Gov. Cox visits Payson High, talks education, optimism for the future
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- From left, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and students Oscar Menjivar, Kelsey Argyle, Bre Jardine, Emma Mathews and Joshua Laker participate in a discussion at Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox poses for photos with students during a visit to Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Students and faculty listen to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox during a speech at Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
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- Joshua Laker asks a question during Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s visit to Payson High School on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Cox visited the school as part of his Connecting Utah Tour.
Womp, striving, essential, contention, complex. At the end of Gov. Spencer Cox’s visit to Payson High School on Wednesday, he asked five students to describe the United States of America with one word.
The panel of high-achieving students — Oscar Menjivar, Kelsey Argyle, Bre Jardine, Emma Mathews and Joshua Laker — joined Cox on the school’s auditorium stage to ask questions and have a 1-on-5 chat in front of their fellow classmates, teachers, administrators and officials from southern Utah County.
Cox visited Payson High as part of his Connecting Utah Tour, an effort for the governor to visit all 29 counties in the state, and chose the school because of its relative size.
“I always kind of like to lean towards some of the smaller communities as well because I come from a small community and I know I didn’t get these opportunities very much and we’re trying to provide as many opportunities as we can,” Cox told the Daily Herald.
With an audience of almost entirely Generation Z voters and voters-to-be, Cox focused on the broad and narrow issues facing Utah and the country as a whole. The governor spoke about bipartisanship, togetherness and optimism for the future. Cox shared statistics with the crowd, saying about half of registered Democrats and Republicans don’t want officials of their chosen political party to work with members of the opposite party, while 70% are upset about the division.
“In Utah, we are not that divided. In Utah we are not there, but we are heading there,” he said. “We’re part of a nation and the winds of the nation impact Utah for sure, so this kind of divisiveness and pessimism that we’re seeing across the country, we’re not immune to it.”
Cox referenced a letter written to the Utah Legislature at the end of the 2023 general session, chiding representatives and senators for passing legislation with little to no public input, saying it “erodes trust.” During his address to the students, Jardine asked about the state’s ban on transgender school-aged athletes.
In 2022, on the last day of the session, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, introduced a ban that would prevent transgender girls in the state from participating in sports. Cox vetoed the legislation, though both chambers overrode the veto and the bill became law. Opponents challenged the ban in court and it has been on hold since the passage.
In his answer, Cox criticized the state’s initial bill, which he said would lead to a lawsuit that could bankrupt the Utah High School Athletics Association. He did refer to Lia Thomas, a record-breaking Ivy League swimmer who last year became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship, saying “I don’t think that was fair.” Thomas became a frequent target of anti-transgender sentiments, despite reaching similar levels of success before transitioning.
Just this week, Cox was also at odds with the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Confirmation Committee over his nomination of Suzanne Harrison, a Democratic Salt Lake County Council member, to the Utah Air Quality Board.
Harrison’s nomination stalled after opposition from Sens. Keith Grover, R-Provo; Ron Winterton, R-Roosevelt; and Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, over her votes on environment-related bills as a member of the Utah Legislature. Cox withdrew Harrison’s nomination on Monday.
“We don’t all have to agree all the time. That’s the other side of the coin that’s not helpful either. I never lament when we have disagreements with the Legislature; that’s healthy, it’s built in. If the Constitution just wanted one person to pick these people then that would be great, but that’s not what the Constitution allows,” Cox said. “While I disagree, I support them disagreeing with me.”
Student questions ranged in topic for the gathering, including book recommendations — Cox suggested the Abraham Lincoln biography “Team of Rivals” — and advice for graduating seniors. Menjivar asked about what Utah may do if the Indian Child Welfare Act is overturned by the Supreme Court. The case, Brackeen v. Haaland, is currently pending.
“We tried to get an ICWA bill passed this year. It didn’t get there, which we’re going to work on it; we think we can get it passed next year. So if it is overturned at the federal level, we can have it implemented here at the state level,” he said. He also touted Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s work meeting with Utah’s federally recognized indigenous tribes.
Mathews asked about school safety and gun rights, particularly after the March 27 shooting in Nashville that killed seven and a series of shooting hoax calls made to Utah high schools.
Cox encouraged students to find the “third way” in discussions, rather than accepting that people “either have to want to protect schools or you have to be pro-Second Amendment,” while explaining a series of school safety-related bills passed by the Legislature in 2023. These bills created a school safety chief, allows school resource officers to refer students to a judge for violent and weapons offenses, and makes emergency preparedness and response plans a monthly requirement, among other things.
“We’re supporters of the Second Amendment and believe in the Second Amendment. My focus is on gun responsibility and I think that’s one area where we have lost our way,” Cox said after the speech. “I’ve certainly seen that culture has changed where it’s all gun and no responsibility.”
One issue focused on teens not mentioned during Cox’s speech and the conversation with students was social media. The governor drew national attention March 23 after signing bills limiting minors’ access to social media into law. The omission, he told the Daily Herald, was not purposeful. He expected it to be among the questions asked by students.
Still, he stands by the decision to ban kids from social media without a parent’s permission.
“We know that the more time a student spends on social media, the more likely they are to have mental health challenges and issues, and we know that these social media companies have purposefully put addictive qualities into their platforms to keep us scrolling,” Cox said.
In his opening address to those gathered at Payson High, the governor spoke about legislative successes from the year and priorities moving forward interspersed with life stories. He spoke of the ozone layer — asking the audience to raise their hands if they had heard of it before laughing as he noted that “a bunch of older hands went up and very few younger hands” — as evidence that when people work together, global problems can be solved.
Cox also addressed water shortages and the state’s ongoing drought, the lack of affordable housing and tax cuts. He received a round of applause when talking about the legislative session’s educational focus, praising teachers and talking about H.B. 215, which gave licensed educators a $6,000 pay raise. He did not mention the school voucher component of the bill, moving $42 million a year to education expenses including charter and private school tuition.
After taking a photo with every person who waited in line for 20 minutes after the speech — a line extending to the end of the auditorium — Cox met with groups in Wasatch and Park City high schools.
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