Summary#

SB 2, Public Education Budget Amendments, is enacted Utah law. It amends existing Utah education laws and changes public-education appropriations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Its stated purpose is to support and operate public education; that is a goal, not a guaranteed result.

• Utah’s State Board of Education must set student and personnel data standards for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, including adopting a centralized data system where practicable and requiring data comparisons in the school’s annual report.
• The bill creates a college and career counseling program funded through weighted pupil units (a way of calculating school funding), shifting funding and units from a career and technical education add-on. Eligible school districts and charter schools must meet state-set conditions to receive funding.
• Educator salary adjustments are still subject to future budget constraints. For later years, the adjustment increase is limited to the smaller of the percentage increase in the value of a weighted pupil unit or the change in the Consumer Price Index.
• Mental health screening funds for participating school districts and charter schools must be distributed on an as-needed basis if the state board distributes them, replacing the previous 90%/10% allocation formula shown in the bill.
• From July 1, 2027, a student in the Utah Private Course Choice Empowerment Program who is also a scholarship student must use scholarship funds to take part in the course-choice program.
• The bill repeals the Digital Teaching and Learning Grant Program and sets July 1, 2027 repeal dates for the Personalized, Competency-based Learning Grants Program and small-school online course access.

What it means for you#

• Schools for the Deaf and the Blind: The state board must establish comparable data standards and the school must identify benchmarks and report relevant assessment comparisons. The board must report on implementation by August 15, 2026.
• School districts and charter schools: To receive college and career counseling funding, an LEA (local education agency) must have a qualifying readiness plan and student-success framework, meet a counselor-to-student ratio set by the board, and meet any additional rules. Funding is subject to legislative appropriations.
• Educators: For fiscal year 2026, the bill sets a salary-adjustment amount of $10,350 per full-time-equivalent educator if the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program is funded and in effect, or $5,175 if it is not. Part-time educators receive a share based on hours worked; an educator with unsatisfactory ratings on their three most recent evaluations cannot receive an adjustment.
• Participating schools and families: The state board may provide mental health screening funds to participating LEAs for screening and help for qualifying parents. Non-participating LEAs cannot receive these funds. The bill does not require every LEA to participate.
• Private-school students using course-choice scholarships: From July 1, 2027, scholarship funds must be used for the student’s course-choice participation. The bill limits these scholarship students to the equivalent of four online-course credits per school year.
• Grant recipients and small schools: The named grant programs and online-course access provision have repeal dates. The supplied material does not describe replacement programs.

Money#

The bill lists appropriations of $79,610,500 for fiscal year 2026 and $124,145,000 for fiscal year 2027 in operating and capital budgets.

• It separately lists restricted fund and account transfers of negative $49,600 for 2026 and negative $42,883,200 for 2027, plus $4,800,000 in fiduciary funds for 2027. These are separate categories, not amounts to add to the operating and capital totals.
• The bill states the 2026 salary-adjustment amounts, but the supplied excerpt does not show the total funding for those adjustments.
• No publicly available information in the supplied material breaks down the appropriations by program, school district, or other recipient, or estimates staffing and administration costs.

What is unclear#

• The supplied bill text ends partway through the bill. It does not include the full appropriation schedules or all provisions.
• The underlying laws are not supplied, so the full current-law context and how every amendment fits with existing rules could not be verified.
• The board must set the college and career counseling funding amounts and counselor-to-student ratio by rule; those details are not in the excerpt.
• “As-needed” distribution of mental health funds is not defined in the excerpt.
• The excerpt does not say how much funding the repealed programs had or what, if anything, will replace them.

Case for#

• The data standards could make the Deaf and Blind school’s student and personnel information more comparable with other public education data and support timely reporting.
• A separate college and career counseling allocation could direct funding toward LEAs that meet readiness, planning, and staffing conditions.
• An as-needed approach to mental health funds could let the state board direct funds toward participating LEAs with demonstrated needs.
• The course-choice rules require scholarship students who use the program to pay with scholarship funds, linking those funds to their course participation.

Case against#

• Several key choices—such as counseling funding amounts, staffing ratios, and additional eligibility rules—are left to the state board, so schools cannot tell from this bill alone what the final requirements or funding will be.
• The mental health funding method changes to “as-needed,” but the excerpt does not explain how need will be measured or how competing requests will be handled.
• Repealing grant programs and small-school online-course access could remove existing options; the supplied material does not identify replacements.
• The listed appropriation totals are substantial, but the supplied excerpt does not show enough detail to judge how the money is divided among purposes.