Utah’s education choice program expands opportunity 

On Saturday, Texas will become the latest state to offer parents the power to take control of their child’s education using education savings accounts. However, in Utah, an ESA program faces legal challenges that threaten to deny low-income parents the opportunity to ensure their child receives a high-quality education. 

The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 57 percent of Utah’s economically disadvantaged 4th-grade students scored “below basic” in reading. But Utah families currently have the choice to receive funding through an education savings account to choose alternative learning options for their children.  

Enacted in 2023, the Utah Fits All Scholarship program offers parents the chance to receive $8,000 to spend on private school tuition, tutoring, and other expenses for homeschooling. According to EdChoice, 10,000 students currently receive scholarships. The measure passed with a public school teacher pay raise, a compromise I described as a “common sense approach that will expand equal opportunity” at the time. 

Utah Education Fits All, a non-profit that raises awareness about the state’s ESA program, shows how ESAs benefit specific families. Here is one testimonial from a mother named Daniela explaining how the scholarship funds have helped her children: 

[B]oth my children are autistic. We have been able, with the funds provided, to get them the extra support they need to help them learn and grow and become contributing members of society. When we started in the public school system with my daughter, it became quickly apparent that the teacher was having difficulty supporting her needs and her progression was stifled. She is now thriving and learning so well thanks to the Utah Fits All Scholarship.

But not everyone is happy that families like Daniela’s have these new options. Last year, the Utah Education Association, the state’s teacher union, filed a lawsuit challenging the program. The union’s lawsuit alleged that the program violated the state’s constitution and was intended to destroy public education. In April, Utah District Court Judge Laura Scott ruled that the program violated Utah’s constitution, creating new uncertainty for the program as the state prepared to issue scholarship awards for the upcoming school year.

Governor Spencer Cox pledged to appeal the decision. Judge Scott announced that she would allow the program to continue while the case is appealed. State Rep. Candice Pierucci (R-Salt Lake), who sponsored the program, applauded the stay to allow the program to continue. “Utah remains firmly committed to both a strong public education system and expanding opportunity through choice,” Rep. Pierucci explained.  “This program empowers parents to find the education that best fits their child’s unique needs.” 

I asked Arif Panju, an attorney at the Institute of Justice, representing the parents who intervened about the judge’s ruling. He repllied:

“The Utah Fits All Scholarship program fully complies with the Utah Constitution. Nothing in the text of the Constitution restricts the legislature from creating a scholarship program to support children. The 50+ page decision from the district court creates such a restriction anyway by departing from the Constitution’s text. We will ask the Utah Supreme Court to reverse.” 

Panju added that recent legal rulings show that similar private school choice programs, including ESAs, are on solid legal footing: 

“Those programs complied with their state constitutions, despite Blaine Amendments, and state supreme court after state supreme court have upheld ed choice programs. In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Espinoza v. Montana Dep’t of Revenue (2020) and Carson v. Makin (2022), Blaine Amendments (and also statutes attempting to restrict religious educational options), are unconstitutional under the Free Exercise Clause. This not only firmed up the already solid footing but also created momentum across the nation that fueled the expansion of educational choice.” 

Robyn Bagley, Executive Director of Utah Education Fits All, called the judge’s initial ruling a “temporary setback in what we expect to be an unfortunate and protracted legal process that will end in a favor ruling for the Utah Fits All Scholarship program.” 

For families like Daniela’s and thousands of others, I hope she is right.