Utah Fits All Scholarship Program

Students must be residents of the state of Utah, and eligible to participate in public school in kindergarten through grade 12 to access the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program. Students may not receive funds from the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program while also receiving a scholarship from the Carson Smith Opportunity Scholarship Program. Home-based ESA students are also eligible. If enrollment exceeds available program funding, accounts shall be awarded in the following order: students who used an account in the previous school year, students with a family income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level ($62,400 for a family of four in 2024–2025), students with a sibling who uses an ESA at the time of application or in the immediately preceding school year, and then students with a family income between 200% and 555% of the Federal Poverty Level ($173,160 for a family of four in 2024–2025). _(Last updated July 15, 2024)_

Utah Fits All Scholarship accounts may be used for a wide range of education expenses and services beginning in the 2024–2025 school year. Education expenses can include tuition and fees of a qualifying provider; tutoring services; testing fees; special needs services and therapies; individual classes and activities; educational materials and curriculum costs; educational applications and software; classes, courses, and extracurricular opportunities; contracted services; including individual classes and extracurricular activities from a local education agency (public school); and numerous other approved expenses for the ESA student’s education. The program manager has created a searchable database for families to find allowable and prohibited expenses, by category, allowing families the greatest flexibility and use of funds. Families may utilize up to $750 per student per school year of ESA funds for transportation services to and from a local approved provider. _(Last Updated July 15, 2024)_

Funding for the program is limited by appropriations, which restricts participation. The Utah legislature appropriated $82.5 million for the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program for its first year of operation. This appropriation limits enrollment to no more than 10,000 students, or less than 2% of Utah’s K–12 student population. Utah Fits All Scholarship Program students receive $8,000 for their educational expenses in 2024–2025. Accounts are funded at 84% of what would be spent on a student at a public school. Accounts do not allow for carryover, and remaining funds will be recaptured at the end of each school year to be disbursed the following year. _(Last Updated July 15, 2024)_

In May 2024, a lawsuit was filed by Utah’s largest teachers’ union challenging the program and remains ongoing. Legislation to create the program was passed with referendum proof votes in the legislature, preventing a ballot initiative to recall the program. The Partnership for Educational Choice, a joint project between EdChoice and Institute for Justice, intervened in defense of the program on behalf of parents who benefit from the program. The litigation is still pending in trial court. _(Last updated August 16, 2024)_