The Utah Fits All Scholarship allows parents to meet their child’s unique education needs.
Imagine your child is gifted in mathematics, performing computations many grade levels above his peers. Imagine this same child struggles with reading, and is behind his peers in his grade level.
That is the situation Alex Cheung found himself in as his son entered first grade. His son was performing math at a third or fourth grade level, while feeling completely lost when it came to reading. Bored during math and frustrated during reading, his son was labeled a behavior problem in kindergarten. According to Alex, “(My son’s) curiosity gradually diminished, his excitement for learning dwindled, and he fought going to school every day.”
What is a parent supposed to do in this situation?
As a public school principal I saw stories like this every day. I met with parents regularly to discuss an area where their child either struggled or excelled. They would ask me what the school can do to individualize the education for their child. We tried, but we just didn’t know the children as well as their parents. We often failed.
Even as a father and educator, I see that each of my own children are unique. My 18 year old daughter loves the arts and dance. She loves being able to learn new dances from an instructor. She has her nail technician certificate and has a few private clients to make some money on the side.
My 15 year old daughter loves to write. She spends much of her day in writing classes online, taking classes on grammar and composition. She is writing her first book and has found a few teen author conferences that she is going to attend this summer.
But both of my daughters would fail if we switched their learning routines.
The Utah Fits All Scholarship allows parents to truly customize their child’s education.
All children can have their unique needs met using the Utah Fits All Scholarship.
The scholarship can be used for traditional school tuition, but it can also be used to create a unique learning experience. Parents can find individual classes, tutors, lessons, webinars, and conferences for their children to attend. They can find private lessons to expand their talents in music, art, science, or athletics.
No longer do parents need to ask the schools to make changes to meet their child’s learning needs. Parents can find classes or therapies that their children need and use the scholarship to pay for it. And with the legislature doubling the funding for the scholarship, even more parents can take advantage of this opportunity.
Does your daughter like gymnastics and piano like my 10 year old does? You can use the Utah Fits All Scholarship to find classes to meet her needs.
Does your son like ninja courses, basketball, and math, but need classes to help him with his speech? You can use the scholarship to meet his needs too.
Some are sounding the alarm that the scholarship is available for violin and swim lessons. But let’s be clear, using the Utah Fits All Scholarship like this, is not different then the public schools. Schools offer opportunities for children to learn the violin and how to swim too. In fact, I took a swim class while I was in high school, while my best friend’s girlfriend was in orchestra learning the violin.
All children are unique, and they deserve an education that matches their individual interests and needs. I couldn’t be more excited for the possibilities.
Education Policy Analyst
Jon is the Education Policy Analyst at Libertas Institute. He previously taught fifth and sixth grade and served as an elementary principal in Weber School District for 14 years.