A Utah rule that promises equal educational opportunities for all students, no matter their background, will remain intact after state board members on Thursday narrowly rejected a proposal to repeal the rule.
The vote failed 8-7, with chairman James Moss, Joseph Kerry, Natalie Cline, Emily Green, Christina Boggess, Matt Hymas and Jennie Earl voting in favor of its repeal. The board plans to revisit the rule next month to make possible amendments.
“[I’m] relieved,” said Darlene McDonald, a national committee member for the Utah Democratic Party who ran for Congress last year. She’s been outspoken about keeping the rule in place since its repeal was first proposed in November.
The administrative rule, R277-328, defines “educational equity” as the recognition that all students can learn, and requires schools to provide the resources students need for equal educational opportunities. Those resources include funding, programs, policies and other supports.
The rule also requires districts to provide equity training for staff and teachers, and guarantees the protection and inclusion of all students with diverse identities and backgrounds.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah State Board of Education meets in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.
Members Boggess, Green and Kerry, made the repeal request, saying the 2021 rule was “in conflict” with HB427, passed in 2023. The state law requires all classroom instruction to align with the principles of “inalienable rights, equal opportunity and individual merit.”
Boggess said while the equity rule and HB427 are similar, they are at odds, and USBE should bring it into compliance with state law.
“We have found ourselves in a place where the existence of both creates confusion and conflict,” Boggess said. “I believe that a vote to repeal this is a vote to send the message that this board is committed to fostering an educational environment focused on learning and critical thinking, free from constraints of any singular ideology.”
Prior to the vote, HB427′s sponsor Rep. Tim Jimenez, R-Tooele, told board members that it was the “House’s will” that the equity rule be repealed in full with no amendments. He had sent a letter to chairman Moss in September regarding the board’s “lack of meaningful action” to become in compliance after HB427 passed.
Jimenez said that while he was grateful USBE considered the motion to repeal, he was “disappointed” it didn’t pass.
Despite opponents’ arguments that the rule didn’t comply with HB427, several board members on Thursday cited an email from the board’s legal counsel that said the rule did comply with HB427, although it didn’t include two components of the law, which lawyers noted could be added.
“I still need to know what is the conflict,” vice chairwoman Molly Hart said Thursday. “I understand the philosophical arguments for [and] against. I don’t understand where the rub is.”
Why is ‘educational equity’ controversial?
Board members passed the equity rule in 2021 after intense deliberation and debate among members and the public. At the time, opponents feared the rules were a “backdoor” to teaching critical race theory, the graduate-level concept that analyzes how social and political laws and media shape social conceptions of race and ethnicity and which considers racism to be systemic and inherent in Western society. Critical race theory has never been taught in Utah’s K-12 schools.
Still, some board members on Thursday asserted the rule was being used to discriminate.
“[The rule] has been used all over the state as a permission slip, basically, to institute discriminatory practices and programs,” Cline said. “It actually is used to tip the scales in favor of certain groups and it puts equity over merit and personal responsibility.”
Board member Hymas agreed with Cline.
“I was actually excited to see this rule because I was tired of seeing some students told that they were inherently racist because of their skin color,” Hymas said. “I thought this rule [would say] all students, all people are equal. It has not had the effect that I thought it would have.”
The equity rule, however, specifically prohibits teaching concepts that would position students or teachers as inherently racist due to their skin color.
It also prohibits teaching that a student or educator belonging to a certain group bears responsibility for the past actions of individuals of that same group; that any race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other protected class is inherently superior or inferior; that a student or educator’s identity within a certain group determines their character or values; and that a student or educator should be discriminated against based on their race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other protected class.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah State Board of Education in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.
Other board members said that regardless of their personal stances, teachers, educational leaders and parents across the state had come out en masse to oppose the repeal, and board members should listen. The members noted they’d received hundreds of messages and calls in support of the rule — more than they’d ever received during their time on the board.
Those opposed to the repeal included many of the state’s most prominent education organizations, such as the Utah Education Association, Utah’s largest teachers union.
The Utah School Boards Association, The Utah School Superintendents Association and the Utah Association of School Business Officials also opposed the repeal.
Lexi Cunningham, executive director for the Utah School Superintendents Association and the associate executive director for Utah School Boards Association, told board members during the public comment period Thursday that she and others in her organizations were “surprised” that USBE “made no attempt” to consult with education leaders prior to the vote. She said that repealing the equity rule would impact every school and educator in Utah.
“Educational equity in schools is important because it individualizes learning, ensures equal access (and) creates safe learning environments,” Cunningham said.
Equity ‘not just about race’
Curtis Linton, a white father of two adopted Black children who attend Salt Lake City schools, told The Salt Lake Tribune prior to Thursday’s meeting that he realized how important educational equity is soon after his son started school.
“As early as preschool, my son comes home and says someone won’t play with him because he’s ‘dirty,’” Linton said. “The reality of racial differences came very early to us.”
He said the educational equity rule gives educators “guardrails” for navigating difficult conversations and teaches them how to identify unique student needs that extend beyond racial inequities, like learning disabilities.
McDonald, the Utah Democratic Party member, said equity is not about equal outcomes or taking away from one student to give to another, it’s about creating equal opportunities.
“This is not just about race,” she said. “Educational equity in schools ensures that every [child] exercises their inalienable right to learn, which is in pursuit of their happiness.”
