Utah Legislature files appeal to Utah Fits All ruling

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah State Legislature has filed a petition to appeal a lower court ruling finding the Utah Fits All Scholarship unconstitutional.

In a 110-page interlocutory appeal filed to Utah’s Supreme Court, the State Attorney General’s office, on behalf of the State Legislature, list three reasons why the lower court decision should be overturned. These defendants claim that:

• First, there isn’t a cap on legislative power to create educational programs,
• Second, the legislature wasn’t required to designate Utah Fits All as an educational program by the constitution. And,
• Finally, voters approved to expand the use of income tax to “supplement children,” therefore income tax can be used for Utah Fits All because it involves children.

The appeal comes after a district judge found the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program, which is a voucher program for students who go to private schools, unconstitutional due to what the court saw as a lack of constitutional authority, and additionally the programs use of income tax revenue, which is earmarked exclusively for the state’s education programs.

“The legislature does not have plenary authority to circumvent these constitutional requirements by simply declining to ‘designate’ the program as part of the public education system. And because there is no genuine dispute that the program fails to meet these “open to all children” and “free” requirements, it is unconstitutional under article X of the Utah Constitution,” the lower court decision read.

The state is seeking an immediate review of their appeal, arguing that the lower court’s order has casted “a shadow” over the program and all the families that currently rely on the program for their children’s education.

“The district court’s Order implicates the substantial rights of every Utah family with school-aged children. Without this Court’s review, thousands of Utah children who currently rely on the Scholarship Program, and hundreds of thousands more who are eligible for it, will lose access to state-funded scholarships that allow them to afford educational options that best meet their needs,” the state’s appeal reads.

It continues, “The Order casts a shadow over the Program—but the district court reserved entry of judgment and a permanent injunction in order to keep the Program operating so that Parents and the other Defendants can seek interlocutory review in this Court. This Court should now grant review in order to remove that shadow and provide certainty that Utah families need as they make their educational plans for the coming school year and beyond.”

Currently the Utah Fits All Scholarship is still active and funds are flowing to parents in the state as litigation is ongoing. If the appeal is not taken up by the court, the lower court decision will stand, and the program’s future is uncertain. However, if the Supreme Court upholds that the program is unconstitutional then the scholarship money would stop.

If the lower court’s decision is overturned, then the program presumably could continue.

Lindsay Aerts contributed to this reporting.