A bill that would have required school districts to create policies encouraging involvement of all parent groups died during in the final hours Thursday.

House lawmakers shot down SB199 43-30 after previous versions raised the ire of the state PTA.

Sponsor Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said he created the original bill after some parents and Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) said they weren't receiving opportunities equal to those received by PTA members at their schools.

The original version would have barred schools from working with parent groups that refused to waive dues upon request, such as the PTA. A second version removed that part but would have prohibited schools from favoring one parent group over another.

PTA leaders feared that language might lead principals and administrators to decrease parental-involvement chances for fear they would break the law if they didn't extend the same opportunities to everyone.

The third and final version eliminated all the prohibitions and instead would have required districts to form policies encouraging involvement by all groups. But many lawmakers argued against state involvement.

"Why are we trying to legislate what appears to be turf wars, personality conflicts that center on ... one school?" asked Rep. Carol Moss, D-Holladay. "We're now going to put administrators in a position of being referees, and they have more important things to do than to referee differences between parent groups."

But House sponsor Rep. Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo, said it was important lawmakers send a message about the importance of parent involvement in schools.

Sue Carey, family-life commissioner with the PTA, said her group never thought the issue should have been legislated. She said the issue should remain a local one.

Dawn Frandsen, a member of a Provo PTO, who helped bring the legislation to Bramble, said the final bill would have kept the issue local by asking districts to form policies. She said exclusion of PTO members from school opportunities is a statewide problem.

"I hope it does raise awareness," Frandsen said, "and make people realize the problem exists, whereas before people may have assumed it was an isolated incident."