alt Lake City, UT – Private schools participating in the voucher program benefit from multiple layers of accountability as outlined in HB 148. These layers of accountability are in addition to the market-driven accountability measures already adopted by nearly every private school in Utah.
“It may even be fair to say that under the new voucher law, participating private schools are more accountable than their public school counterparts,” said Derek Monson, education policy analyst for Sutherland Institute. “In fact, from the research we’ve conducted on voucher-eligible schools in Utah, they merit, to borrow a financial term, a ‘Triple A’ rating for accountability, including audits by the state board,annual testing of voucher students, and approval of participating schools by the state board.”
Voucher-eligible schools must be accountable financially, educationally, academically, and legally. Some of these accountability measures are:
Financial Accountability
B. Working capital must constitute at least 80% of average private school expenditures.
Educational Accountability
B. Teachers must have bachelor’s degrees or some other recognized form of expertise in their teaching area.
C. Private schools cannot operate out of a residence and must enroll more than 40 students.
Academic Accountability
B. Students with disabilities or limited English proficiency must be assessed through alternate forms.
Legal Accountability
