Washington for Local Education

Education Legislation - 2015

Keep track of the bills critical to local control of education in
Washington County for the 2015 Legislative Session
We do our best to keep this page updated, but the official Utah State Legislature website
(http://le.utah.gov/) is the only source for the most up to date information on the bills listed below.
Be sure to check the Legislature's website for official information, particularly committee meeting
times and bill status. Schedules for the House and Senate Education Committees, as well as
contact information for committee members, can be found through our State Education
Committees page.
The Legislature's website also includes a useful bill Tracking Service that will automatically inform you of
updates to bills (http://le.utah.gov/asp/billtrack/track.asp)
Utahns Against Common Core also maintains a list of bills for the legislative session which you can find
here: http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/2015-legislation/

Bill
#

HB
54

SB
104

Title

Public
Education
Increased
Funding
Program

Education
Elections and
Reporting
Amendments

Description

DLE
Stan
ce

This bill raises the state individual

income tax from 5% to 6%. Even
ignoring the many valid arguments that
indicate funding is not the problem with
education, raising the state income tax
cannot close the funding gap Utah has
with other states. See the data showing
this in our paper Why don't Utahns care
about Education?

Opp
ose

The current system for election of state

school board members gives the
Governor essentially complete control
over who is selected and was recently
found unconstitutional in court. This bill
would change state school board
elections to follow the partisan election
process. Some have complained that
making school board elections partisan
will open them up to political influence,

Sup
port

Action

Great news, this failed in

Committee with 2 For and 11 Against.
Thank you to everyone that contacted
the committee members.

Passed committee 10-2-2, now heads to

the full House. Contact your State
Represenative (House) and ask them
to vote YES.

DLE
Stan
ce

Action

Amend Utah
Constitution State Board of
Education
Changes

This bill would initiate a constitutional

amendment to remove elections for State
School Board members and instead the
Governor would appoint board members
personally. The State Board of
Education oversees the largest expense
in our entire state and needs to be
responsible to the voters, not just a
single person.

Opp
ose

Passed the Senate Education Committee

5-1-2. Contact your State Senator and
ask them to vote NO on this
resolution. Contact information for the
Senators from Washington County are
available here. If you're not sure who
your Senator is, that page also contains
a guide to help you identify them.

Maintenance of
Student Records

This bill removes nearly all the current

limitations on sharing student data for a
number of issues. This would leave only
Federal FERPA laws to protect students.
FERPA does not protect our students
data from the abuses our current law
does. To take those protections away is
to put our students at risk and violate
their right to privacy. If this bill passes
and FERPA ever gets repealed Utah will
lose all student privacy protections.
Basing State laws on Federal Laws
usurps State sovereignty. This bill
basically says we trust the Federal
Government to make our student privacy
laws for us.

Opp
ose

Passed both the House and Senate.

Contact the Governor and ask him to
veto here

HB
113

Dual Enrollment
Amendments

This bill would expand the opportunities

for students to dual enroll, thereby
increasing the options available for
parents to choose regarding their
children's education.

Sup
port

Email the House Health and Human

Services Committee members and ask
them to support this bill.

SB
204

Parental Rights
in Public
Education

Sup
port

Passed the Senate Education

Committee. Contact your State
Senator and ask them to vote YES on
this bill.Contact information for the
Senators from Washington County are

Bill
#

Title

Description

but as the largest expenditure in the state

they are already the major political
issue. This bill would remove the facade
of non-partisanship and open candidates
to the greater scrutiny of the caucusconvention system.
Update: The bill originally applied to
local school board elections as well, but
was amended to apply to only the state
school board race.

SJR
5

HB
128

This bill officially clarifies that parents

may opt their children out of
"anysummative, interim, or formative
test that is not locally developed" or
"any test that is federally mandated or

Bill
#

Title

Description

DLE
Stan
ce

Action

mandated by the state." Also, that

parents are not required to meet school
officials or use any form other than a
parent's written statement as a condition
of opt-out. The bill also states the
parent's written statement stays in effect
until further notice.

available here. If you're not sure who

your Senator is, that page also contains
a guide to help you identify them.

HCR
007

Resolution
Urging
Development of
Methods to
Minimize
Excessive
Testing and its
Negative
Impacts

This is a great example of a nice

sounding title, but serious problems
buried in the details. This is especially
true regarding local control as it calls to
"maximize the integration of testing into
an aligned curriculum." We support
curriculum development at the local
level, not uniformity for the entire state.

Opp
ose

Passed committee 9-1-4, now heads to

the full House. Contact your State
Represenative (House) and ask them
to vote NO. Contact information for the
Representatives from Washington
County are available here. here. If
you're not sure who your Representative
is, that page also contains a guide to
help you identify them.

HB
197

Educator
Licensing
Amendments

This bill would allow outstanding

candidates for administrative positions
to have certain certificate requirements
waived by the State School Board.

Sup
port

Passed the House 43-30-2.Contact the

Senate Education Committee
members and ask them to support
this bill. Contact information for
committee members here.

State School
Board Powers
Modifications

This bill would redefine the Section of

the State Constitution authorizing the
State Board of Education. This
redefinition would would give more
power to the State Board, reducing
opportunities for local control. The State
Board currently has "general control and
suprevision", but this bill would change
that to "direct and manage the public
education system".

Opp
ose

Passed the House Education Committee

12-0-2.Contact your State
Represenative (House) and ask them
to vote NO. Contact information for the
Representatives from Washington
County are available here. If you're not
sure who your Representative is, that
page also contains a guide to help you
identify them.

HB
263

Federal Legislation
We primarily focus on state and local legislation as we can impact those most effectively, however we will let
you know of federal legislation if it has a substantial impact on education.

Bill
#

Title

TBD

Reauthorization
of ESEA/NCLB
Act

Description

Lamar Alexander's draft bill claims to be restoring

freedom in education, but does exactly the opposite and
formalizes the role of the federal government in
implementing Common Core. An excellent, detailed
dissection of this bill is available via UACC here

DLE
Stan
ce

Opp
ose

Action

Contact Senator
Hatch and Senator
Lee and ask them to
oppose this bill