Utah charter schools might soon have to put growth on hold.

The House passed a $2.4 billion school budget Tuesday that would prohibit, among other things, charter school growth in 2010-11.

"It was sacrificed to keep other [things] intact," said bill sponsor Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan.

But Senate bill sponsor Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said he plans to introduce a substitute bill that would allow charter schools to continue to grow while slowly moving part of the funding of charters from the state to school districts.

"There are long waiting lists for charter schools and parents should have choices in their children's educations," Stephenson said.

HB2 next moves to the Senate. Lawmakers, as a whole, have until Thursday at midnight to pass the minimum school program budget bill.

Overall, lawmakers are looking at a net cut to education of less than 6 percent with help from $298 million in federal stimulus money for one year only. Districts would also still have the option of slashing up to five days off the school year to help deal with the cuts, which will be largely left up to districts

The amount of money spent per student in Utah would remain the same.

"We have made some cuts that will be difficult in some areas," Newbold said. "We have kept the major funding intact and will be able to move forward without major effects on the classroom."

Charter school proponents, however, are not happy with the bill as it was passed Tuesday, because it forbids charter schools from serving more students in 2010-11 than the previous year. The bill also warns that because of budget constraints the state might not be able to give charter schools more local replacement money that school year. The state helps fund charter schools with local replacement money because they can't, unlike school districts, raise taxes on their own.

State Charter School Board chairman Brian Allen said he's disappointed with the bill but understands the need for it in this tight budget year.

"It's the price you pay for being different; you have to fight for funding, but we understand the need to balance the budget," Allen said. The state charter board had already given approval to a handful of new charter schools to open in 2010. Allen, however, said he suspects those schools haven't yet made arrangements that can't be undone.

Other charter school supporters, however, more strongly disagreed with the bill.

Lincoln Fillmore, vice president of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, called the cuts "misguided." Schools that have already been working toward opening in 2010 "would suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them," he said.

Stephenson's new version of the bill would not limit charter school growth and would instead shift funding from the state to school districts. Now, school districts pay 25 percent of the replacement money to charters and the state pays the rest. Stephenson's version would keep the figure districts pay at 25 percent this school year and next, but then increase it to 50 percent in 2010-11. The following school year, it would increase to 75 percent and the year after that to 100 percent.

Stephenson said he's still in negotiations with House members over the new version of the bill.

Kim Frank, director of policy and advocacy with the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, joined her husband, Rep. Craig Frank, in negotiations over the bill.

Craig Frank, along with other lawmakers, tried unsuccessfully to delay the charter growth cap Tuesday before the bill passed, saying the idea needed more discussion and wouldn't be fair to charter schools.