Posted on by ggreen

Letter: Vote AGAINST Repeal of Educational Equity Rule (R277-328)

This letter is posted for reference in work I have performed or been involved in.

January 10, 2024 – a letter to the Utah State Board of Education board@schools.utah.gov and individual board members regarding their attempt to repeal the Educational Equity Rule (see USBE Contemplates Repeal of Educational Equity Rule – R277-328 Repeal)

To our USBE Board Members –

Before I start, I will remind the Board that you have each been elected to improve student outcomes. Every child needs an opportunity to excel, to contribute to our society positively, and to grow Utah’s increasingly diverse and competitive economy. As parents, teachers and leaders, we are concerned about school board members who care about student well-being and are invested in their success.

DEI is a protection for everyone. Educational Equity is fundamentally about lifting up every single child so that they have an equal opportunity to succeed. Educational Equity is an enabler for success. All kids benefit from schools that know how to serve each and every child.

That said, it’s not time for stupid political stunts. The attempt to repeal the Education Equity Rule (R277-328) is exactly that. If you say that the equity rule is simply “messaging”, then repeal of the rule is also “messaging”. It is a message that has a chilling effect of the political action taking place at your level.

  • developing tools for students to succeed in school INCLUDE equity.  
  • every superintendent in the state supports retaining the rule
  • a repeal has tangible effects, and would mean loss of professional learning, materials and formal processes for parental feedback 
  • the effort placed to get this rule passed 3 years ago was filled with tough questions about equity, and we got there. Alternately, there are current USBE board members who are actively working to defund public education.
  • for those board members who state that nothing will change after repealing the rule, this is absolutely not true.  There is already clear shift in classrooms after passage of H.B. 427 Individual Freedom in Public Education (https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0427.html)

The rumors are that this repeal is being forced on the board before the Republican caucus to show alignment to conservative causes. You know, and we know that this is absolutely political.

What exactly is wrong with Educational Equity? What about this definition is disturbing for the board?  Reference https://www.utah.gov/pmn/files/745615.pdf. I encourage you to review the file.

Quite frankly, the policy may be there today, but the impact is not present in schools. It is disingenuous to say that the Education Equity Rule is not relevant because other policies are in place elsewhere. The reality is that discrimination has been happening and is happening today, and the USBE is not taking it seriously.

We need to do MORE to ensure Educational Equity at this time.  It is an embarrassment for the Board to consider a repeal of the Rule when considering events taking place in the past year. 

With a politically elected board, what is the expectation going forward? Should our children, who attend public education classes for 13 years in K-12 experience continued political shenanigans based on the partisan whims of the Board? You remove stability and you lose credibility.

On a personal note, I have 3 children who benefited from the public education that Utah provides. I have a daughter with disabilities who benefited from IDEA and 504 accommodations, but more importantly was accepted by her peers specifically because equity programs existed (i.e. fostering a learning environment that was safe and respectful of students and educators). It was how other students learned to see her as a person, and how she gained and shared important social recognition, and earned opportunities in education and sports working with her peers.

I emphatically request that the Board vote AGAINST Repeal of Educational Equity Rule (R277-328)  

Last, I know that my representative Natalie Cline WILL NOT and CANNOT represent me due to her extreme partisan bias. She is a scourge on the face of public education who actively works against the better interests of the majority of tax-paying Utahns putting their children through our public school programs. If only I had a board representative who believed in the betterment of education rather than to tear it down.  

Greg Green
South Jordan, Utah (District 9)