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SALT LAKE CITY — The controversial rule outlining certain standards for Utah's public school teachers, including how to address race issues in the classroom, has been revamped and renamed.
The measure, R277-328, had been the focus of a repeal push by some Utah Board of Education members. But it survived a marathon review session by the body at a meeting late last week and remains on the books, though in an overhauled fashion.
What had been called the Educational Equity in Schools rule — drawing the ire of conservatives critical of the notion of striving for "equity" — is now called the Equal Opportunities in Education rule. Among other changes, the phrase "educational equity" has been removed from the new version of R277-328 and wording has been tweaked with regard to the approach teachers are to take in the classroom in dealing with students and their needs.
"The board took the time to get it right for parents and students on all sides of the issue," Brent Strate of South Ogden, the District 3 representative on the board, told KSL.com. He favored the measure, which passed 10-4 and was also focus of intense debate at a Jan. 11 school board meeting.
As Strate described it, the rule unites the varied guidelines "that dictate what should and should not be taught in our classrooms and what activities can and cannot happen. This rule brings it all together in one place."
Christina Boggess of Taylorsville, the District 8 representative on the board, put the focus on the time spent on the measure at last Thursday's meeting, the major changes it received and the decision to give it an immediate green light after approving the many revisions. Boggess and fellow school board members Joseph Kerry of Ogden and Emily Green of Cedar City had pushed the repeal effort and all three voted against the reworked version.
"In short, after a 14-plus-hour board meeting, over six-plus hours of debate and numerous amendments on a single policy, the board passed a rule that remained unread as a current draft was not prepared for review. Not one person had read the rule in its updated form — it was an irresponsible move that is at the heart of bad governance," Boggess said Monday. "In my opinion, passing a rule without reading it is a violation of our oath and the principles of representative government. No one should vote for a policy they haven't read."
R277-328, as it addresses the thorny issue of discussion of race in public schools, has been a bitter point of contention among State School Board members and the public. The debate parallels the intense discussion that unfolded last month over diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Utah's public universities, geared to students of color and other traditionally underserved communities. The debate in the Legislature — similar to discussions pushed by conservative lawmakers across the country — culminated with passage of HB261, which revamps diversity programming, expanding it to all students in need, including white students.
Among the changes to R277-328 is the rule's stated mission. The new version of the rule creates "the standards for educators and (local school districts) for professional learning regarding equal opportunities in education and prohibited discriminatory practices."
The measure in its original incarnation outlined "the standards for educators and (school districts) regarding professional learning and guidelines and requirements for curriculum and classroom instruction on educational equity."
"Educational equity," however, has become a flashpoint, which figured in some of the contention over R277-328.
"Equity's emphasis on equalizing outcomes has been seen as conflicting with the notion of individual merit and hard work. Critics argue that promoting equity may undermine the principle of rewarding students' efforts and achievements, potentially lowering overall educational standards," Oscar Macias of the Glendale Unified School District in California wrote in a paper on the subject for the Association of California School Administrators.
The new version of the rule also fine-tunes language governing instruction of students with specific needs, seemingly aiming to prevent the shifting of resources to one demographic of students at the expense of another. For instance, principles of inclusion with regard to disabled students, the new version reads, should be implemented "in addition to, not instead of, high-quality core instruction."
Instruction provided to kids with disabilities was another sticky part of the debate. Board member Cindy Davis, who also voted for the changes, said the new rule serves them, requiring "training about meaningful inclusion for students with disabilities, which parents have been asking for many years."
On race, R277-328 says training that teachers are to receive needs to emphasize that they can't promote the notion that one race of students is superior or inferior to another. The training, stemming from conservative criticism directed at diversity, equity and inclusion programming, also can't promote the notion that "an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or other psychological distress solely because of the individual's personal identity characteristics," such as race.
Diversity, equity and inclusion critics view such programming as fomenting division among racial and other groups.
Aside from changes in the training and guidance teachers are to get, Strate pointed to provisions in the new version of the rule allowing for transparency.
School districts "must make all training on this rule accessible to parents," he said, adding that it contains provisions allowing for complaints by parents. "The outcome was a much better piece of policy."
