- 2025 was a year to remember for education in Utah.
- The Charlie Kirk slaying at Utah Valley University continues to claim global headlines.
- Other Utah education highlights included the launch of strategic reinvestment plans at public colleges — and a classroom cellphone ban for Utah grade schoolers.
Education in Utah in 2025 proved a consistent headline grabber — with high-interest stories ranging from higher education budget reallocations, Education Department disruptions, the sound of cellphone silence in K-12 classrooms, and the shocking news of the murder of Charlie Kirk on an Orem campus.
Here’s a look back at how Utah schools were impacted by a defining year in education— and what changes may await Utah education in 2026.
Launching Utah HB265: Higher education’s massive reinvestment plan
In an effort to better meet the needs of Utah college students and local industry, the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 265 — the so-called Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment plan requiring the state’s eight public colleges and universities to reallocate millions of budget dollars to programs determined to be of highest value.
Proponents of HB265 argued the reallocations were essential to serve Utah students and the local economy while also responding to higher education costs and high-demand industries in today’s high-tech world.
Opponents, meanwhile, countered that the bill jeopardized the humanities while weakening the reputations of Utah’s public colleges and universities.
This year’s reallocation efforts at each institution prompted the creation of hundreds of new employee positions on Utah campuses. But hundreds were also eliminated.
Meanwhile, academic programs and course offerings are being dramatically altered across Utah’s higher education institutions, with aggressive reinvestment happening in health care, STEM and artificial intelligence.
A Forbes magazine story suggested Utah’s HB265 could become a model for other state legislatures seeking ways to reshape academic programs.
“Universities might not like it because major restructuring always carries both expected and unanticipated costs, and it will force difficult choices by campus leaders,” the Forbes article noted.
“Still, the bill represents a relatively calibrated attempt to influence academic priorities that may find support across the political spectrum.”
Claiming a bachelor’s degree — in 3 years
Beyond budget reallocations, HB265 also limits bachelor’s degrees at Utah’s public degree-granting institutions to no more than 120 credit hours — with allowances if programs require additional credit hours if they require accreditation or licensing.
This year, Utah became the first public higher education system in the country to offer three-year bachelor’s degrees to help students complete degrees faster and save tuition money.
The Utah Board of Higher Education approved accelerated degree programs at Weber State University and Utah Valley University.
Charlie Kirk murder: Tragedy and panic at Utah Valley University
A Utah school became the unwanted focus of global attention in the moments, days and months following the Sept. 10 murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was shot during an outdoor gathering at Utah Valley University, prompting scores of students to scatter in fear.
Tyler Robinson, 22, of Washington, Washington County, is accused of shooting and killing Kirk. Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
Following the Kirk assassination, the Utah Board of Higher Education set plans in motion to establish a task force on campus safety.
The new task force will evaluate campus safety at the state’s 16 public higher education institutions — which includes eight degree-granting schools and eight technical colleges. It will then make recommendations to the UBHE for system-wide policies and practices.
K-12 schools: Silencing cellphones
Utah lawmakers in 2025 also passed a law, Senate Bill 178, prohibiting cellphone use during class time at the state’s public schools.
The new directive allows individual schools or districts to opt for a different policy — but there have been no reports of any exercising that option.
“Things are going great,” SB178’s sponsor, Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, told the Deseret News shortly after the 2025-2026 school year began.
“It’s been socially and academically beneficial — and I’ve heard that from teachers, as well as students. … Teachers like having the support of a law to back them when they know that cellphones are a distraction.”
Look for the Legislature in 2026 to perhaps expand the school cellphone prohibition beyond simply class time.
Several lawmakers have echoed Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s call for a so-called “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban in Utah public grade schools.
“Every piece of evidence shows that we must pass a full-day ban or risk damaging our kids more,” wrote Cox in a social media post in August.
For hire: Utah college presidents
There were several presidential job movements at Utah’s higher education institutions in 2025.
In February, Utah State University President Elizabeth Cantwell resigned after being selected as president of Washington State University. A survey presented to the legislative auditor general in August revealed several risks at the school regarding past oversight and spending practices at the President’s Office.
Brad Mortensen was appointed USU’s 18th president in October.
Mortensen had served as president of Weber State for several years. A search is now underway for Mortensen’s successor at WSU.
Utah Tech University also welcomed a new president in 2025 — Shane Smeed.
Headquartered in St. George, UT has experienced historic growth in recent years. During the 2000s, the school originally known as the St. George Stake Academy went from being Dixie State College to Dixie State University and now, since 2022, Utah Tech University.
And in September, veteran Westminster University President Beth Dobkin announced her upcoming retirement. The private university plans to have Dobkin’s replacement hired by next spring.
Trump administration disrupts Education Department
President Donald Trump has long expressed disdain for the Department of Education, calling it “a big con job” and seeking its closure.
Meanwhile, Cox and some members of Utah’s congressional delegation have also voiced support for abolishing the DOE, arguing education is best managed across the board at the state level.
But others worry students from vulnerable communities and schools could be harmed by the DOE’s seemingly eventual demise.
Under the direction of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, the department also laid off a sizable percentage of its staff in 2025.
And last month, the DOE announced the formation of a half-dozen interagency agreements — shifting several of the department’s critical functions across four other federal agencies: the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State.
The new agreements are expected to move billions of dollars in grant programs to sister agencies and, according to the DOE, “break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs … and move closer to fulfilling (Trump’s) promise to return education to the states.”
Perhaps most notable are administrative modifications of several key K-12 education programs, including Title I money for K-12 schools in low-income communities, from the DOE to the Department of Labor.
Utah’s new K-12 education chief
A veteran educator and former board member, Hart assumed her new position even as changes in Utah classrooms are happening in rapid, real time.
While optimistic about the emerging opportunities for Utah’s schoolkids, Hart is also tasked with helping to remedy challenges such as classroom misbehavior, chronic absenteeism and determining how to meet the diverse needs of the state’s K-12 student body.
Reading proficiencies dip in Utah — and beyond
In 2026, Hart and her associates will also be focusing increased attention on boosting reading proficiencies across the state.
The most recent “Nation’s Report Card” reveals Beehive State students performed “significantly higher” in math than the national public average for both fourth and eighth grades in 2024. And Utah’s fourth and eighth graders also outperformed their national counterparts, on average, in reading.
When the 2024 results revealed declining reading scores for eighth graders earlier this year, the Utah State Board of Education signaled their commitment to identifying the causes of declining reading scores — while implementing “targeted efforts” and proven strategies.