PFPS and Allies Urge Utah Supreme Court to Affirm Ruling that State Voucher Program is Unconstitutional
Public Funds Public Schools and allies filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the Utah Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs, including public school parents and the Utah Education Association, who are challenging the state’s universal private school voucher program.
The Utah Fits All voucher law enacted in 2023 established an Education Savings Account voucher program that allows families to use public funds to pay for a wide range of private education expenses. In April 2025, a state trial court ruled that the program violates several provisions of the state constitution. That decision is now on appeal before the Utah Supreme Court.
PFPS’s amicus brief explains that the voucher program violates the state constitution because it is neither open to all children nor free. Moreover, the voucher program’s diversion of scarce resources to private entities threatens the state’s ability to provide an adequate public education to all children.
The brief highlights research showing that vouchers do not improve educational outcomes for students who use them to attend private school. Students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and LGBTQ+ students who participate in voucher programs like Utah’s also lose crucial antidiscrimination protections and rights to key educational services.
“Utah’s constitution safeguards public funds for public schools that are free and open to all,” said Patrick Cremin, Staff Attorney at Education Law Center, which leads PFPS. “The state’s universal voucher program, which diverts funds to private schools that can pick and choose the students they educate, violates these core constitutional guarantees and undermines the state’s commitment to ensuring equal educational access and opportunity.”
PFPS was joined on the brief by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates; the NAACP Tri-State Conference of Idaho, Nevada, and Utah; and the League of Women Voters of Utah. The organizations are represented pro bono by attorney Skylar Walker.
Related Story: