Latest news with #UtahStateBoardofEducation
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
No school, no problem: Utah's summer meal programs address student food insecurity
While many students look forward to the end of the school year and the start of summer break, roughly 17% of Utah children who suffer from food insecurity may worry more about where their food will come from without access to school lunch. To help children and families meet nutritional needs over the break, the Utah State Board of Education's Child Nutrition Program administers more than a dozen federal food programs working together to feed low-income children. Free meals will be available through these programs at over 300 locations combined at schools, libraries, parks and community centers this summer. The locations are spread across the state, with close to 30 locations in Salt Lake City, 18 in Ogden and 40 throughout Utah County. Several school districts will participate in the Utah Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option, which provide free meals to children 18 and younger and offer low-cost meals for adults. Children must be present to collect their meals and eat at the site, but some take-home items like fruit may be provided. Most meal sites will be closed on state holidays, including Juneteenth, Fourth of July and Pioneer Day. 'I think there is a great need,' said Sheldon Moore, field supervisor for the Child Nutrition Program. 'Most of the kids rely on our breakfast and lunch meals during (the) school year. When school is out, they still need to be fed ... so this program actually bridges the gap in the summer months to make sure that our kids are still fed.' Salt Lake City School District will provide free lunches at the Salt Lake City Public Library, local elementary schools and parks between June 4 and Aug. 9. Free breakfast will also be provided at participating schools when summer school is in session. Visit the Salt Lake City School District website for site-specific hours and schedules. Granite School District will provide free lunches at 14 locations in West Valley City, Magna, Kearns, Taylorsville and Salt Lake City on weekdays from June 9 to Aug.1. Adult meals at these locations will be $3.50 each. The school district also plans to host a summer meals kickoff celebration to provide free barbecue and games on June 10. Details on participating locations, schedules and menus are available on their website here. Davis School District will serve free lunches at 15 schools across the district on Mondays through Thursdays from June 2 to July 23. Lunch is available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and adults eat for $4.25 per meal. The full list of participating locations is available here. Alpine School District will offer free lunch and breakfast for children at several schools this summer. Adults can join their children for breakfast for $3 or lunch for $5. The summer meal schedule for June, with locations and menu options, is available on the school district's Facebook page. Utah's child nutrition programs served 68,530 free summer meals in the Salt Lake City School District in 2024, according to Moore. 'That just shows you, just (in this) district, how many kids this program impacted. Then, if you throw in everybody else just around us, you can see how much this program is needed,' said Moore. A cumulative list of organizations participating in Utah summer meals and their operating dates can be found here. The board of education announced on Tuesday that the SUN Meals program will also be returning to Utah this summer to offer free meals and snacks. The federally funded program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides food to low-income children age 18 and under who qualify for reduced-price or free lunch at various locations in their communities. School meal programs reported nearly 200,000 students were determined eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals in 2024, according to reports from the Child Nutrition Program. Most locations are congregate meal sites, meaning students must be present to receive their meal — rather than have a parent pick it up — and must eat at the site. In rural communities where it may be more difficult to travel to a meal site, the program also offers meals at noncongregate sites for pickup and delivery through SUN Meals-to-go. SUN Meals programs are being offered in addition to the SUN Bucks or Summer EBT program, which provides $120 per child in households that receive assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid. Households with children receiving reduced or free lunch or already enrolled in these programs will be automatically enrolled in SUN Bucks. 'It's important for our Utah students to have access to healthy and nutritious meals, not only when they're in the classroom, but when they're out of the classroom, as well,' said Sharon Turner, director of public affairs for the Utah State Board of Education. 'So, the SUN bucks and SUN meals programs will provide different ways and methods where they can have access to that.' SUN Bucks funds are scheduled to be dispersed in June this year. For more information or to apply to the program, visit the Department of Workforce Services website here. A map of locations that offer SUN Meal services throughout the summer is available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. While information for the state is not on the website yet, it is updated every Friday, and Utah-specific updates will be added by the end of May and June, according to the Utah State Board of Education.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Veteran educator Molly L. Hart will be Utah's next state school superintendent of public instruction
The state's next state superintendent of public instruction will be a familiar face at the Utah State Board of Education offices. Late Wednesday, board members selected fellow board member Molly L. Hart to replace Sydnee Dickson, who is expected to step down next month following nine years on the job. The board vote in favor of Hart came after Wednesday afternoon public interviews of both Hart and fellow finalist, Kane County School Superintendent L. Ben Dalton. The interviews were then followed by several hours of closed meeting board discussion. In the end, the USBE voted to appoint Hart by a vote of 12-2. Board members Christina Boggess and Emily Green cast the two opposing votes. The state board's next chief executive officer won't require a GPS app to locate her new office. Hart is currently in her second term on the state board, representing District 7 which covers southeast Salt Lake County. The board's actions followed a long day Wednesday for both Hart and Dalton. The two finalists each spent about 90 minutes being interviewed by USBE board members in a public meeting that was livestreamed on the board's YouTube channel. Each educator answered a variety of questions from the board — including queries regarding the greatest financial needs in public education and supporting school teachers to questions about the evolving federal disruptions to education and how to best help students learn resilience and grit. At the conclusion of her board interview, Hart spoke of the importance 'that every Utah student gets an opportunity for a high, high quality education.' Education, she added, was a personal 'door opener.' Hart's own parents wanted her to succeed, but they didn't always know how to navigate the education system. Jobs and the day-to-day demands of supporting a family kept them from being involved in PTA and other programs. 'My family,' said Hart, 'relied on the education system to be high quality without their involvement.' 'Yes, it's fabulous when we can engage parents and find ways to engage them despite their busy lives … (but) I want the system to be excellent because we've set up systems where teachers and schools and communities can have excellent schools for everyone, no matter what.' Education, she added, 'is the ticket to freedom and the ticket to liberty … and I want that for every student in Utah.' A longtime educator, Hart brings to the superintendency more than two decades of experience in almost all aspects of the profession. She has worked in the classroom as a substitute teacher, paraprofessional and teacher — and as an assistant principal and principal. She is currently the executive director of Summit Academy, a K-12 charter school with multiple campuses in Salt Lake County. A Republican and a first-generation college graduate, Hart holds a doctorate in family-community service from Georgia's Valdosta State University and degrees in middle grades education/reading and elementary education. She has been honored with the Utah PTA Outstanding School Administrator Award. Hart and her husband, Robert, are parents of two high school children in the public school system, according to her USBE member biography. The Michigan native's hobbies include quilting, reading, running, golfing and spending time with her three dogs. She was reelected to the board last November, defeating Democrat John Arthur with 52% of the vote. Hart replaces Dickson at a turbulent moment in American K-12 education where states will likely be required to fill new roles to serve their students. Today's Department of Education is unrecognizable from the agency that existed when Hart was reelected to the USBE just months ago. Nearly half of the department's workforce has been eliminated. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March seeking the elimination of the Department of Education, saying he wants to 'return our students to the states.' Shuttering the Education Department would impact Utah students. More than 108,000 Utah K-12 children benefit from federal funds allocated by the agency, including Title I money. Many worry kids from disadvantaged homes could be harmed without DOE allotments. Several state leaders, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, have argued that Utah is ready and able to support local students of all backgrounds, while minimizing Washington, D.C., bureaucracy.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Audit: Utah state school board falling short of compliance oversight duties on building inspection projects
The Utah State Board of Education is not directly responsible for ensuring building code compliance at the state's K-12 public schools — that's the job of the local districts. But the board is tasked with verifying compliance with inspection requirements and enforcing preconstruction requirements — which they are not consistently doing. That was the conclusion of an audit performed by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General. The findings were shared Tuesday with the Legislative Audit Subcommittee. 'The impact of insufficient inspections and untrained building officials can materialize as a risk to school property and the life and safety of school building occupants,' the audit report stated. Independent, certified building inspectors utilized by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General reported finding compliance problems with recent construction problems, 'which should generally not occur if local education agencies (LEAs) comply with building code requirements,' according to the report. The audit noted that local agencies are required to complete USBE's preconstruction checklist and enforcement mechanisms before construction begins. But USBE has reportedly never used them. The general lack of board enforcement of preconstruction requirements appears to have contributed to persistent noncompliance among the state's LEAs, the audit report noted. 'However, some LEAs have reported that USBE is not timely in processing their submissions, and both contractors and LEAs have reported that USBE has not generally enforced compliance. 'USBE's lack of timely processing of required permit submittals likely impacts its ability to enforce deadlines when the state board itself is not keeping up. Because of this situation, LEAs often proceed with construction before complying with rules.' The state school board's responsibility to verify that school building inspections occur 'stems from the importance of assuring the life and safety of school building occupants,' the report added. 'Qualified inspections verify compliance with the state-adopted building codes, which exist to establish minimum standards for the protection of property and the safety of building occupants.' The audit went on to explain that the board is the authorizer of permanent occupancy of a school building. Utah Code requires that the state superintendent shall either issue a certificate of occupancy or deliver a letter to the local districts indicating deficiencies in building code compliance or inspection, which must be addressed. 'However, the current process reportedly does not yield any information which would allow the state board to identify; it is essentially a rubber stamp.' The state board's school construction specialist reported to the Office of the Legislative Auditor General that he lacks the tools to adequately enforce compliance. 'The current process involves receiving inspection summary documents via email and manually placing them into project folders, and a tracking database is inconsistently updated,' the audit reported. 'USBE's document management system is ill equipped to efficiently manage the volume of monthly inspection reports and does not facilitate enforcement of noncompliance.' The independent building inspectors utilized by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General recommended the creation of an online document management system to maintain all the state-required documentation — a recommendation echoed by local and state officials. Auditors concluded that 'years of neglect' suggests that oversight of local district school construction and inspection is not a priority for the board: 'USBE's primary focus is not construction; while the state board employs one person with construction expertise to oversee this process, one position is reportedly insufficient to fulfill state requirements.' The construction projects reviewed by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General generally met the intent of providing safe, functional school buildings. 'However, our independent, certified building inspectors found compliance problems with recent construction projects, which should generally not occur if LEAs comply with building code requirements,' the audit report noted. 'Inexperienced and unqualified building officials likely contributed to noncompliance. However, USBE's lack of verification and enforcement of inspection requirements may have contributed to the noncompliance found.' The building inspectors contracted by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General identified problems with code compliance at a selection of local school buildings. The most significant discoveries, according to building inspectors, are firewall compliance flaws. 'Multiple schools did not build required firewalls in compliance with code,' according to the report. 'Firewalls are highly regulated because if a firewall fails, fires can spread more rapidly, increasing risk to property and building occupants.' In their Tuesday report presentation, auditors noted there are other methods generally in place to protect against fire. The audit also listed several state-level oversight deficiencies and needs identified by the independent inspectors which likely contributed to the LEA noncompliance outlined in the building code review, including: USBE has not outlined clear expectations for what should be included in required plan reviews, what inspections are required, how often inspections should occur, and how they should be reported for verification. There is insufficient training for those responsible for ensuring compliance with building codes. USBE needs a better document management system, which facilitates verification of compliance. USBE's reporting and verification process needs improvements. Hiring contractors to build Utah's public schools, according to the Office of the Legislative Auditor General, must be done through a competitive bid. The office found that one unidentified school district's procurement practice was 'uncommon' when compared with a sample of 13 other districts in the state. 'Although we did not establish undue bias nor illegal procurement methods, the district's practices exhibit the appearance of impropriety,' the report noted. 'The school district should conduct procurement of construction services in a competitive manner, avoiding the appearance of impropriety.' This district in question had contracted exclusively with a single general contractor on 18 school construction projects since 2014, according to the report. For the 18 projects, only two bid solicitations were reportedly issued. The 2013 solicitation resulted in a $135.5 million contract, under which 14 construction projects were completed over a period of nine years. The 2023 solicitation was reportedly issued for four construction projects with a budgeted cost of about $126 million, which have yet to be completed. 'The general contractor that the district has almost exclusively used since at least 2014 appears to often offer services to the district for a much lower price than other bidders. However, the school district only retains recent bid documentation, making it difficult to entirely validate this claim,' the audit noted. The Office of the Legislative Auditor General made several recommendations to improve compliance oversight on Utah's K-12 public school construction projects, including: The USBE should develop sufficient internal controls to functionally verify and enforce compliance with its pre-construction and inspection verification requirements. The USBE should develop or procure an online document management system, or portal, to maintain all the state required construction and inspection documentation to enable verification of compliance with statute and Administrative Rule. The USBE should provide training for local education agencies so that they understand their responsibilities and are aware of the state board's code compliance requirements. The USBE should implement a standardized cost reporting system, require construction managers at local education agencies to report all associated construction project costs according to standard criteria, and make it available to relevant state agency and local education agency officials. The Utah State Board of Education should communicate expectations for required plan reviews, types of inspections, the frequency of inspections, and reporting requirements for functional verification. The Legislature should consider prioritizing an audit of local education agency practices for procurement of construction and related services. In response to Tuesday's report, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson wrote in a letter that the audit report will be referred to board leadership 'for consideration of involvement of the full board and next steps that will be taken to address the risks identified in the audit.' The letter added board leadership discussion of the report will happen no later than Aug. 31. During Tuesday's Legislative Audit Subcommittee meeting, Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, called the prevalence of local district building officials working in Utah schools without proper certification 'very problematic.' She asked the audit team if there were consequences for not following adequate building inspection rules. The auditors were not aware of any code-prescribed consequences. House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, acknowledged the state school board having statutory-required compliance oversight over the construction of new schools — so criticism is valid if that's not happening. 'But I do question,' he said, 'whether or not USBE should have oversight.' Public school buildings are typically being constructed with local money, not state funds. Plus, Schultz added, members of the state school board are not construction experts. It's the board's job to educate kids. There's no shortage of independent building inspectors for hire. 'I do think that is the way to make sure that the building codes are followed. I think that's what needs to happen and should be happening,' he said. USBE Deputy Superintendent of Operations Scott Jones told the subcommittee Tuesday that he appreciates the collaboration with the auditors, adding that his office had requested the audit years ago. 'It's taken some time, and I think the time is well worth it, because we are at a decisive point in the future of oversight of school construction,' said Jones. Jones noted the logistical and staffing challenges that the USBE faces while working with the many LEAs during the oversight compliance process of each building. He added his office is agreeable to collaborating with lawmakers to optimize public education in Utah.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Search for Utah's next superintendent of public instruction down to 2 finalists
The search for Utah's next state superintendent of public instruction has been narrowed down to two finalists — both with deep ties to the state's K-12 public education system. Following an 'extensive search and review process,' a Utah State Board of Education search committee has selected L. Ben Dalton and Molly L. Hart for final consideration for the position. Once selected, the new superintendent will succeed Sydnee Dickson, who has served as state superintendent for nine years. Dickson is expected to step away from the job next month. Dalton has served as superintendent of Kane County School District since 2016. He previously served at the helm of the Garfield School District. A native of Minersville, Beaver County, Dalton has over two decades of experience in public education and was named Utah's Superintendent of the Year in 2022. He holds a doctorate in leadership and technology 'and has been recognized for his commitment to academic excellence and rural education,' according to a USBE release. Hart serves as executive director of Summit Academy, a K-12 charter school with multiple campuses in Salt Lake County. She has more than 20 years of experience in education — with roles ranging from teacher to principal across multiple states and grade levels. Hart holds a doctorate in family-community services and has been honored with the Utah PTA Outstanding School Administrator Award and represents District 7 on the USBE. She is, according to the USBE release, 'a strong advocate for student achievement and community engagement.' On Wednesday, May 21, Dalton and Hart will participate in a public interview process with the board at the USBE building from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be open to the public, who are invited to attend the meeting in person or view it via the USBE livestream channel. During the meeting, members of the state board will interview each finalist. Following the public interviews, the board will enter a closed executive session 'to discuss the character and professional competence of the candidates,' according to the USBE release. The USBE anticipates then returning to open session directly after the executive session to announce its selection for Utah's next state superintendent of public instruction that same evening. Dickson announced last January that she was stepping down from her post as state superintendent of public instruction. A decadeslong educator, Dickson was tapped as one of the five state superintendents in 2016 after working at the state's education office since 2007. 'It has been an honor and privilege to serve the students, educators, and families of Utah,' she said in a statement announcing her decision to end her tenure. 'I am incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished together to improve educational outcomes and opportunities for all children.' During her tenure, Dickson played a key role in creating the state's Portrait of a Graduate program to prepare students for success later on in life. She also helped oversee the state's expansion of full-day kindergarten, technology enhancements in schools and dual language immersion programs. Whichever candidate is selected to be Utah's new state superintendent of public instruction will assume the job at a moment of historic disruption in the country's educational system. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking the elimination of the Department of Education — saying 'we want to return our students to the states.' More than 108,000 Utah K-12 students benefit from federal funds allocated by the DOE, including Title I money. Many worry that the upheaval of the DOE would harm kids from disadvantaged homes and communities whose schools receive allotments from the federal agency. In an op-ed, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox countered that Utah has a 'long track record of investing in education' — including supporting low-income schools. 'But we could do it with more flexibility, less bureaucracy, and greater accountability to Utah families — not Washington regulators.' The National School Lunch Program, which reimburses Utah schools and other states for students receiving free or reduced school meals, is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — not the DOE.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We're No. 1: Utah tops national ranks in high school financial literacy
Want some solid money advice? You might consider asking a local high school kid. Utah is No. 1 in the nation for high school budgeting education, according to a WalletHub report released this week. The personal finance platform compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia using a series of metrics ranging from whether high school students are required to take a personal finance courses to financial literacy test scores. The Beehive State edged out Virginia for top 'High School Budgeting Education' honors — followed by North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi. Massachusetts, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Alaska were the bottom five states on WalletHub's list. Utah, according to WalletHub researchers, has 'the most robust budgeting education, in part because students are required to take personal-finance and economics courses during high school. 'Utah also conducts standardized testing on both personal finance and economics.' Those course requirements have helped Utah achieve the highest possible high school financial literacy grade from the American Public Education Foundation — and the state is projected to maintain this top rank through at least 2028, according to WalletHub. To graduate, Utah high school students are required to pass a General Financial Literacy course, according to the Utah State Board of Education. Designed for high school juniors and seniors, General Financial Literacy is a half-credit course that covers financial planning, career preparation, money management, saving and investing and other personal finance topics. 'The course aims to prepare students to effectively manage their finances and achieve their financial goals,' according to the state school board. Additionally, Utah has the highest share of eighth graders who are proficient in math — which means that they are well prepared to learn financial concepts in high school, according to WalletHub. 'All high school students should have mandatory personal finance education, including instruction in budgeting,' said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. 'Students who learn to budget before they join the workforce will be able to make much better financial decisions. They will also be able to save more for the future and are likely to have higher credit scores than their peers who never learned how to budget — or who had to figure things out on their own without instruction.' To determine the states with the best high schools' budgeting education, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions: first, financial education performance and access; and second, financial education growth. Highlights of the 'financial education performance and access' dimension — where Utah finished No. 1 — include metrics such as students being required to take personal finance and economics classes and if states required standardized testing of personal finance and economic concepts. Lyndze Dupape has taught financial literacy courses at Utah's Herriman High School for four years. She teaches a wide range of students with different family backgrounds, academic interests and career goals. But each student will be well served if they graduate from high school understanding — and living — the basics of personal finance. Dupape said most of her students arrive in class on Day 1 equipped with not much financial literacy. 'For the majority of them, it is new information,' she told the Deseret News. 'There will be a handful that have had parents who have been involved in teaching them about finance — but for the most part, they are pretty new to it.' And many of the 16- or 17-year-olds in Dupape's financial literacy classes have never had a job — or are fairly new to the workforce. 'So they might not have had enough time to really learn how to manage money and can't always apply the principles we are learning.' Personal finance is a broad field — and Dupape said that's reflected in her financial literacy curriculum. The class, she said, typically begins with instruction about budgeting and behavioral economics — the psychology behind spending money. That's followed by discussions on banking, investing, insurance, credit cards and credit scores, debt management and taxes. 'And we also have a small unit where we do some career investigation and talk about (money) things like paying for college,' she said. Dupape added the challenge for all Utah high school financial literacy instructors is to make the instruction as applicable as possible for each student. So there's plenty of discussion about, say, the differences between good and bad debt and shopping for the best form of car insurance. 'I'll have maybe three or four students in each class that are actually paying bills at home, such as their cellphones or their car insurance,' she said. 'And I might have one or two students each semester that are actively involved in investing with their parents.' Earlier this academic year, Herriman High School students organized a 'Girls Investing Club' to accelerate their understanding of advanced finance topics such as stock trading, Roth IRA contributions, compound interest, retirement planning and entrepreneurship. While every Utah high school student will be exposed to financial literacy instruction in class, Dupape encourages parents to take a shared role in raising money-savvy kids. Growing up in Washington, she did not have access to a financial education in high school and learned many money lessons 'the hard way as an adult.' Moms and dads, she added, can work alongside Utah's high school financial literacy teachers. 'Have conversations with your children about money. Talk about your financial situations and why you make the financial decisions you are making. … And ask them about what they are learning in their financial literacy classes.'
