
The Senate passed SB65 to let students take online courses from any state-approved provider and to change funding so providers receive 60% up front and 40% on completion; the measure passed 17–12 after lengthy debate over fiscal complexity, oversight and accreditation.
The Utah Senate approved Senate Bill 65, a statewide online education measure that would let students enroll in courses offered by any provider authorized by the State Office of Education and change the payment model so providers get 60 percent of funding up front and 40 percent upon the student earning course credit.
Sponsor Senator Stevenson framed SB65 as expanding student choice and innovation in K–12 education, pointing to four district online providers and charter schools already offering instruction. Stevenson said the State Office's Electronic High School has a roughly 30 percent completion rate and argued SB65 would let higher-quality providers offer a la carte courses statewide. "SB65 makes provisions for multiple statewide providers and student choice to the course level," Stevenson said.
Opponents raised fiscal and oversight concerns. The bill’s fiscal note was in revision during floor debate but the sponsor said the net first-year fiscal effect was estimated at about $974,000 (with a projected $65,000 ongoing) after offsets; the Electronic High School cost reductions were estimated at about $1.7 million in one description on the floor. Senators including Morgan and Davis questioned whether the bill could create new bureaucracy, whether teachers would be appropriately qualified in subject areas, and whether the number of online courses a student could take would be restricted under the bill's language.
After an extended debate and a call of the Senate, the chair announced the roll call: SB65 received 17 yea votes and 12 nay votes and will be forwarded to the House for consideration.
Provenance: Sponsor presentation, debate and roll call are recorded in the floor transcript (topic introduced SEG 504; final passage announced SEG 2068–2070).
