Bills to eliminate certain school fees and to create a review and renewal process for charter schools passed the House Education Committee. Thank you to those who participated in the Capitol Insights Weekly Briefing tonight. A link to the meeting will be posted on tomorrow’s email. If you haven’t already, register to participate in the meetings here.

House Education Committee (reported by Sara Jones): House Education Committee heard two UEA-tracked bills, both of which received significant discussion and public comment:

• HB211 (1st sub.): School Fees Amendments identifies the types of fees an LEA can charge a secondary school student for curricular activities and allows an LEA to charge secondary students fees for extracurricular activities. The bill passed unanimously.
• HB265: Charter School Agreements and Renewals establishes for the first time a process for every charter school to undergo a charter review and renewal process. The UEA supports this bill. It passed the committee on a vote of 9-2.

House Floor (reported by Mike Kelley): Two UEA-tracked bills passed the House unanimously and now go to the Senate for consideration:

• HB251: School Dropout Prevention Amendments modifies the existing school dropout prevention program. Currently, LEA’s are required to contract with a third-party provider for dropout prevention which can be costly. The bill allows LEA’s the flexibility to also create their own dropout prevention program, a change requested by USBE. The UEA supports this bill.
• HB241: School Epilepsy Training Amendments requires a school district or charter school to provide training on seizure first aid to a school administrator and teacher of student with epilepsy or other seizure disorder.

Policy Ambassador Messages

In 2022, 15 educators were selected as UEA Policy Ambassadors. These teachers received training from the UEA Legislative Team and agree to engage with legislators and share their experiences with UEA members. Here is an excerpt from a new submission:

Telling Our Stories

Submitted by UEA Advanced Policy Ambassador Bianca Mittendorf, Title IX Coordinator in Davis School District

…This brief interaction with Rep. Waldrip reminded me that even though across the country, not just here in Utah, there is a concerted effort to undermine public education, meeting with elected decision makers and sharing our stories is a one way to challenge the attack. Our representatives and senators should be aware of the burdens currently facing public education. In conclusion, if you have not yet attended UEA Educator Day on the Hill to share your story, you must do so. The vitality and longevity of the UEA depends on it.

• Read the full article from Bianca Mittendorf
• Read all the UEA Policy Ambassador messages

Upcoming Legislation to Watch

The Senate Education Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Feb. 11, was cancelled.

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• See the 2022 UEA Legislative Tracking Sheet for the current bills tracked by UEA.
• View all legislative happenings at UEA Under the Dome.