Draft Utah ethnic studies recommendations lack specifics, conform to anti-DEI law

After almost two years of meetings and listening sessions, the Utah Legislature’s Ethnic Studies Commission drafted its first list of potential recommendations. The draft recommendations, however, don’t offer a lot of specifics.

Ethnic studies were required to be incorporated into Utah’s K-12 core standards by a 2022 law. However, the new proposed recommendations focus mainly on staying in line with HB 261, the state’s recent anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law. It prohibits DEI hiring practices and offices aligned with identity at state-run universities, public schools and government entities.

Beyond those impacts, it has also had a cooling effect on discussions of race and identity.

“The Utah State Board of Education should carefully consider the use of ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum to ensure a narrowly tailored incorporation of age-appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs, or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus,” reads the first suggestion to the state board, which will ultimately be in charge of incorporating ethnic studies in public school standards.

Some commission members said this means including ethnic studies in topics like history but not requiring it in subjects like math or science.

The second recommendation directs the public education system to “incorporate curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics without commentary that seeks to violate the neutrality standard established in H.B. 261.”

The drafted guidance was presented at the group’s first public meeting of 2024 on Aug. 29. The commission will continue workshopping the recommendations and vote on them in the future, potentially at an October meeting.

Throughout the commission’s duration it has repeatedly struggled to cohesively define ethnic studies or a vision for how it should be incorporated in schools, and the anti-DEI law has complicated that further.

At the meeting, co-chair Republican Sen. Kirk Cullimore said the law put “parameters” on their work and “colors what those recommendations can be at this point.”

Rep. Ryan Wilcox, the other Republican co-chair, told KUER after the meeting that he doesn’t know if the law changed “what any of the recommendations would have ultimately been, because I think the commission was already headed that direction.”

Democratic commission members Reps. Angela Romero and Sandra Hollins both said they were confused by parts of the drafted list and what “neutrality” means in this context.

Wilcox said the short version is the curriculum shouldn’t say one race or ethnicity is better than another.

For Hollins, that further confused the issue, “because you’re saying that we’re not to promote one race over another. But if you have teachers who are not teaching any diversity because they are scared to, they are promoting one race over another because one race is being taught.”

Hollins said teachers are telling her “they’re scared to talk about anything, for lack of a better word, that’s not white.”

The draft was not uploaded where the public could see it before the meeting started, and while the co-chairs said the list was based on feedback from commission members, others said they hadn’t seen its full contents before the Aug. 29 meeting started.

The committee is also tasked with giving guidance to the Office of the Governor and the state Legislature, one of which suggests “The Legislature should continue to examine the neutrality standard in HB 261 to strengthen positive outcomes and address any unintended consequences.”

In 2022, Gov. Spencer Cox held a ceremonial signing to celebrate the passage of the law requiring ethnic studies to be taught in K-12 schools. The law created the committee to “consider and review” the contributions of diverse Utahns and figure out how to best incorporate ethnic studies into core standards.

School districts and charter schools had until Aug. 1, 2024, to select a curriculum for teaching ethnic studies. However, it became clear that the deadline would not be met since the state’s committee hadn’t even produced guidance to the board.

In a January email obtained by KUER through a public records request, Republican Rep. Candice Pierucci asked state school board member Jennie Earl for guidance on a new deadline.

Earl responded, “I would strike the time completely. The problem is [charter schools and school districts] are continually updating curriculum, but they may only purchase new curriculum for a specific subject every 5-7 years. We update standards every 7-10 years but never all at once. We just finished our English standards and are now starting math. Any date is unsustainable.”

In a 2024 education omnibus bill, lawmakers moved the curriculum selection deadline for districts and charters to Dec. 31, 2025.

Wilcox said they’ll adjust the timeline again in the future if necessary.