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Utah · state guide

Starting and running a small school in Utah

The 2025 overhaul moved the homeschool record-keeping duty onto the school board — and Utah Fits All splits its rules at 150 enrolled students.
10 cited requirements · 5 dated deadlines · 17 sources. Every claim is as of , the oldest reading date on this page.

In short

Utah's 2025 homeschool overhaul replaced the notarized annual affidavit with a single one-time notification, and put the record-keeping duty on the school board rather than the parent: the board maintains the record and acknowledges receipt within 30 days. Private schools carry immunization records and one annual report each January. The Utah Fits All Scholarship is where the obligations are, and it splits its requirements at 150 enrolled students — total enrollment, not scholarship enrollment.

How Utah classifies a school like yours

This is the fork everything else hangs off. Get it wrong and every deadline below is the wrong set of deadlines.

  • Private school

    Immunization records on the official Utah School Immunization Record form, an annual statistical report each January, and a record for any transferring student. Reporting educator assignments to the state board is optional for private schools.

    Utah State Board of Education, Private Schools · last read 20 July 2026

  • Homeschool

    As of 7 May 2025 the notarized annual affidavit is gone, replaced by a one-time notification. The statute now expressly forbids the district from requiring records, credentials, facility inspections, or testing.

    Utah Code § 53G-6-204(2)–(5), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 209 (2025) · last read 20 July 2026

The requirements, each cited to its source

10 requirements, grouped by the kind of duty they are. Each links to the statute, rule or agency document it was read in, with the date it was read there.

What the statute requires

  • The homeschool record-keeping duty now sits on the school board, not the parent

    A one-time initial notification — it may take the form of a letter of intent — goes to the board of the child's district of residence, and the board must maintain a record of the notification and acknowledge receipt within 30 days. No new notification is required for a child whose parent already notified the board on or before 7 May 2025, including by a previously filed affidavit. A parent who filed under the old regime does not refile.

    Utah Code § 53G-6-204(3)–(5), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 209 (2025) · last read 20 July 2026

  • A Utah district may not require records, credentials, inspections, or testing

    A local school board may not require a homeschooling parent to maintain records of instruction or attendance, may not require credentials of the person giving instruction, may not inspect home-school facilities, and may not require standardized or other testing. The parent alone is responsible for materials, time, place, method, and evaluation. There are no records required, so there is no retention period.

    Utah Code § 53G-6-204(2)(a)–(b), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 209 (2025) · last read 20 July 2026

  • Utah's abuse-reporting duty has only two permitted recipients, and a head of school is neither

    The duty is universal — “a person” with reason to believe a child is or has been abused or neglected must report immediately — and the trigger has a second, broader limb: it also fires on observing conditions or circumstances that would reasonably result in abuse or neglect. Part 6 contains no school terminology at all, so private-school staff, co-op leaders, microschool operators and homeschooling parents are covered identically, as persons. Only DCFS or the nearest peace officer may receive the report. If DCFS asks, provide a written version within 48 hours. Willful failure is a class B misdemeanor.

    Where this is unsettled: The child-sexual-abuse training duty in § 53G-9-207 binds LEAs only — it does not reach private schools or microschools. Cite Title 80; the older § 62A-4a-403 reference is superseded.

    Utah Code § 80-2-602, § 80-2-606, § 80-2-609(3)(a), § 80-2-610 · last read 20 July 2026

What you file, and with whom

  • The January 30 immunization report is yours; the June 15 follow-up is not

    Private schools file annual statistical immunization reports with the state by 30 January: kindergarten, daycare and Head Start status; two-dose MMR status for all K-12; and Tdap, hepatitis B, varicella and MMR status for all seventh graders. The separate 15 June follow-up report in the same provision is expressly limited to public schools and does not apply to private schools.

    Utah DHHS, “Understanding the Utah Immunization Rule for Students, Module I” (rev. 05/2025) · last read 20 July 2026

What you have to keep

How this part is kept in Pearspark: attendance is a register per school year, immunizations are tracked against the list your state sets, enrollment and withdrawal dates sit on the student record, and each student's permanent records stay retrievable by the family and by a receiving school even if the school closes. How records work.

  • A flagged missing-child record must NOT be forwarded on transfer

    Section 53G-6-604(2)(b) forbids forwarding a flagged record to the requesting school and requires notifying the Division instead — the exact inverse of the normal transfer duty, and the inverse of what Ohio requires, where the mark must travel invisibly with the record.

    Where this is unsettled: Scope is genuinely unsettled. The duty in § 53G-6-602 runs to “a school,” deliberately not to an “LEA,” and no definition in this Part, the chapter (§ 53G-6-102 reads “Reserved”) or the title narrows it — so the text reaches private schools. But Title 53G is captioned “Public Education System” and the chapter “Participation in Public Schools,” and elsewhere Utah spells out “public or private” when it means it (§ 53G-9-301). Treat as probably binding and confirm with counsel.

    Utah Code § 53G-6-602; transfer block § 53G-6-604(2)(b) · last read 20 July 2026

School-choice program conditions

  • Utah Fits All pays $8,000, $6,000, or $4,000 — and the tier depends on age, not need

    Section 53F-6-402(2)(c) caps the annual award at $8,000 for a private school student; $4,000 for a home-based scholarship student aged 5–11 as of 1 September of the scholarship year; and $6,000 for a home-based scholarship student aged 12–18 on the same date. Funds are distributed in two equal payments: the first no later than 31 July of the scholarship year, the second no later than 31 December.

    Utah Code § 53F-6-402(2)(c)–(d), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

  • The 150 threshold counts enrolled students, not scholarship students

    Section 53F-6-408(1) opens: “To be eligible to receive scholarship funds on behalf of a scholarship student as an eligible school, a private school with 150 or more enrolled students shall…”. A school with 160 students and 4 on scholarship is in the upper tier. Those schools must submit verification of an agreed-upon procedures engagement by an independent licensed CPA addressing financial solvency and working-capital adequacy, or a GAAP audit — and must require nationwide fingerprint-based criminal background checks with ongoing monitoring for every employee without a current educator license, and every contract employee.

    Utah Code § 53F-6-408(1)(a), (1)(e), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

  • From 2026-27 every participating school needs a website posting tuition and fees

    Both tiers must maintain and operate a functioning website carrying clearly posted tuition costs, all additional fees required during the school year, the refund and reimbursement policies in an easily accessible location, contact information for the school's administration, and the school's address. Both must also give each prospective scholarship parent a written pre-enrollment disclosure of tuition and fees, and state that if a scholarship student withdraws and the refund policy provides a refund, the school remits it directly to the program manager for deposit back into the student's scholarship account — not to the family.

    Utah Code § 53F-6-408(1)(f), (4)(c)–(d), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

  • Published tuition must be identical for scholarship and regular students

    From the 2026-27 school year, a participating school's disclosure must state that its published tuition costs, fees, and refund policies are identical for scholarship students and regularly enrolled students, and that scholarship students will not be charged different amounts or subject to different refund terms in the same programs. A school with 150 or more enrolled students must also report a scholarship student's withdrawal to the program manager within five business days.

    Utah Code § 53F-6-408(1)(d)(vi), (1)(g), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

  • The family's portfolio is due 31 May and gates next year's award

    To maintain eligibility for the following school year, the parent must deliver to the program manager either a portfolio describing the student's educational opportunities and achievements for the year, or assessment results — no later than 31 May, or on an assessment schedule the program manager approved. Receipt is a condition of the following year's award. This attaches to the scholarship, not to homeschooling: a family taking no public funds has no portfolio or testing duty.

    Utah Code § 53F-6-402(3)(d), as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

The dates

Most of these bind only some schools, so read the “applies to” line before putting one in your calendar. Several bind the family rather than the school.

The school-choice money, and what taking it costs you

Utah Fits All Scholarship Program

What it pays

Up to $8,000 a year for a private school student; up to $4,000 for a home-based scholarship student aged 5–11 as of 1 September of the scholarship year; up to $6,000 for a home-based scholarship student aged 12–18. All three are subject to legislative appropriation.

How the money actually moves

A program manager under contract runs the scholarship accounts, coordinating with a separate financial administrator that handles payment processing, the payment portal, and reimbursements. Funds reach the account in two equal payments, by 31 July and by 31 December. If a scholarship student withdraws and your refund policy provides a refund, you remit it directly to the program manager for deposit back into the student's account — never to the family. Contracted entities may not charge processing fees to a student or pass on third-party fees.

What a school must be before it can take any

Split at 150 enrolled students. Under 150: FEIN, address, contact information, a description of each program offered, compliance with 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, a written pre-enrollment tuition and fee disclosure, and (from 2026-27) a functioning website. 150 or more: all of that plus verification of a CPA agreed-upon procedures engagement on financial solvency and working-capital adequacy or a GAAP audit, nationwide fingerprint-based background checks with ongoing monitoring for unlicensed and contract employees, and five-business-day withdrawal reporting.

Utah Code §§ 53F-6-402, 53F-6-408, as amended by Enrolled H.B. 467 (2026) · last read 28 July 2026

The same rules, done in Pearspark

A minute of screen recording per job: the tuition worksheet the program asks for, the deadlines it enforces, and what has to be reported when a student leaves.

Run Utah Fits All Scholarship complianceAdmins

Checked, and it does not bind you

Duties commonly assumed to reach private schools in Utah that, read in the source, do not. Knowing what you don't have to do is worth as much as knowing what you do.

What this page does not answer

The research behind this page recorded what it could not confirm as carefully as what it could. None of the following claims that no requirement exists. Each says that no primary source for one was read.

Open questions

  • Whether Utah affirmatively requires no registration, licensing, or approval of private schools. No official Utah source states it, and the federal summary that does is badly out of date — it cites repealed sections and the superseded annual homeschool affidavit — so it was discarded entirely.
  • The verbatim text of Utah Admin. Code R396-100. The state's administrative rules portal returned errors; the immunization requirements here come from the official health department rule page and its official training document, both of which quote the rule.
  • Any immunization-record retention period expressed in years — only “part of the permanent school record.” Do not infer a number.
  • Attendance records, academic records, standardized testing, teacher qualifications, safety inspections, and transfer records for private schools generally. The attendance and records rules found are expressly limited to districts, charter schools, and the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Absence of a verified requirement is not proof there is none.
  • Two other 2025 amendments to § 53G-6-204 were not read in full, so unrelated changes elsewhere in that section cannot be ruled out.

Zoning

Not covered. This research is state statute and administrative rule only, and zoning for a small school is a municipal question: a use classification, an occupancy threshold and a conditional-use process, all set by city ordinance. Rather than extrapolate, we have left it out. Ask your city's planning department which use classification applies to a school of your size in your building.

How to read what is here

  • Utah's code site serves sections as JavaScript-rendered pages that could not be read automatically, so statutory citations here rest on official enrolled bill PDFs — the authoritative enacted text — plus official state board and health department pages. The H.B. 467 (2026) text was extracted and read on 2026-07-28; that bill shows deletions in square brackets and the readings above follow the enacted, post-amendment text.
  • H.B. 233 (2026), which would have split “home school student” from publicly funded “home-based student,” did not pass. That distinction is not law.

Sources

Every source cited on this page, with the date it was last read.

The rest of the decision, once the rules are settled

Regulation is the first question a founder has and rarely the last.

Another state

8 states are covered so far, chosen on search demand and school-choice program size. The other 42 are not: we would rather leave a gap than publish a page we haven't researched.

The record-keeping half, once you're open

Attendance registers, immunization evidence and permanent records that outlive the school, all included from day one. Your first 30 days are free.

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