Utah Fits All report sparks debate over scholarship use

SALT LAKE CITY — A recently published legislative report is showing how private and homeschool students used $94.7 million from the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program, and one representative has a lot to say about it.

First established through HB215 during the 2023 General Session, the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program is now in its third year providing funds to K-12 homeschool and private school students throughout Utah.

"The program provides a scholarship for students looking for different education options other than the public school system," said Utah Education Fits All Executive Director Robyn Bagley.

The legislative report covers the 2025 to 2026 school year and was released by Odyssey, the program manager for Utah Fits All.

A total of 14,522 students used the scholarship, according to the report, with 6,953 of those students utilizing home-based education and 7,569 being private school students.

Altogether, students used about $94.7 million to cover three areas listed on the report.

• About $57 million was used on tuition and education fees, which covered annual tuition, course packages, exam fees, individual courses, registration fees, technical college fees and materials.
• About $27 million was used on goods, which covered educational supplies, electronics, educational software and applications, textbooks, curriculum, or other instructional materials.
• About $10.6 million was used on services like educational therapies, services transportation, tutoring services and after-school or summer education programs.

Rep. John Arthur, D-Holladay, is a school teacher who was named 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year. Arthur shared his frustration with KSL on what the scholarship was being used for, specifically on headphones, which was listed in the report to cost a total of $468,665.01.

"For the headphones in particular, I had to do a DonorsChoose charity drive," Arthur said. "I had to ask my friends and family to help me pay for those. That's incredibly disappointing. You know? There are teachers all over that are buying pencils and Kleenex for their kids. And meanwhile, the State of Utah is spending $94.7 million of public money on private vouchers last year."

Other items that stood out for Arthur were things like tuition prices, 3D printers ($1.2 million) and internet services ($909,050.53).

"It's just so disheartening as a public school teacher to see public money going in such a big way to pay for private education and not being made available to all kids in Utah," Arthur said.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the State of Utah paid $14,460 per public school student, according to the 2026 Utah School Spending Report. The fiscal year before that, the state was reported to have paid $13,703 per student.

The highest Utah Fits All scholarship amount, $8,000, goes to eligible private school students, according to Bagley. Eligible homeschool students between the ages of 12 and 18 are able to receive $6,000 in scholarship funds, while home-based students between kindergarten age and 11 years old can receive $4,000.

In addition, the Utah House of Representatives reported an increase in state funding for public education by $1.8 billion, which was a 44.2% increase.

"There is nothing, zero, about Utah Fits All that prevents a single dime from going to public ed," Bagley said. "It is not withholding money from public ed; it's not making public ed be underfunded; it doesn't affect their budget at all. They are funded very well based on those numbers."

While it's true that the public education budget has gone up, the cost of just about everything in education has gone up as well, according to Arthur.

"The legislature is 100% right when it says that is has raised education funding over the past several years and it's absolutely right that our pay has gotten better," Arthur said. "But the cost of living's gone up, and the money that we make doesn't go as far as it used to. So it's a complex issue where we really have to give each other grace, but then hold each other accountable."

Although the amount paid per public student was more than the scholarship amounts provided per Utah Fits All student, Arthur said the amount of money public schools have is spread thinner. This is due to things like unfunded mandates, which can get in the way of school districts using money to provide students with school supplies.

Another issue Arthur spoke of is if a student decided to go with Utah Fits All and then changed their mind halfway through the school year, the public school where the child switched over to wouldn't receive any extra money to educate that child.

"The kids who are benefiting from Utah Fits All should not be," Arthur said. "If they want to get the $14,000 that public school students get then they can come to public school and enjoy the WPU (Weighted Pupil Unit)."

For Arthur, he believes public money should be going to public education.

"Money from taxpayers should be going to the system that pays for all students," Arthur said. "That's why Utah Fits All should not exist constitutionally."

Arthur isn't the only one who thinks this way. In 2024, the Utah Education Association filed a lawsuit against the state arguing Utah Fits All was unconstitutional. By April 2025, 3rd District Judge Laura Scott ruled Utah Fits All was unconstitutional. The ruling was appealed, and the case is now headed to the Utah Supreme Court, where it has yet to be settled.

Other findings in the report

In response to the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program report, Bagley said there are tight controls on the program, and there is also transparent reporting and accountability to make sure that parents are good stewards.

"The biggest takeaways that the report and the data provided demonstrate that the program is both financially and operationally sound," Bagley said.

One thing Bagley noted is that Odyssey tracks all purchases families make after students receive their scholarships. The program manager provides a marketplace where students can buy eligible items.

Families can also buy an item and ask for a reimbursement by providing a receipt showing the product and the exact amount paid. From there, the receipt goes through an approval process to make sure the item bought was eligible for reimbursement.

The number of reimbursement appeals submitted was 3,646, with 813 of those appeals being denied, according to the report.

Students who attend private school over other educational choices usually face the problem of using the majority of their $8,000 scholarship just for tuition, according to Bagley. The report states roughly $48.2 million went toward annual tuition and $4.4 million went toward tuition or registration fees.

Homeschool students may use scholarship funds on laptops ($2.4 million), tutoring services ($2.7 million) or physical education ($2.5 million), along with other educational tools deemed eligible for purchase by Odyssey.

Some of those tools have a purchase restriction per student, like laptops, desktops and tablets. If a student wishes to use their scholarship on one of those three items, they can only buy one out of the three for up to $1,500 every three years, according to Bagley.

PE is also considered a capped item, along with extracurricular-related expenses ($380,919). PE and extracurricular combined were listed in the report to cost $2.9 million, and students were only allowed to use 20% of the scholarship amount on those items.

The number of students who reached the 20% PE limit was 303, while 866 students spent 90% of their allotted physical education funds. Students who reached the 20% extracurricular-related limit were 16, while 37 students spent 90% of their allotted extracurricular funds.

Bagley said the program "appreciates the Legislature's continued oversight and the families across the state who are using Utah Fits All to pursue an education that works best for their children."

"What we know is that the majority of students in Utah do attend public school," Bagley said. "And, you know, we're very supportive of that too. A child needs to be where it fits them best, but not every child fits in that system."

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