Odds are, prior to the 2024 general session of the Utah Legislature, most Utahns didn’t know the name of their state school board representative.
Possibly that’s changed after one of the board’s 15 members dominated headlines during the Legislature’s 45-day session after she posted on Facebook an image of a high school girls basketball player that implied the student-athlete was transgender.
Responding to statewide outrage that the teenager was targeted and bullied, and the related fallout of security concerns for the girl, her family, school and basketball team, state lawmakers took the unprecedented step of publicly censuring Natalie Cline, who represents District 9 on the elected Utah State Board of Education.
Senate Majority Whip Ann Millner, R-Ogden, said legislative leaders and staff could not find any record of a previous Utah Legislature adopting a censure resolution.
“We’re really in uncharted waters here. ... But Ms. Cline’s actions are egregious and disheartening, which is why we’re taking such serious steps,” Millner said.
Legislative leaders and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and a host of local school boards and municipalities urged Cline to resign. She has not and recently announced she will seek reelection.
While the events consumed a significant amount of Utah lawmakers’ time, it was just one of many weighty public education issues they considered.
In what Senate Budget Chairman Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, described as a “socks and underwear” budget year, lawmakers lifted up their efforts for public education, which included a 5% increase to the value of the weighted pupil unit, the state’s basic building block of education funding.
In a briefing with reporters on the final day of the legislative session, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, said the Legislature continues to invest in Utah students, teachers and the state’s education system.
“This year, we’ve added over $600 million to our education budget. We continue to do that over the past since I came into the Legislature and I’m a little newer. Since 2019, we have significantly increased our education funding and we continue to make those investments in our future through our education programs,” Brammer said.
Stevenson said in total, there was $1 billion more appropriated to public education, “which is incredible and I hope, appreciated.”
Cox likewise applauded the 5% increase to the value of WPU, bringing it to $4,494 in the next fiscal year.
“To get a 5% WPU increase is absolutely crazy. We take this for granted. I mean, we never had 5% on the WPU when I was starting as lieutenant governor ... and now that’s kind of been the norm over the past couple of years, which is phenomenal,” Cox said.
“Last year, we had the largest pay increase for teachers in our state’s history, so that’s a big deal and something we should be celebrating if it has gotten lost because of these other things that are happening out there. We should never lose sight of great things that are happening in education,” he said.
The session ended with a mixed bag of initiatives to reward high performing teachers, measures to retain them such as a minimum of paid leave after the birth of a child and $8.4 million for teacher supplies, several measures attempted to exert control on what teachers can say and display in their classrooms or legislation that would have required schools to post the Ten Commandments. The bill was amended to include the Ten Commandments and the Magna Carta to an optional list teachers can use in their curricula.
HB303 sought to control what Utah teachers can say and display in their classrooms but it failed. On Friday, another measure that prescribed what specific flags were permissible for classroom display was defeated by a vote of 20-9 in the Senate after lawmakers from both parties balked at the late introduction of the language into HB477. An effort to revive the bill in the final minutes of the session failed.
Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, queried, “Are we just needing to outlaw rainbows? Is it more than that? Am I missing something there?”
On the final day of the session, the Utah Senate defeated a bill that would have created a process to permit volunteer chaplains to assist students and staff in public schools. Some lawmakers said they feared once the schools opened the door to volunteer chaplains “we will have literally no control over who walks through it,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan.
“I think that we will come to really regret this bill if it passes when we see the results.”
Lawmakers also passed legislation that can allow for statewide removal of school library books or materials deemed pornographic or indecent but provides an option for schools to appeal to the state school board.
Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney said the association had two priorities during the session: supporting the recruitment of new teachers and pushing back a measure that, as originally drafted, would have prohibited school districts from deducting employees’ association dues as a part of their payroll processes. The bill passed out of a House committee with a favorable recommendation but was not considered by the House, even after the payroll deduction language was removed.
HB221 will pay stipends to college students completing teacher education programs while they perform their student teaching. They are currently unpaid.
“The mixed results in our budget priorities remind us of the ongoing battle to protect public education. We remain steadfast in our commitment to work together with legislators to ensure that every child in Utah has access to a high-quality education and that our educators are respected, trusted and treated as professionals. We are grateful for the continued support and solidarity of our educator members and allies,” Pinkney said.
After considerable debate and study, lawmakers passed HB84, an omnibus school safety bill, and appropriated $100 million in one-time funding and $2.1 million in ongoing funding for the initiatives. The bill establishes minimum safety procedures for schools, such as panic buttons, improved communication systems and required reporting by state employees and others if they become aware of threats to schools.
One of the more controversial aspects of the legislation is allowing public school employees to volunteer as “guardians” who will undergo training and carry concealed weapons to respond to threats to schools.
Some senators noted the opposition to the guardians was tied to the presence of guns in schools but noted they can be legally carried by school employees into schools under current law.