What Happens to My Child’s IEP if We Take Utah Fits All?

1. What Utah law says: the statement on the application

Utah Code 53F-6-402(4)(b) requires the Utah Fits All application to include this statement. Here it is, word for word:

“I acknowledge that:

1: A qualifying provider may not provide the same level of disability services that are provided in a public school;

2: I will assume full financial responsibility for the education of my scholarship recipient if I agree to this scholarship account;

3: Agreeing to establish this scholarship account has the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services as described in 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.300, issued under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.; and

4: My child may return to a public school at any time, and I will notify the program manager within five business days if my child returns to a public school that is not a qualifying provider or if we have elected to take courses from the public portion of a qualifying provider.”

In plain terms:

• Statement 1: private schools and providers paid with the scholarship may not offer the same level of disability services as a public school, so ask each one exactly what support it offers.
• Statement 2: your family takes on full financial responsibility for your child’s education.
• Statement 3: opening the account has the same effect as a parent refusing consent to special-education services under the federal rule (section 2 below).
• Statement 4: your child can go back to public school at any time. You tell the program manager, Odyssey, within five business days if your child returns to a public school or takes courses from the public portion of an approved provider.

Two more subsections spell out the effect. Subsection (4)(d) says: “Agreeing to establish a scholarship account has the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services as described in 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.300 …” Subsection (4)(e) adds that agreeing does not “imply that a public school did not provide a free and appropriate public education.” (A free appropriate public education, or FAPE, is what the federal special-education law, IDEA, requires public schools to provide to eligible children.)

Utah’s other disability scholarship has a similar rule. The law for the Carson Smith Opportunity Scholarship says acceptance of that scholarship “has the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services” (Utah Code 53E-7-405(5)(d)).

2. What “refusal to consent to services” refers to

Utah’s law points to a federal regulation, 34 C.F.R. 300.300, which covers parental consent under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Two of its paragraphs describe what happens when a parent does not consent or withdraws consent:

• Paragraph (b)(3): when a parent refuses to consent to the initial provision of special education and related services, the public agency (for example, a school district) “Is not required to convene an IEP Team meeting or develop an IEP.”
• Paragraph (b)(4): when a parent revokes consent in writing after services have begun, the public agency “May not continue to provide special education and related services.”

Utah’s law refers to section 300.300 as a whole. We found no Utah statute, rule, USBE page or Odyssey page that explains how these paragraphs apply when a family opens a Utah Fits All account, or what happens to an existing IEP. Because the answer can depend on your child’s circumstances, we don’t apply either paragraph to individual children. Your district’s special-education office or the Utah Parent Center can talk through your child’s situation (section 9).

3. No part-time public school or dual enrollment

While your child uses Utah Fits All, they can’t be enrolled in a public school, even part-time. Odyssey says: “Students cannot be enrolled in both programs simultaneously under Utah law.” Its June 2026 award notice adds: “Students are not allowed to be enrolled in an LEA, SOEP, or the Carson Smith Scholarships while participating in UFA.” (An LEA is a local education agency, such as a school district or charter school; SOEP is the Statewide Online Education Program.) Utah law says a scholarship student is not “enrolled in the public education system” (53F-6-406(5)), and USBE adds: “Keep in mind that any activity with a public school (in-person or online) may create similar situations.”

This matters for children with IEPs. Utah’s Special Education Rules give home-schooled students a route to IEP services through dual enrollment, with services for the time the student is enrolled in a public school. That route depends on public-school enrollment, which Utah Fits All doesn’t allow, and we found no official source that reconciles the two.

4. District evaluations and services for home-school and private-school students

Utah’s Special Education Rules (the June 2023 edition, which is current) give school districts duties toward children who aren’t enrolled in public school:

• Home-schooled students: the school district “is responsible for location, identification, and evaluation for eligibility for home schooled students in its boundaries” (VI.D.1).
• Private-school students: each school district “must locate, identify, and evaluate” students with disabilities whose parents enrolled them in private schools in the district’s area (VI.B.3.a).

The same rules limit what those students can expect in services:

• A student with a disability who is home-schooled full time has no “individual right” to the special education and related services the student would receive in a public school (VI.D.4.a). The district makes the final decision on services, if any, and “may develop a services plan” (VI.D.5–6).
• A student with a disability placed by their parents in a nonprofit private school likewise has no “individual right to receive some or all” of those services (VI.B.9.a).

An important caveat: these rules don’t mention Utah Fits All. Their private-school section names the Carson Smith scholarships but not Utah Fits All, and we found no official source explaining how a district services plan works alongside the scholarship’s no-enrollment rule. If you want your child evaluated, or want to ask what the district offers, contact your district’s special-education office directly.

5. Buying district classes or services without enrolling

Utah law allows one kind of arrangement with public schools: a school district or charter school can be a qualifying provider for scholarship students, as long as it ensures “the scholarship student does not enroll in the LEA” (Utah Code 53F-6-408(6)(c)). The law’s list of scholarship expenses includes LEA “contracted services … including individual classes, after-school tutoring services” (53F-6-401(20)(a)(xi)), and Odyssey has a help article on purchasing from LEAs.

• Whether a district offers anything to scholarship students, and what, is up to that district.
• This is a purchase made with scholarship funds. We found no source saying it restores IEP services.
• USBE’s homeschool page says a student using Utah Fits All funding with an approved provider inside the public school system “needs to identify themselves as a UFA student to the school/district.”

6. Before you leave: request your child’s school records

Utah law says a former school must give parents “a copy of all school records” within 30 days of a request (Utah Code 53F-6-406(4)). For a child with an IEP, it helps to have on file:

• the current IEP, including present levels, goals and accommodations;
• the most recent evaluation or reevaluation report;
• recent IEP progress reports;
• any 504 plan, if your child has one.

These records help whatever you decide: when you talk with a private school or tutor, if you later look at the Carson Smith Opportunity Scholarship (which requires a disability verified within the prior 36 months), and if your child returns to public school.

7. Going back to public school

Your child may return to a public school at any time. Odyssey says you must notify it within five business days, and Utah law removes the remaining scholarship balance when a student re-enters public school (53F-6-411(1)).

For special-education services after a return, talk with the school’s special-education team about next steps. If an evaluation or a new IEP is needed, Utah’s rules set timelines: an initial evaluation within 45 school days of consent (with some listed exceptions), and an IEP meeting within 30 calendar days of a determination that the student needs special education and related services. Our Utah IEP help page walks through the process.

8. Bringing your child’s IEP goals to a tutor

Tutoring is named in Utah law as a scholarship expense (“tutoring services,” 53F-6-401(20)(a)(iii)), and Odyssey sets no cap or price limit on tutoring. A tutor isn’t a replacement for every service in an IEP, but one-to-one tutoring can keep steady work going on the academic goals that matter most to your family. A few steps help:

1. Share the parts of the IEP that matter for tutoring: present levels, academic goals, accommodations and recent progress reports.
2. Choose two or three priority goals to start with rather than everything at once.
3. Ask how the tutor will measure progress on those goals and how often you’ll hear about it.
4. Share the accommodations that help your child, so sessions can use them from the start.
5. Keep your own copies of progress updates with your other records.

Utah law lists therapies separately: “educational services for students with disabilities from a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider, including occupational, behavioral, physical, audiology, or speech-language therapies,” which Odyssey files under “Educational Therapies.” We don’t provide therapy, speech services, evaluations or diagnosis. Our teachers, who are certified in special education, provide one-to-one online academic tutoring, and Special Education Resource LLC is an approved provider in the Utah Fits All Odyssey Marketplace. Our guides to paying for tutoring with Utah Fits All and finding a special education tutor cover the next steps.

9. Where to get answers for your child

• Your school district’s special-education office: evaluations, and what the district offers students who aren’t enrolled.
• The Utah Parent Center: Utah’s federally funded Parent Training and Information center, at 800-468-1160. USBE also refers parents to the center’s IEP Coaches.
• USBE’s dispute options: if you disagree with a district, the Utah State Board of Education describes IEP facilitation, mediation, IDEA state complaints and due process hearings. Your rights are summarized in the Procedural Safeguards Notice, and our Utah IEP help page explains each option.
• Odyssey, for the scholarship itself: eligibility, your account and returning to public school. USBE says its staff no longer take parent complaints or feedback about the program. Contact Odyssey at help.ut@withodyssey.com or 385-462-1338.

This guide explains public rules; it isn’t legal advice, and it can’t tell you what is right for your child. The people above can look at your child’s records and answer for your family.