The Utah Education Association (UEA) has unveiled its 2027 legislative priorities to strengthen Utah's public education system. These priorities focus on supporting public educators and students by addressing funding and policy changes necessary for success.
Download the 2027 Legislative Priorities (PDF)
2027 Legislative Priorities
- Provide at least a 3% increase on the weighted pupil unit (WPU) above the statutorily required inflation adjustment.
- Clarify statute to reinstate speech-language pathologists as qualifying for classroom supply money.
- Improve parity for educators by allowing state and school system entities to pick up increased mandatory contribution costs for employees in the Tier II Utah Retirement System.
- Amend statute to remove the requirement that Educator Salary Adjustment funding be dependent on funding a school voucher program.
- Support statewide student literacy goals by providing funding to staff at least one certified school librarian in each school district or regional education service agency.
- Protect public employee rights to participate in a labor union and work with public employers on shared interests.
Ongoing Policy Goals
- Ensure no additional public funding for unaccountable private and religious school vouchers.
- Establish sustainable and growing long-term revenue and ensure the distribution of sufficient funds to K-12 public education.
- Support legislation to identify critical resources and provide support for educators, students and families to improve student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism.
- Support special-education caseload and class-size reductions to ensure a manageable workload for special educators and sufficient support for students receiving special education services.
- Provide resources for robust training of special educators, including paraeducators, licensed educators and administrators.
- Value educators as trusted professionals to develop instructional materials that serve all students based on adopted Utah Core Standards and local district policies.
- Increase resources for school safety and student social and emotional well-being, including physical facilities, school psychologists, social workers and counselors.
- Work with families and education partners to develop and promote programs that will increase respect, understanding, acceptance and sensitivity toward all members of Utah’s diverse population to ensure a safe and equitable public school for every child.
