A bill that would change Utah's landmark school voucher program has emerged at the Legislature less than a week after Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed the program into law.

Rep. Brad Last, a St. George Republican and last-minute supporter of the original bill, is sponsoring the proposed amendments. The changes would give more oversight money to the Utah Office of Education, require criminal background checks of teachers in participating private schools and require a state audit of the voucher program two years earlier than originally mandated.

"I'm not trying to derail [the school voucher program]," Last said. "I'm not trying to water it down."

Before HB148, the original bill, passed, Last told its sponsor his concerns but opted to let that bill pass and become law before proposing changes, he said.

The House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. Steve Urquhart, the St. George Republican who sponsored the original voucher bill, has not assigned Last's bill to a standing committee for debate.

The amendments address several issues brought up during committee hearings and floor debates on HB148.

One amendment would require private schools accepting voucher students to perform criminal background checks on their teachers. A similar amendment proposed by Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, died on the Senate floor. The bill's sponsors said at the time that parents can avoid choosing schools that don't perform such checks.

Another concern was the $100,000 appropriated for oversight of the program. During a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, Brett Garner, a parent opposing the bill, noted that the Carson Smith voucher program serving roughly 300 special-needs students receives $112,000 for oversight. He called $100,000 for oversight of the far-broader school voucher program "woefully inadequate." HB174 would appropriate $200,000 for oversight.

The bill also would require a legislative audit after five years, rather than the seven years allowed in HB148.

"I like that he's asked for a review more rapidly than it had in the [original] bill - that seems reasonable given how fast of a change this is," said Patti Harrington, state schools superintendent. "We're delighted, of course, with the additional administrative money given that we're expecting 5,000 students in the first year."