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Utah Senate rejects results-based early-childhood financing plan (SB71)
Summary
The Utah Senate voted down first substitute Senate Bill 71 on March 5, 2013. The bill would have set aside $1 million a year to repay private investors if independently verified early-childhood outcomes were achieved; it failed 11-18 after extended debate over targeting, data privacy and private investment.
The Utah Senate voted down first substitute Senate Bill 71 on March 5, 2013, rejecting a proposal to use a results-based financing model to expand targeted early-childhood interventions.
Senator Osman, the bill sponsor, told colleagues the plan would set aside $1 million annually “in a reserve account that will build on a year to year basis to be used as the source to repay investor funds if, in fact, results are achieved.” The bill would cap outstanding private investment at $10 million and require an independent evaluator, hired by a Results Based Financing Board, to determine whether repayment was warranted based on two measures: cost avoidance in special education and academic results at or above peer levels.
Supporters said the structure allowed private capital to fund proven interventions and shift the state’s long-term remediation costs. Senator Robles urged action to provide “an opportunity to bring better opportunities for children” affected by income-related disadvantages. Senator Stevenson said private investment could support classroom and home-based software options and that funding would follow the research.
Opponents pressed two broad concerns. Senator Dayton questioned the program’s labeling, asking whether certain students would be considered “at risk indefinitely” and how they would be removed from that designation. Senator Valentine and others raised data-privacy concerns under FERPA and described national reports of large data exposures; Valentine urged adding explicit protections so preschool-level data remain governed by state-level rules and are not broadly disclosed. The sponsor said the Office of Education would operate the Results Based Financing Board and that the independent evaluator’s access to longitudinal results would be limited to verification under the office’s authority.
The sponsor described the bill’s payment schedule as conservative: the statute would set aside annual funds, and the first partial principal-and-interest payment to investors would not be payable until after four years of program results. Osman emphasized investor risk, saying funds invested could be lost if results were not achieved.
After extended debate and a roll-call, the clerk announced that first substitute SB71 had received 11 yes votes and 18 no votes and therefore failed. The bill will be filed.
