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The sound of hundreds of voices yelling “veto” could be heard on every floor of the Utah State Capitol Friday. Just a day before, lawmakers passed a bill to ban public labor union collective bargaining.
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GOP leadership ditched a deal that would’ve allowed some collective bargaining because they didn’t get the positive response they wanted from unions and their members. Democrats and the state’s largest teachers union are asking Gov. Spencer Cox to veto the bill.
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Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore said he’s gotten mixed messages from public unions and their members on his proposal to allow some collective bargaining. Without a consensus, he said they’ll likely press ahead with a full ban.
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“Lawmakers heard us, they heard you. And while this fight is not over, it's a testament to what's possible when public workers stand in solidarity,” Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney said.
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Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore promised a substitute bill to allow for collective bargaining under certain circumstances. Senators took an initial vote without seeing the alternative.
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While Utah largely outperformed national averages, fourth and eighth grade math and reading scores still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.
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HB42 would allocate extra funds to schools that see a sharp increase in the number of beginner English learners.
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Lawmakers said they’ve received hundreds of messages from people opposed to the bill, but it still passed the House on a 42-to-32 vote.
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Updated guidance from Utah State Board of Education staff clarifies that students can’t bring to school their personal copies of books deemed “sensitive material.”
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Utah public universities and colleges will see a 10% cut to their state-funded instruction budgets. The proposed bill would then allow the schools to earn that money back.
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There have been two major cybersecurity incidents affecting Utah schools this school year. Names, addresses, birth dates, and in some cases, Social Security numbers, have been exposed.
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Teachers want more per-pupil funding to better meet the needs of students and educators. Reducing high levels of stress and burnout is another priority.
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Utah, and other Republican-led states, have fought the administration's regulations. Utah both sued over the expanded transgender protections and used a new law to invoke state sovereignty in order to disregard them.
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“It's important to have people in positions of power who have the lived experiences of a lot of these students in the district,” said 20-year-old Jackson Lewis, who is one of the newest members of the Canyons School District Board of Education.