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Utah Fits All Legislative Update

If you’ve been following the progress of HB467 Utah Fits All Scholarship Program Modifications, you know that it has now passed the Senate Education Committee and moved to the Senate 2nd Reading Calendar. The legislative session ends this coming Friday.

During the committee hearing the sponsor introduced and passed Substitute 4.

The largest action taken in Sub 4 was the removal of accreditation language and the return of the private school definition to its original language. 

There are some very positive improvements in HB467 that we advocated for — However, we do have concerns about additional language added to the bill that creates a potentially serious avenue for fraud. This new language opens the door for scholarship funds to flow to schools that are not registered as eligible schools under the law and are not accountable to any authority responsible for verifying their legitimacy or financial stability. As written in the bill, the Program Manager will now be required to vet these schools based on four out of five very weak criteria to determine whether a parent may be reimbursed for monthly tuition. These standards can be easily satisfied, demonstrate nothing about a school’s legitimacy, and ultimately make the program vulnerable to fraudulent use.

Those criteria include: proof of incorporation or business registration with the Utah Division of Corporations; a publicly posted tuition schedule; documentation of at least 17 enrolled students; evidence of operation in a dedicated non-residential facility; or proof of one year of continuous operation as an educational institution.

Incorporation is a basic administrative filing. A website and tuition schedule require no verification of legitimacy. Enrollment numbers can be easily represented without independent validation. Leasing a non-residential space does not establish educational quality. Even one year of operation provides no assurance of compliance, stability, or lawful conduct.

Compounding the concern, schools are not required to respond to or provide documentation requested by the Program Manager to validate these criteria. As written, the standards are easily satisfied, demonstrate little about legitimacy, and make the program highly vulnerable to fraudulent use.

We have made our concerns known and are hoping to see resolution before the end of the legislative session. We believe this will set the scholarship fund up for misuse and fraud and potentially bring harm to the program.

Current Scholarship Recipients Renewing for the 2026-2027 School Year

Current scholarship recipients who are planning to renew, you are able to complete your reapplication now.

➡️ The process is open to any account that has an "Approved" student status
➡️ Parent will be able to re-verify their information and upload their student portfolio/assessments
➡️ Parent can add siblings not currently in the program at the same time they reapply for the returning student(s)

 Odyssey has provided the following step-by-step guide located on their website. It includes a tutorial to help you prepare.