Originally published in the Deseret News.

A recent Sutherland Institute survey on priorities among likely voters in Utah for 2024 showed that education funding was among the highest priorities. Curriculum transparency was among the top priorities for Republicans and those over the age of 65 and among the middle tier of importance for all likely voters. It seems that Utahns care about advancing public education and a more robust parent-driven education vision at the same time.

Luckily, what emerged from the 2024 Utah Legislative session was a balanced advancement of both private and public education.

Legislators refined existing choice policy by fixing issues in scholarship programs, adding funding to its new education savings account and preparing for potential hiccups with private choice.

Simultaneously, the Republican-dominated Legislature heavily prioritized public school educators in several bills.

Pursuing the interests of both private and public education with less acrimony and greater consensus is becoming a hallmark in Utah — and one to be commended.

Refining education choice in Utah

In 2023, the Legislature passed a landmark bill — a universal education savings account called Utah Fits All Scholarship. The program was given a year before launching so wrinkles could be ironed out as much as possible. The approach paid off.

To help meet the program’s high demand, the new program’s funding for scholarships was doubled in the 2024 legislative session — a policy decision supported by Sutherland Institute. Initial funding would have allowed about 5,000 families to receive a scholarship; new funding from this session increased that cap to 10,000. Still, overall interest in the program far exceeds that. With more than a month left to go in the application window, the number of applications has already surpassed the available scholarships.

Knowing the launch of the new scholarship would enable more parents to pay microschool tuition, the Legislature enacted SB13 — a prudent, forward-looking approach to this innovative academic approach that Sutherland also supported. The bill defined microschools in the law and helped cities and towns know how to address issues like traffic, parking and safety through local ordinances, while also protecting microschools from excessive local regulation. It’s a boon for existing microschools and for people who’d like to open one, giving them knowable and predictable expectations.

Public school educator priorities

On the public education side, lawmakers this year spent $211.7 million to increase public school funding through its funding mechanism, the weighted pupil unit, by 5% (up to $4,443 next year). In 2019, the Legislature spent $127.9 million to raise the weighted pupil unit by 4%, bringing it up to $3,532 the following year. This means that in the last five years, state lawmakers have increased the weighted pupil unit by over 25%.

They also reformed a broad swath of policies to benefit public school teachers. One new law reforms teacher evaluations to not punish educators for chronically absent students. Another set of new policies improves teacher pay in various ways, including a law allowing excellent teachers to make up to $100,000. Public school teachers who have a new child will now have three weeks of paid maternity leave. Finally, expenses for instructional materials that teachers have typically paid for out of pocket will now be covered by taxpayers.

The passage of such a swath of teacher-related bills from a predominantly Republican lawmaking body ought to signal that public school teachers are highly esteemed in the state. Contradicting political or activist narratives that seek to pit Utah policymakers against one form of education or another, lawmakers have expressed through the policy decisions a desire to support all student learning, regardless of where Utah families decide to educate their children.

Education should be seen as a broad objective of student learning and achievement. Utah’s education system ought to reflect — as it did in the 2024 legislative session — a commitment to support parent-driven education and student learning that brings together the best of public and private options.

Utah has shown a willingness to do just that. According to the data on voter priorities, that is precisely what Utahns want their elected representatives to do.