H.B. 150 School-based Speech-language Pathologist Funding Amendments

What this bill does

This bill would make school speech-language pathologists and speech-language technicians eligible again for the $500 classroom supply funding that was taken away from them about two years ago. It also removes the word "teacher" from the bill's wording about who counts as eligible, which the sponsor describes as a drafting cleanup.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 11 yes, 2 no, 2 absentHouse Education Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 30, 2026Who voted how
• 69 yes, 1 no, 5 absentFinal House vote · Feb 10, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Education Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 24, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 30, 2026 House Education Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (44 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:28:58

     Thank you to the members of the committee. We're gonna move to item number three on the agenda. Uh, house bill one 50. First substitute school-based speech language pathologist funding amendments, Representative Koford.

  2. Rep. Jill Koford1:29:15

     Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the committee. And thank you. If you wouldn't mind introducing your guest. Yes, I will. This is with me is Sarah Cox. She is a speech pathologist from the Weber County School District. Has been in the school's teaching for 24 years. I'm grateful to have her here to maybe answer if you have technical questions. So, HB one 50 is a fairly straightforward bill. What it does is cleans up a little bit of the language, um, surrounding who a teacher is and provides funding that we have provided actually for years that was taken away from our speech, our speech therapists, who are also classroom teachers. Um, and it restores the funding for the $500 for supplies. Um, I, I want to be clear that, that the work that our speech, our speech therapists are doing in schools are in are incredibly important. Oftentimes in their classrooms, they have upwards of 50 or 60 students in their classroom. Um, these are students with high needs. These are students that need help getting on grade level, both in speech and in reading, and the critical skills that they need to develop those, those reading comprehension, um, marks that we want them to be hitting. And I have asked Sarah to just speak a little bit about what she does as a speech therapist and how important this funding will be for her.

  3. Sarah Cox, speech-language pathologist1:30:43

     My name's Sarah Cox. I've worked in the public education for 24 years as a school-based speech language pathologist for my entire career. Up until two years ago, SLPs received legis legislative classroom materials funding, just like other educators. Speech therapists have an educator's license classroom and typically have a caseload of around 60 students. You might know that we help students with their speech sounds, but we also work on skills necessary for reading such as phenology vocabulary and grammar. We work with students who use communication devices to communicate students who stutter and students with autism who struggle with social skills. We are not provided with any curriculum yet. We are required to individualize services for every student based on their IEP goals. Many of the students we serve are working on communication goals that are extremely difficult for them. Making progress requires sustained motivation, which means we rely heavily on hands-on materials, visual supports and motivators to help students stay engaged and willing to do the hard work. I've used this funding to purchase basic things like flashcards and Play-Doh all the way up to lamination and Velcro to create augmentative communication supports for my most severe students. HB one 50 restores equitable access to classroom materials funding for school-based SLPs so we can continue providing legally required high quality services to students with communication disabilities. 22 years of the 24 I have taught, I have received this funding. I believe it was a mistake that we were removed when the new bill passed a couple of years ago. This funding is not extra, it's necessary. So I urge you to support HB one 50. Thank you.

  4. Committee chair1:32:15

     Thank you Ms. Cox.

  5. Rep. Jill Koford1:32:16

     Thank you Sarah. Sarah, I appreciate that. Um, on a personal note, I had two of my kiddos that, um, while their speech impediments were adorable, dcy tofu and, um, I won't talk about Alex and his loves for kitties because he couldn't say his cuss sound. It came out as a tough sound. So I don't know that that would be appropriate in our committee, but it was adorable.

  6. Committee chair1:32:37

     Thank you. We appreciate that actually.

  7. Rep. Jill Koford1:32:40

     Um, I know firsthand the great work that these professionals do in our school and I would ask for the committee support With that, I'm open for questions.

  8. Committee chair1:32:49

     Alright. To the committee for clarifying questions. Uh, I've got a couple of lights. Uh, let's go to Representative MacPherson.

  9. Rep. Matt MacPherson1:32:56

     Thank you Mr. Chair. And, and thank you for bringing this. I do have a couple of quick questions though. Um, this expands the eligibility section. Um, right now it's just designated to teachers and it adds licensed education professional including a speech language pathologist or speech language technician. Are there other categories of educational folk in the school districts that are also not covered? That this is not expanding to?

  10. Rep. Jill Koford1:33:25

      My understanding in speaking with my drafter is that, um, we expanded it specifically to speech language pathologists and technicians only. There. I I think that there are probably other educators that would like to participate in this, but we have narrowed it to that.

  11. Rep. Matt MacPherson1:33:41

      And I bring that up because it does have an ongoing fiscal note of over a million dollars. I am aware of that. And my concern is, is obviously, uh, not from a policy perspective. If we could apply this to everybody in every category, that would be great. Um, but with a reduced, um, revenue and potential cuts in a lot of areas, I'm concerned that, um, these types of policies may be seen as picking and choosing who gets potentially additional revenue based on legislative priorities rather than educational priorities. So I I may be simply stating that I might not be able to support this bill simply because of the funding situation. But I appreciate you answering my questions. Thanks.

  12. Committee chair1:34:29

      Thank you. Thank you Representative MacPherson. We'll go to Representative Peck.

  13. Rep. Nicholeen Peck1:34:34

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is such important work, you know, that people are doing and I really appreciate your testimony and for what you're sharing about what you do. And um, and I know that for the confidence of our young people going forward, this really does a lot for them. It kind of chokes me up a little bit. I had a, a couple of children who had, um, dyslexia problems, not speech problems, but still, you know, it's, it's the same kind of idea, but it kind of makes me think of, um, that in the same bucket, it's like the people who work with dyslexia in the schools, are we calling them a teacher? 'cause it kind of looks like we're changing, we're kind of removing this teacher language all the time and putting somebody else in there. And I guess I'm not fully understanding why that's happening. So maybe that's my first question is why that's happening. And then I also have a concern about the, the budgetary part of it. 'cause it is really large. Um, it, do you have any explanation as to why it's such a big amount?

  14. Rep. Jill Koford1:35:36

      I don't, that's just the fiscal note that our analyst put on it. I did reach out for some que with some questions I haven't heard back in terms of eligible teacher. I think you're looking at the, at section one. Mm-hmm. Where it says an eligible teacher gives the definition and then that entire subsection, 1, 2, 3, um, refers back to what an eligible teacher is. It's just removing the word teacher right there to not, I believe not be redundant. It's referring to the individual, not a teacher. But that individual's definition is that in section A of that, which is the eligible teacher means a teacher licensed educational professional, professional, including a speech language pathologist or speech language technician. That's the definition. The reason in that section teacher has been removed is because it's just changing that, cleaning that up to refer to an individual who is a teacher.

  15. Rep. Nicholeen Peck1:36:33

      Okay. It doesn't clear it for me. It almost messes it for me in my head. But, um, alright. I, I guess I have, um, sort of a problem, and this is probably just with the drafters with, uh, how we remove a lot of things. Like we remove mother, father, parents, teacher person, and we just keep getting individual everywhere. And I feel like, are we making every individual a teacher? Because individual is just such a broad, non-descriptive term. So anyway, um, but if, if we feel like it's gonna hit its mark, then Okay. Thank you.

  16. Committee chair1:37:07

      Thank you Representative Peck. Uh, I see no further questions from committee members. We'll go to the public for public comment as you come to, uh, how many do we have here? It looks like two. Are there more than, do we have a few? Any more? Okay. Just, uh, I know you've, we know we've, uh, uh, spoken in today's meeting, but if you wouldn't mind, uh, please introduce yourself for the record and make sure you sign in.

  17. Kory Holdaway, Utah Speech-Language and Hearing Association1:37:34

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Corey Holwell. I am representing the Utah Speech and Hearing Association. And we want to thank, uh, the good representative for bringing this forward. This is an important bill in terms of just, uh, allowing, uh, speech pathologists to be able to access, uh, what, uh, was an oversight, I think largely, um, also as a matter of information, not all school districts, uh, treat speech pathologists, uh, in the same form or fashion. Uh, some of the districts have a, a separate salary schedule for, uh, school psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, things like that. Um, oftentimes speech pathologists are, are, uh, overlooked. Uh, and I, I think this is a, a bill that, uh, uh, is, is needed and, uh, would encourage your support. Alright, thank you very much.

  18. Renee Pinkney, Utah Education Association1:38:38

      Thank you. My name is Renee Pinkney. I'm a 31 year veteran social studies teacher serving as the UEA president and I am here to support HB one 50. This bill addresses a simple issue of fairness. Speech language pathologists are licensed educators who work directly with students every day. They rely on classroom supplies, instructional materials, and specialized resources to do their jobs. Just like other educators who currently qualify for classroom supply funding. HB one 50 restores eligibility that previously existed and brings parity by recognizing the important instructional role. Speech language pathologists play in our public schools. This is a UEA member led bill driven by educators who identified this issue and worked to correct it. I want to thank Representative Koford for being responsive to this concern and for listening to the needs of professionals working directly with students. HB one 50 supports educators and the students that they serve. I respect a respectfully urge your support. Thank you.

  19. Unknown speaker1:39:52speaker not certain

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I could add one thing, um, that I just on the fiscal note, If, if you don't mind. We do have, we're in public comment when we get to the I thought they were done. Nope, that's okay. And I think we have one online also, so, okay, great.

  20. Committee chair1:40:07

      Sorry, if you'll give us just a moment here. Sorry, I wont jump ahead. Yep, go ahead.

  21. Christine Ferrario, speech-language pathologist1:40:10

      Greetings. I'm Christine Ferrario. I'm a speech language pathologist that works in the Weber School District, uh, for over 20 years, but I also worked in California as well in, um, other states. Um, I wanted to speak to the comment about differentiating a teacher versus a speech language pathologist. Just some logistics. I have a classroom. Um, I possess a caseload of 65 children within my classroom one day a week. I have children with the parents that attend therapy within that classroom setting. And we participate together, um, in the parent child, um, therapist triad, which I think is a great program, by the way. Um, I wanted to be clear that my resource teacher adjacent to me also has a classroom. Uh, she's a special ed resource teacher and she also receives the funding, um, that we no longer receive and has in the past. So to differentiate between the wonderful collaborative effort that it takes to support our children in the public schools, we are line itemed as teachers. We are certified educators, and we also maintain a clinical certificate of competence, which also permits us to support speech language technicians with our burgeoning case loads. So I don't know if that helps any of the individuals better understand our role as teachers. And I do understand the semantics does get confusing and sometimes it does come down to that payroll schedule and what that looks like. We are on the payroll schedule as teachers, um, but we are also certified educators within the School of Utah. Thank you.

  22. Committee chair1:41:55

      Thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public here to speak to the bill? Okay. We're gonna move online. We have one in one individual online. Cason, if you'll make sure that your video is on. And please introduce yourself. Tell us who you represent.

  23. Cassen Williams, speech-language pathologist1:42:10

      If anyone, Can you see me? I am Cassin Williams Cas.

  24. Committee chair1:42:16

      Thank you for that clarification. We appreciate that. That's, we can see You as speech language pathologist. That's kind of important that you know how to say my name. It's Casin Point well made. Thank you.

  25. Cassen Williams, speech-language pathologist1:42:27

      Oh my goodness. Chair members and committee, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you today and representative Jill Vernal thank you for sponsoring Health Bill one 50. Guaranteeing the funds we need to supply our ourselves and our, our profession is such a practical and meaningful step that helps us to deliver the quality speech services in our schools that we need. It is a relief to not need to use our own funds to provide the materials our students need daily. There is still more work to be done though in Jordan School District. About 5,513 students, roughly 10% of our population is served by the 106 speech language pathologists. Each year. SLPs remove the communication barriers that drive academics participation and listening, vocabulary, syntax, organizing, writing, helping with social skills, early literacy, fluency, voice, and access to a a c devices. When students can communicate, they can learn. Yet SLPs are the lowest paid among comparable providers. SLPs on a step five on the salary scale received $66,900 with this year being added a $2,700 stipend given through the Jordan School District Board of Education. However, OTs, PTs, and school psychologists on that same step five salary receive $75,000 and special education teachers make $66,900 plus the $5,500 from the Shine stipend. We, each spring SOPs are given the same application to apply for that stipend. However, we are denied every year, and it's not due to a lack of need or qualification. But because our eligibility is being tied to courses taught and SOPs don't have course codes, that technicality created an equity gap in our compensation. The impact is real. Our, our retention of SLPs every year is within 10 to 13% annual turnover. We are a hard to fill position, and this matters for the continuity of services. I'm hearing for our colleagues that we are leaving the schools for other settings where the same work is paid more. Our ask is simple SLPs need to be included in either the Shine stipend or an equivalent stipend from our, for our districts. It's time to shine a light on the SLPs and recognize and compensate them equitably so that our students can keep consistent high quality service providers every day. So every student's voice is truly heard. Thank you so much for your support and thank you so much Jill Covert for your support of this bill.

  26. Committee chair1:45:24

      Thank you Cassen, we appreciate that. All right. Back to the, uh, that concludes our public comments. We'll move to the Committee for action items. Uh, Representative Welton.

  27. Rep. Doug Welton1:45:34

      Thank you Mr. Chair. I would like to move that we favorably recommend HB one 50 school-based speech Language pathologist funding amendments.

  28. Committee chair1:45:41

      Alright, the motion before is to recommend favorably HB one 50, the first substitute. It's already been adopted, school-based speech language pathologist funding amendments. Would you like to speak to that motion?

  29. Rep. Doug Welton1:45:51

      Uh, I would, I actually have a few thoughts on this. And for, for full disclosure, you can look at my online disclosure. I'm a school teacher and my wife is also a speech pathologist. So I see this, I live this, I see the disparity between classrooms and speech pathologists. And I can tell you from experience, my wife, uh, is a classroom instructor. She does special ed, she does the autistic preschool. And either it's a class setting, it's multiple students, it's small group lessons, but their teachers and those manipulables and those, those materials that they use are crucial to their job and to the success of their job. They cannot do it without it. Um, their need for classroom supplies is much greater than my need for classroom supplies as a high school teacher. And I don't want my high school teachers to come with their pitchforks and be mad at me. But I mean, their need is much, much greater than what my need is significantly greater. And the fact that we've left them out of our technicality is, is just, it's long overdue that we've addressed this. Uh, if you're gonna pay for it, you're gonna pay for it. Um, to a couple of the other comments that were made, um, some of the reasons why we're not using the term teacher is because we're talking about merit based qualifications. And in the bill we're talking about merit-based things. And not just teacher. These are people who have licenses and qualifications and referring to that instead of a single blanket term of teacher, that often gets misunderstood. Um, I could go on and on and on on this, but the, the work that they do is incredible. They could make 50% more in the private sector. You are seeing speech pathologists leaving and, and we're gonna be dealing with a lot of technical or, uh, technology in the schools. And one of the reasons why we're needing more speech pathologists is we have an uptake of kids coming into the school system that are nonverbal. They cannot speak, they cannot communicate. And we need speech pathologists at a greater rate than we ever have in the history of our state. This is an important thing. It's not a hard ask. And I would ask this committee to support this, uh, bill.

  30. Committee chair1:48:03

      Alright, thank you. Uh, we appreciate that. Uh, we're gonna go to, we have a number of members of the committee that would like to speak to the motion. We're gonna go to, uh, Representative Moss.

  31. Rep. Carol S. Moss1:48:14

      Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Representative Welton mentioned some of the things I was going to, but I wanted to just make this statement. A few years ago, I worked on this very thing and I remember, um, room 30 being totally packed with speech language pathologists. And what we were trying to do then was get them on the salary scale equivalent to teachers, but even higher, because as I recall, most speech language pathologists have to have master's degrees. So they started that level, but yet they were on the first level of teachers that have just bachelor's degrees. And what I heard in the testimony, as has been noted, how much money they can make in, in a clinical setting and that's why they're leaving. But this is what they said over and over again. But we love the kids. We wanna be in classrooms. We don't wanna just be in a clinic and work with individual kids, although they can do that. But the, the different difference in salary is, is pretty, pretty enormous. And so I think we must keep these people in our schools and being paid adequately. But what this is doing is providing those, um, those, um, materials that they need to do their job. But they really are an essential part of the education. So I fully support this bill. Thank you.

  32. Committee chair1:49:42

      Thank you. Representative Moss, uh, Representative MacPherson. Thank

  33. Rep. Matt MacPherson1:49:46

      You, Mr. Chair. And I, I do wanna just clarify, I completely and totally support this policy. Um, absolutely. But I am, uh, also quite confident that we don't have a million dollars in ongoing funding for this. Um, and if we pass this into, uh, law, then we are gonna be leaving that, uh, on the state board, on the LEAs to fund without any additional money from the legislature. And I don't think that that's an appropriate way to put this through. Um, and so I'm just, again, stating for the record, completely support this, but I will be No thanks.

  34. Committee chair1:50:24

      Alright, thank you Representative MacPherson. We'll go to Representative Thompson.

  35. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:50:29speaker not certain

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, um, what a conundrum, right? To, to say, Hey, we've got, we've got this funding issue here. Um, you know, first of all, I wanna say thank you to the, to the sponsor, to Representative Koford for this. Um, uh, I've worked with, um, a a couple programs around the state where, um, not just speed, um, pathologists, but, you know, uh, other types of therapies, um, and, and things, things like that, that we're losing people in these workforces hand over fist. We can't replace 'em. And, um, I do think that we need to have, um, not just, um, here at the state, I think just, um, in general, we need to have a very real conversation about what we prioritize, um, and making sure that people get, um, the services that, that they need and making sure that we're able to pay people, um, to quite frankly do, um, really remarkable work. Um, I'm gonna be a yes because I fully support the policy. Um, I'm heartbroken for the simple fact that, um, as Representative MacPherson has, has clearly put, there's a hard reality here that, um, that it does come down. It does come down to funding and I'm willing to help work to, to try and search and dig in the couches to find where we can, where we can make this happen. But I appreciate the sponsor's work and I'll be a yes today.

  36. Committee chair1:52:00

      Thank you Representative Thompson to Representative Peck.

  37. Rep. Nicholeen Peck1:52:05

      Thank you. And I appreciate everybody for answering my questions and all of that. I actually really also really love this policy and I hate to see people so qualified getting underpaid for what they do. I don't like that. Um, but at the same time, I do worry about the money. I'm gonna vote yes, but I'm hoping that by the time it gets to the floor, that maybe there's some work you could do on that money piece of it so that I don't have to work. So we don't have to vote no on the floor. 'cause we don't wanna waste a ton of time. E everybody's time pushing something through that ultimately dies on the chopping block because of funding, you know. But, um, but I'm gonna go yes, because I love what you're doing.

  38. Committee chair1:52:49

      Alright, thank you Representative Peck. Uh, we are gonna go, thank you for that reminder. We're gonna go to Representative Ox online, so

  39. Unknown legislator1:52:58speaker not certain

      Thank you Chair. Um, yes, thank you, Representative Koford. I, uh, really respect and agree with what you were doing. But as a member of the Education Appropriations Committee, um, we have zero ongoing funds. And so I can't in good conscience vote for this knowing that we won't be able to fund it. And then also, um, if we tried to do that, we would have to find other funding to cut in a year when we're already looking for almost, you know, $200 million to cut. And so, um, I appreciate your work on this and you know, if, if as Representative Peck said, there's a way to look at the funding piece differently, I'd rather do that in committee than, um, on the floor. But I'm gonna be a no today, but I want you to know that I support what you're doing. Thank you.

  40. Committee chair1:53:55

      Thank you, representative Voxer. Um, we'll go back to the sponsor.

  41. Rep. Jill Koford1:54:00

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. And there are a couple things that I'm clarifying. Um, my understanding is that this, this bucket of money has remained the same for years and, and has not increased even though we decreased the people who qualified for the funding. Um, so I am reaching out to the fiscal analyst to see if we can work on that. I, I realize that this is a tough year to ask for increased funding, but I also understand that that can be part of perhaps the horse trading during appropriations and would encourage you to hopefully support the bill, appreciate the motion, and I don't think I could add anything to what represent the good representative said about his wife and their experience in the classroom. Thank you.

  42. Committee chair1:54:40

      Okay. Um, back to the maker of the motion.

  43. Rep. Doug Welton1:54:46

      Yes. Um, just a, a couple more thoughts. Uh, speech pathologists do more than just teaching kids how to say Rs and Ls and kitty. They actually teach them how to communicate and write sentences and, and make sentences and those things that are basic. We're trying to focus on literacy and, and I know we're talking about all speech pathologists, but it starts at the bottom level and they are the, the root making sure our kids can read And that they can do that. So, uh, this is not wasted money. This is money well spent. Um, if I could make some suggestions, and I know that, uh, this is a hard sale because I know where the Senate president is on this, but I would argue that there's some money in merit pay that most districts are not choosing to use and it's not a good program. Uh, I would take money from merit pay from teachers. Uh, I would also take $10 off what I get as a high school teacher. I, that might be a hard fight with, uh, uh, other teachers. But if we, if we put in here that we're gonna decrease $10 from, from teacher pay to make sure that our speech pathologists get it too, I think that's the right thing to do.

  44. Committee chair1:55:57

      Alright. Thank you, uh, Representative Welton. The motion before us is to recommend Favorably House Bill one 51st substitute school-based speech language pathologist funding amendments. Uh, we're gonna do a roll call vote. Um, thank you. Isha, you've got the light Representatives. Er oh, Hayes. Yes. Liz and B. Yes. McPherson, no. Millard. Yes. Moss? Yes. Peck? Yes. Val Peterson. Yes. Pucci? Yes. Thompson? Yes. Welton? Yes. Vice Chair Defe? Yes. Chair Walter? Yes. That motion passes 11 to two with Representative Box that passes 11 to two with representative ER and Representative MacPherson. No. Alright. Thank you. Um, Representative Koford, you're up again. I think I'll just stay right here if that's okay. That'd be great. Um, thank you. Thank you.

• Feb 10, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (14 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker (clerk)1:08:57

     First substitute House bill one 50 school-based speech language pathologist funding amendments by Representative Koford. This bill was served in education with the vote of 11 2 2.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:09:08

     Representative Koford.

  3. Rep. Jill Koford1:09:09

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'd like to move, um, second substitute in my name.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:09:14

     That motion is in order. We'd like speak to it.

  5. Rep. Jill Koford1:09:16

     Yes, Mr. Speaker. We had a fairly large fiscal note on the bill because it was sweeping in some other educational professionals that, um, between the drafter and I, we didn't think were being swept into the policy. And so this just clarifies that the focus of this bill is for speech language pathologists and technicians.

  6. Speaker (presiding)1:09:34

     Thank you Representative Koford. Discussion to the motion to adopt second substitute ONB one 50 under Representative Koford. Name none. We'll go ahead and place the motion. The motion before is the house adopt second substitute HB one 50. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes the bill been substitute and before the body for further consideration. Back to your Representative, Koford.

  7. Rep. Jill Koford1:10:01

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Um, as I mentioned, this bill extends some supplemental funding to our speech language pathologists and technicians in the school colleagues. These very important teachers are in fact, teachers. They have classrooms. They often have a caseload of between 60 and 90 students, depending on the elementary school or the school where they're serving. They're doing critical and important work with our language learners and with our, well with our young, our, our students as they learn to read and speak and often communicate. Um, so what this bill does is it just gives them the opportunity to access the supplemental income for classroom supplies. For many years, our speech language pathologists were able to do that. A couple of years ago we changed this policy and for the last two years they have not been able to access this additional income. It would be an enormous help for them and I would urge my colleague support with that. I'm open to questions.

  8. Speaker (presiding)1:10:58

     Thank you, Representative Koford. Uh, discussion to the bill Representative Arthur.

  9. Rep. John Arthur1:11:06

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would just like to rise in strong support of this bill. Our, our speech language pathologists have been working incredibly hard in our schools and not receiving the benefit of that, that added pay as well as the supplies they need to help children be as successful as possible. So for this reason, I, I want to commend the good sponsor for bringing this bill and I encourage all my colleagues to, to vote in favor. Thank you.

  10. Speaker (presiding)1:11:31

      Thank you Representative Arthur. Further discussion to the bill representative er,

  11. Unknown speaker (member)1:11:36speaker not certain

      Mr. Speaker. Um, I also wanted to rise in support of this bill and commend this sponsor for her good work on, um, this and trying to get the fiscal note to a more manageable, um, position. And so I am, I'm grateful for that work and I urge your support. Thank you.

  12. Speaker (presiding)1:11:54

      Thank you representative. Er further discussion to the bill. Seeing none back Representative Koford for summation.

  13. Rep. Jill Koford1:12:01

      Thank you Mr. Speaker. Oftentimes we think of speech language pathologists as the magicians that help our teacher, our students learn their gus sounds or their K sounds or their R sounds. My, I had two of those kids in my family, but they do so much more and I'm, I just urge your support of the important work that they're doing. Thank you.

  14. Speaker (presiding)1:12:20

      Thank you Representative Cole for voting and I'll be open on second substitute. HB one 50, seeing all present hand voted. Voting is now closed. Second substitute HB one 50 passes this body with 69 Yes votes one no vote will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Madam Reading Clerk

• Feb 10, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (12 turns)

  1. Rep. Jill Koford1:09:09

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'd like to move, um, second substitute in my name.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:09:14

     That motion is in order. We'd like speak to it.

  3. Rep. Jill Koford1:09:16

     Yes, Mr. Speaker. We had a fairly large fiscal note on the bill because it was sweeping in some other educational professionals that, um, between the drafter and I, we didn't think were being swept into the policy. And so this just clarifies that the focus of this bill is for speech language pathologists and technicians.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:09:34

     Thank you Representative Koford. Discussion to the motion to adopt second substitute ONB one 50 under Representative Koford. Name none. We'll go ahead and place the motion. The motion before is the house adopt second substitute HB one 50. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes the bill been substitute and before the body for further consideration. Back to your Representative, Koford.

  5. Rep. Jill Koford1:10:01

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Um, as I mentioned, this bill extends some supplemental funding to our speech language pathologists and technicians in the school colleagues. These very important teachers are in fact, teachers. They have classrooms. They often have a caseload of between 60 and 90 students, depending on the elementary school or the school where they're serving. They're doing critical and important work with our language learners and with our, well with our young, our, our students as they learn to read and speak and often communicate. Um, so what this bill does is it just gives them the opportunity to access the supplemental income for classroom supplies. For many years, our speech language pathologists were able to do that. A couple of years ago we changed this policy and for the last two years they have not been able to access this additional income. It would be an enormous help for them and I would urge my colleague support with that. I'm open to questions.

  6. Speaker (presiding)1:10:58

     Thank you, Representative Koford. Uh, discussion to the bill Representative Arthur.

  7. Rep. John Arthur1:11:06

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would just like to rise in strong support of this bill. Our, our speech language pathologists have been working incredibly hard in our schools and not receiving the benefit of that, that added pay as well as the supplies they need to help children be as successful as possible. So for this reason, I, I want to commend the good sponsor for bringing this bill and I encourage all my colleagues to, to vote in favor. Thank you.

  8. Speaker (presiding)1:11:31

     Thank you Representative Arthur.

  9. Unknown speaker1:11:32speaker not certain

     Further discussion to the bill representative er, Mr. Speaker. Um, I also wanted to rise in support of this bill and commend this sponsor for her good work on, um, this and trying to get the fiscal note to a more manageable, um, position. And so I am, I'm grateful for that work and I urge your support. Thank you.

  10. Speaker (presiding)1:11:54

      Thank you representative. Er further discussion to the bill. Seeing none back Representative Koford for summation.

  11. Rep. Jill Koford1:12:01

      Thank you Mr. Speaker. Oftentimes we think of speech language pathologists as the magicians that help our teacher, our students learn their gus sounds or their K sounds or their R sounds. My, I had two of those kids in my family, but they do so much more and I'm, I just urge your support of the important work that they're doing. Thank you.

  12. Speaker (presiding)1:12:20

      Thank you Representative Cole for voting and I'll be open on second substitute. HB one 50, seeing all present hand voted. Voting is now closed. Second substitute HB one 50 passes this body with 69 Yes votes one no vote will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Madam Reading Clerk

• Feb 24, 2026 Senate Education Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (18 turns)

  1. Committee chair (presiding)56:59

     second substitute HB one 50, uh, Representative Koford, school-based speech language pathology funding amendments.

  2. Rep. Jill Koford57:09

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate being here. Um, several years ago, and for actually many years, our speech language pathologist we're eligible to receive supplemental funding for classroom supplies. I think it was about two years ago. Some things changed in our code, and they're no longer eligible for that. Um, our speech language pathologists are classroom teachers in many, many of, many of our elementary schools. They have a class load of 50 to 75 students, and they're working with some of our most vulnerable kids, kids who are non-verbal. They're getting them verbal so that they can read or teaching them skills so that they can communicate, um, their jobs go far beyond just the regular speech. Um, kinds of things that we might think about. Two of my children were actually in, worked with really amazing speech therapists to get them speaking clearly and on grade level. Um, so the bill simply, um, allows that $500, our speech language pathologists and, and technicians to be eligible for that. And with that, I am open to questions.

  3. Committee chair (presiding)58:15

     Okay. Does that conclude your presentation? It

  4. Rep. Jill Koford58:17

     Does. I did wanna mention that we worked really hard to get the fiscal note down. Um, and it's, it's still a little on the high side, but we're hoping we can get that funded.

  5. Committee chair (presiding)58:27

     Okay. Thank you. We're gonna come back to, uh, the committee for clarifying questions. Seeing none, I'm gonna come to members of the audience. Anyone in the audience want to testify, come forward, state your name and who you represent. When you're done with your comments, make sure you sign in. Uh, I'll set the timer for a minute. 30 seconds. Go ahead.

  6. Sara Jones, Utah Education Association59:00

     Good morning. Committee members. I'm Sarah Jones with the Utah Education Association. I just wanna thank Representative Koford for recognizing a need in our schools and running this legislation. As she said, this bill creates a tech, uh, corrects a technical error that was made in 2024 by legislation that was passed, codifying the, um, language around classroom supply money. Prior to 2024, speech language pathologists did receive that classroom supply money, but after that bill was passed, house Bill 1 0 5, they no longer qualified. And we believe this was simply an oversight and inadvertent. And so House Bill one 50 would restore speech language pathologists to once again receive that classroom supply money. And we urge your support. Thank you very much.

  7. Committee chair (presiding)59:54

     Thank you. Any other comments? Okay, we have one online, Cassen Cassen Casson Williams. Uh, go ahead. Uh, if you'd like to comment, please raise your hand, uh, to provide online public comment. You must have your camera on state your name and who you represent and where you are located. And you'll have minute

  8. Cassen Williams, Speech Language Pathologist, Jordan School District1:00:23

     Please. Hi, I'm Cassen Williams. I'm the speech language pathologist here for Jordan School District.

  9. Committee chair (presiding)1:00:28

     Very good. Go ahead.

  10. Cassen Williams, Speech Language Pathologist, Jordan School District1:00:30

      Thank you Chair and members of the committee. And thank you for the opportunity. I'm grateful for Representative Culver for sponsoring House Bill one 50 in Jordan School District. Approximately 5,500 students, or 10% of our population receive speech language pathology services. For our 106 SLPs, we remove communication barriers that drive academic success by teaching, listening, learning vocabulary, syntax, writing social skills, and a a c access. When students can communicate, they can learn. HB one 50 guarantees our funding for the supplies we use daily to improve the communication skills for the students we serve, relieving us from the burden of using our own personal funds to serve our students. And that support matters deeply. There's an ongoing issue we must address at step six in Jordan SLPs earn $66,900 plus, we receive a $2,700 stipend while occupational therapists, physical therapists, and school psychologists earn $75,000. Special education teachers receive $5,500 through the Shine stipend, but SLPs are excluded because we lack a course code. This inequality impacts our retention. Our turnover is 10 to 13% annually. Colleagues are leaving for better paid positions elsewhere because the same work is simply paid more. Not because we want to leave the schools, but because we can't afford to stay. I urge you to pass HB one 50 to support our ability to help the supplies needed to continue to serve our students. Continue supporting SLPs and clarify our role. Thank you so much for your support.

  11. Committee chair (presiding)1:01:59

      Thank you very much. We have any other comments? Seeing none. We're gonna come back to the committee. Uh, Senator Riebe. Go ahead.

  12. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe1:02:10

      Chair. I'd like to send out HB one 50 school-based speech language pathologist funding amendments with a favorable recommendation as amended or substituted or whatever one we're looking at right now. Okay. So the motion is to, uh, send out second substitute HB one 50 with a favorable recommendation. Any, uh, comments on the motion?

  13. Committee chair (presiding)1:02:33

      Seeing none, I'm gonna come back to Representative Koford to

  14. Rep. Jill Koford1:02:36

      I appreciate the motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  15. Committee chair (presiding)1:02:40

      Senator Riebe.

  16. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe1:02:41

      Thank you. I appreciate this bill. You know when you are in schools and you see kids get quieter and quieter and quieter, and you recognize that they really just have a speech impediment, it causes them to not participate. So it's really important that our kids feel comfortable, safe, and they're able to articulate their needs in a well-formed way. So thank you for bringing this bill.

  17. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe1:03:02

      So the motion is to send out a second substitute HB one 50 with favorable recommendation.

  18. Committee chair (presiding)1:03:09

      All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Chair rules? That is unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank You so much.