Senate bill would standardize curriculum approval process
Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo
The Utah State Capitol stands after the first day of the legislative session Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in Salt Lake City.A new bill in the Utah State Legislature would require that every K-12 school district and charter school in the state follow a set approval process for instructional materials.
SB114 would require that a school district post all instructional materials, such as textbooks, online for a public review period of at least 30 days. The bill does draw a distinction between instructional materials and “supplemental materials,” which teachers would provide to enhance the already-approved curriculum. Supplemental materials would not have to undergo the same approval process.
After the public review period, a school district would need to hold a public meeting before those instructional materials could be voted on by a school board and subsequently used in the classroom.
According to Sara Jones, the government relations and professional programs director for the Utah Education Association, the bill is redundant. She stated that there are already processes in place for curriculum development that allow for parental input.
“One of our concerns with the bill is that we think it’s unnecessary because this is what districts already do,” Jones said. “They have a curriculum review committee, educators are part of that, they bring their subject area expertise … review materials, work with parents, and make recommendations.”
Additionally, a school district’s instructional materials already must abide by current state standards set by the Utah Board of Education.
“There might be some smaller districts, smaller charter schools, that aren’t having this kind of a process, but certainly the Wasatch Front districts, the big districts, have curriculum directors who are full-time employees in the district office. They already have these processes in place,” Jones said. “So that is one of our frustrations with the bill is feeling that it’s really not necessary because this is a process that already happens.”
SB114 was sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, and passed the Senate Education Committee in a 4-2 vote on Jan. 27 with Sen. Mike Mckell, R-Spanish Fork and Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights voting against the bill.
McKell did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation. The bill will now move on to the full Senate for discussion.
