The Utah Senate Education Committee prioritizes students by proposing S.B. 107, In-Person Instruction Prioritization, which addresses the use of allocated education funding to local education agencies that do not provide in-person learning options for K-12 students.
“Parents should have the ability to decide what is best for their child,” said Sen. Todd Weiler, the bill sponsor. “Parents who don’t have the option to send their kids back to school have been lobbying for months to have face-to-face learning and felt their cries have fallen on deaf ears. We strongly advocate for in-person instruction, and our hope is that with this bill, we will give all parents in our state the option to choose.”
S.B. 107 proposes that education funding may travel with students if parents decide to send their child to another public school that offers face-to-face instruction because their current district only provides online learning. This bill would not impact school districts that offer in-person learning options.
“We need to give parents the choice to have their children in the classroom,” said Senate President J. Stuart Adams. “K-12 is a critical time for students’ intellectual and emotional development, and it’s important parents and students have the option to be in the classroom. Students who don’t have the option to attend in-person are missing out on crucial learning opportunities, which may have detrimental effects on their overall education in the future.”
TheSenate Education Committee passed S.B. 107 on January 20, 2021. Listen to the committee discussionhere. S.B. 107 will now be considered by the Senate. Track the progress of this bill and other bills from the 2021 General Session atle.utah.gov.
