Tell Your State Legislators Why You Care About Educational Equity

The Utah legislative session is underway, and now is the time to make your voice heard as a Utahn for educational equity. We have created an easy way for you to reach out to your legislators. This letter will provide an opportunity to introduce yourself and engage with your legislators about the importance of legislation that promotes equity in our schools.

To Do

In less than five minutes, you can submit a letter to all your elected representatives at once via our website. Go HERE to submit a letter.

Background

When students feel personally supported and see themselves and their community reflected within their education, they engage, learn, and believe in their own future potential. As constituents, we need to let our elected officials know we encourage them to become informed about the ways their legislative actions affect students. They may not always be aware of the individual impact of their decisions, so we need to share examples of the ways our children benefit from educational equity.

Some examples of current bills that promote equity in schools include:

• SB 117 Utah Anti-discrimination Act Amendments — also known as the CROWN Act, which stands for “create a respectful and open world for natural hair” — this legislation is meant to protect Black students and employees from discrimination based on racial and ethnic hairstyles. Without these legal protections, employees can be fired, students can be kicked out of school, and community members can be refused service or opportunities due to their hairstyle. A student should not need to worry that something as everyday as hair could keep them from access to education.
• HB 30 Student Tribal Regalia Use ensures that Indigenous students across Utah are allowed to wear their traditional tribal regalia during high school graduations. It’s important that children from Utah’s eight sovereign tribal nations be able to celebrate their cultural identities at their educational milestones. Equity embraces culture. 
• HB 162 Period Products in School requires Utah public schools to stock free menstrual hygiene products in all elementary, middle, and high schools or other school facilities that students use. Nearly 7 out of every 10 girls in the U.S. miss school due to a lack of access to period products. HB 162 respects our most vulnerable and disadvantaged students’ privacy and feelings by ensuring that products are available in school restrooms rather than in classrooms or the main office. 
• HB 230 Refugee and Immigrant Student Policies creates additional support for refugee students throughout the school process. It seeks to make Utah schools more welcoming by ensuring that the ages of refugee students are documented correctly by their schools and that their prior educational experiences are translated correctly into Utah credits.

An example of bills that could create problems for teachers and administrators as they work to individualize their teaching to the unique needs of their students includes:

• SB 114 Public School Curriculum Requirements would require all school districts to establish a process for parents to review curriculum before it’s adopted by the school board, including posting it online for at least 30 days. Not only would this bill waste valuable time and money — especially for the small and rural districts — it seeks to undermine the professionalism and expertise of teachers, administrators, and locally elected school board members.

We encourage you to track and learn more about these bills and to include your thoughts about them in your letter to your legislator. Be sure to follow @UtahEdEquity on Instagram to learn how to track a bill on the Utah legislative website.