HB 189 Utah House · 2025 General Session

Public Education Course Grade Requirements

HB 189 prohibits Utah school districts from requiring students to attend off-campus events (like field trips) to earn grades or academic credit. It stops schools from lowering grades or penalizing students for skipping such events and mandates that if districts do require off-campus activities (only for essential, approved programs), they must provide free transportation, fee waivers, and on-campus alternatives. The bill directly affects students and school districts by ensuring off-campus attendance cannot be tied to academic outcomes. It takes effect July 1, 2025, if passed.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Mar 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to add an exception allowing schools to require off-campus attendance for essential instructional programs, changed the effective date from May 7, 2025 to July 1, 2025, and added formatting elements like a Senate Sponsor line and timestamp markers. This creates a more balanced approach by permitting necessary educational activities while maintaining protections against mandatory attendance for non-essential events.

Scope change

The bill now includes an exception clause that allows LEAs to require off-campus attendance when it is essential for fulfilling instructional objectives and approved by school administration, whereas the original version had an absolute prohibition.

REQUIREMENT

Added new subsection (3) permitting LEAs to require off-campus attendance for essential instructional programs that meet specific criteria including taking place off-campus during instructional periods, being essential for class objectives, and having approved student travel.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date from May 7, 2025 to July 1, 2025.

TECHNICAL

Added Senate Sponsor line, timestamp information, and formatting markers typical of substitute bill markup.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 7, 2025

Committee

House/ to standing committee

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

House/ 1st reading (Introduced)

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors