[{"_1":2,"_112":-5,"_113":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88,100],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6100713,"mediaKeyId","2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584","parentId",2812579,"title","Board study session centers on salaries, class-size trade-offs and aides; staff seeks direction for budget priorities","audioSeconds",582,"startMs",5464000,"endMs",6046000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584&start=5464&end=6046","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584/thumbnail_5464000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6100713/Utah/Board-study-session-centers-on-salaries-class-size-trade-offs-and-aides-staff-seeks-direction-for-budget-priorities","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6100713-2ff1a37d680743e83aab330a08ce54b5/orig.mp4?Expires=1770446243&Signature=AuoL4j1g~Pg0KYF-MA5WG4kod5t7-UdjeSeMNUGzTuwcFC0YPZHCJotrvSL-7fT4aonvSScoJ4klQiYFjmicKBH20sG4ffDdr4YXNyz4r4DmvFjTPGtXG2Tudg356BeAo6WAIeKB~CYp6HIICbPOCO22OAVzcG~FYrnT4kiTcMTqXHc~m0ypIaE3SJpW~MSijUuGb0y7DRenVgR63UvmAs-jX00HKW3Kjcnt0jzoNkTdsORzmQOd6lU2Uy9kBMhPvaXJRaO8zkiaQIxs-gEeflosj4qVus63NMXNJMOKX17LRMwn1DqfaQDPhOU2AhmUQrImrQWbP7V3HCCS5l1-sQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Provo School District","date","2025-03-06T19:59:44Z","article","District finance and human-resources staff walked the Provo City School Board through budget trade-offs on March 28, showing the fiscal impact of class-size targets, step increases, pay raises, instructional assistants and insurance costs.

Devin (district finance staff) presented model scenarios the board can use to prioritize spending. She said changing elementary class-size targets produces large staffing effects: one scenario that reduced some class-size cutoffs would add 18 full‑time‑equivalent teachers at an estimated cost of about $1.7 million, while other class-size configurations in the presentation would add 25.5 FTEs at an estimated cost of roughly $2.4 million. Devin emphasized those figures were illustrative for board discussion and that facility capacity (classroom space, portables) is a practical constraint at some schools.

Salary and step calculations: Devin said one salary-step increase (a single-step across eligible employees) would cost roughly $1.8 million for the district; she estimated that each additional 1 percent across the board would cost roughly $900,000 beyond a step. She said a 4 percent across-the-board raise (tied to WPU growth scenarios discussed elsewhere in the meeting) would equal about $3.6 million; adding a step increase on top of that would bring the combined cost to roughly $5.4 million. Devin also noted the state WPU increase quoted in staff materials was about $180 per student, yielding roughly $2.5 million in additional state funds for the district under current enrollment assumptions, and that much of that gain could be consumed by increases in health‑insurance costs.

Instructional aides and kindergarten supports: staff modeled several instructional-assistant options. A single 29‑hour aide at every school (part‑time) was estimated in the meeting materials at roughly $1.7 million to $2.0 million depending on lane/certification levels; providing a full-time lane‑3 aide at every kindergarten class was presented at a higher cost. Staff noted Title I schools require a higher lane classification for aides, which affects cost if the district provides parity across schools.

Other cost drivers: Devin said the district expects a significant insurance-cost increase and that staff are examining plan design and HSA contributions to manage long‑term costs. Human-resources director Jason reviewed recent legislative changes to the Teacher Student Success Program (TSSP), explaining the district must identify three to five “high-need” areas for stipend eligibility (the district intends to recommend math, science and special education, consistent with prior years) and verify eligible teachers early in the fall so they qualify for stipends pending state allocations.

Staff and union perspectives: Christy Gidlin, president of the Provo Education Association, told the board that teachers placed salary and class-size reductions as top priorities in staff feedback. Gidlin said smaller class sizes are strongly associated with better instructional results in elementary grades and argued that training cannot fully substitute for the effects of smaller classes: “you can’t train our way out of this problem,” she said. Gidlin urged the board to communicate clearly to the public that funding constraints force trade-offs.

Survey and timing: staff reported the district’s employee survey about budget priorities had produced hundreds of responses (staff gave a raw count of roughly 578 employee responses and 422 certified-employee responses in sub‑reports). Staff asked board members to identify priorities they would like included in the district’s proposed budget and said staff will continue modeling scenarios and return with costed options ahead of formal budget action.

No formal budget vote occurred at the study session. Staff said the board has time to shape priorities before formal budget decisions later in the spring and will receive more-detailed allocation materials after spring break.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","PCSD Board Meeting - Study Session - Afternoon","oneSentenceSummary","District staff presented scenarios on class-size targets, step/percent salary increases, instructional-assistant options and other cost drivers; staff asked the board to prioritize salary increases, class-size reductions or additional aids as it shapes the tentative budget.","taxTitle","Provo School District, Utah School Boards, Utah","taxId",65976,"location","Utah","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6100716,"Board reviews draft ‘Portrait of a Graduate’; district to engage teachers and students for grade-level definitions",552,2036000,2588000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584&start=2036&end=2588","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584/thumbnail_2036000.jpg","/articles/6100716/Utah/Board-reviews-draft-Portrait-of-a-Graduate-district-to-engage-teachers-and-students-for-grade-level-definitions","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6100716-aa088f9251f28d30d0a12b239122bf23/orig.mp4?Expires=1770446243&Signature=fmWIXvYpmuIT-trNkZrB6~HegQAKE2QN0P-XqvpTlYc1ItHHf7UCnMrWfV9taDAtWKHPiBL-Dx95iLC6HLf3yO3L0WzFhlGlScS1PhrftGBCjww6dPsysVKDzAbUCBdktdNuUPJyAHM0zkqnOo8vhXgL2YHd4ifQl96xcqj1LKik1~td3E~9DTvHw7X34M-reYEVvzH2GP-beDN4PFjC4RpWrgWI2co~RB9ovKyHIOwErSTaFD3tOZyL~h9hVkUnOQxkvM0V4GERDtGwhHdeLkrf6L8npbu~AV9DhRATVZMUFTiGoK~q8OEd1vAmkEjZsb0XRPEAhfGXUit5k-ZI6w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Provo City School Board reviewed early drafts of a district “Portrait of a Graduate” during its March 28 study session and asked staff to involve teachers and students in refining grade-level expectations.

Staff presented draft materials developed by the district’s MTSS leadership, describing three broad priority domains—effective communicator, critical thinker and academically prepared—and noting that the Utah State Board of Education lists a larger set of characteristics that districts often map to local priorities.

Board members and staff discussed audience and usability. Lisa Boyce asked whether the document should be written in language students will understand; other members recommended working with teacher teams to produce developmentally appropriate descriptors (for example, K–3, 4–6, 7–8). The presenters told the board they had kept the top-level framework deliberately compact to aid implementation and suggested that site-level teams and PLCs could build grade-level examples.

Next steps and timing: board members supported returning the draft to teachers, principals and a student advisory committee for feedback and asked staff to bring back a revised draft. One board member suggested asking new student board members or a student advisory group to produce a student‑facing version of the document; staff said that approach could be integrated into work during the coming school year and that a completed portrait by the end of the next school year would be a reasonable target.

There was no vote to adopt the portrait during the study session; staff presented the drafts for direction and asked for time to refine the language and packaging for different audiences.","The board reviewed draft priorities (effective communicator, critical thinker, academically prepared) from the MTSS leadership team and asked staff to bring the drafts to teachers, principals and the student advisory council for development and grade‑level detail.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6100722,"Provo district committee proposes AI guidelines, launches short pilot of screened classroom tools",633,689000,1322000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584&start=689&end=1322","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584/thumbnail_689000.jpg","/articles/6100722/Utah/Provo-district-committee-proposes-AI-guidelines-launches-short-pilot-of-screened-classroom-tools","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6100722-368aff2cdc6882fb20dd579d48c0c79e/orig.mp4?Expires=1770446243&Signature=hPS4Me3910iI-2nGnnJHh-GogzLhMVtRiLZFj8RhvZGGvp-2fsdVgXXOeEJWOFFmnvdDItCpF0pMD7Atb8r5aoJyReEZ9XIzKBVZjXjQV9saWZfJOlJ-OE4STkB8DVk8PqeBQwrNuoMAXRiH5KN5ryD0N1L-P5Lh2FjEY8US9-M9d6CsJ0Bfe37yZJ9TOsBc8AD6nsGWwoDMdsQOXHFWVwgP6boVPqaJ0VQep4dFS~E2-vjYCfi7T3CGpAqxae~FLMxmMDNtgKvR66cRKgNscI8gyrm4AOBQ-8baUbqwnZHEXJLvh9C0aFH9Xo0KT4c63lL0vKgjkE0DICd5G-GCVQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","District instructional staff presented draft AI guidelines and a short pilot of vetted classroom AI tools during the Provo City School Board study session.

Camille Furrias, instructional coach at Timpview High School and a member of the district AI committee, told the board that ‘‘AI is rapidly transforming the landscape of education throughout the world right now’’ and framed the committee’s work as creating intentional, evidence-based guidance rather than ‘‘opening Pandora’s box’’ of unvetted apps. Camille told the board the goal is to support teachers’ work, protect student data and improve student outcomes rather than simply replacing teaching tasks.

Jenny Thurston, the district’s AVID and innovative learning specialist and the AI committee lead, summarized the committee’s process: a needs assessment and district-wide survey of staff (210 teacher responses on AI use), review of the state framework and neighboring districts’ guidance, and drafting a set of Provo guidelines that include educator, student and parent guidance pages. The committee recommends starting with guidelines and pilot licenses rather than immediate board policy changes, then evaluating results for possible future policy.

Pilot details and data privacy: Jenny and other staff described two vendors offered under state contracts—referred to in the meeting as Magic School and SchoolAI—and gave per-student pilot pricing the committee received: Magic School at $2.91 per student and SchoolAI at $4.33 per student. Staff said both vendors meet district data-privacy requirements for classroom use, and that the district would control what materials the systems could access and what students could do in class. Staff said the pilot licenses are available through the end of the school year (possibly into June) under favorable terms from the vendors while the district evaluates the software.

Equity and training concerns: Board members and staff discussed whether licenses should be provided districtwide K–12 or targeted to secondary classrooms first. Jenny said initial responses showed more secondary teacher adoption but that some elementary teachers are already using AI in developmentally appropriate ways. Staff emphasized training, centralized vetting of products, and consideration of state contract/licensing opportunities to avoid inequitable access if individual schools buy tools from local budgets.

Board direction: The board signaled informal approval to proceed with the pilot and put the committee’s guidelines on the district’s web resources for staff training and reference. Staff said they will collect end-of-pilot feedback from users, report results to the board, and consider whether to recommend district-wide licensing and further policy work later this year.

What the board was not asked to do today: staff presented guidance and requested permission to run the pilot and continue developing the guidelines; there was no formal board vote to adopt a new district policy on AI during the study session.","District AI committee presented proposed guidelines and a limited pilot of two vetted generative-AI vendors for classroom use; pilot licenses are discounted through the end of the school year and district staff emphasized data privacy and training.",{"_33":101,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":102,"_41":103,"_43":104,"_45":105,"_47":106,"_49":107,"_51":108,"_53":109,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":110,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":111,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6100726,"Provo board reviews joint boundary-adjustment steps with Alpine; GIS map and county plat remain to be completed",556,65000,621000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584&start=65&end=621","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2812579-f758c09a546c93c1e0038cc91d9a6584/thumbnail_65000.jpg","/articles/6100726/Utah/Provo-board-reviews-joint-boundary-adjustment-steps-with-Alpine-GIS-map-and-county-plat-remain-to-be-completed","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6100726-fb83aa8517ea13df4629613f952db0ee/orig.mp4?Expires=1770446243&Signature=H-MkojLVQ8Xz4b9lfLwIGiTn4bElyFnJkYEYg22YQ9wPHTOqVowgnzTTpe0k-3~XZ77lBmTrJErLoqFJg3AGFgW1SbP7KXr9T7I~4SuGeRVPFgMl0iomDsjdOUG37NTCm9~XahOzvVSKnHYU4eWdc2VZra6zrS0TZv8NT1we4bVQIqnLQeYWw4-VqpT5zBdQq7msQkbZ2dstg0NMpQXwuu-Shxys~WapnmiGvoejdMSMHG4vkF6VrpQ4HAUL9MQ7lF9zM2HClqMWnf438J7ZSbjDOmGgqxrsLWldB61FfELzCY3WXdAnllByL8BQmM0HC2kb2OalxMSNiVZvkpAcyw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Provo City School Board members reviewed a joint resolution to adjust school district boundaries with Alpine School District on March 28, saying Alpine has already signed and the county gave preliminary approval.

Devon, a district staff member leading the work, told the board that Alpine signed the resolution earlier that week and that ‘‘this is the resolution that’s required by the county.’’ Devon said the county approved preliminary maps during its recent session and discussed the Provo-area changes at a county commissioner meeting.

Why it matters: changes to district boundaries can shift property valuation and local tax burdens, and the board must complete technical and legal steps before finalizing the change. Devon described three outstanding requirements: a new GIS map (received by district staff that morning), a county-signed survey (plat) prepared by an authorized surveyor, and final sign-off paperwork. The district’s contractor for the boundary study, MGT, offered to create the GIS files at no extra cost, Devon said.

Board members asked about a small parcel shown as county land inside Provo city limits (near Jamestown and the Lakeview neighborhood). Devon said the parcel remains county land even though it has a Provo address, and described it as one of a few small commercial parcels that remain in county jurisdiction. She raised a longer-term legislative question about whether single-city school districts should receive a different allocation of county property that currently benefits multi-city districts.

Devon told the board that a county surveyor is expected to finish the plat by late spring and that the district is exploring whether it can use the city surveyor to reduce cost. She also noted the county sometimes requires a new GIS map if parties wait 30 days after signatures, so the district is trying to coordinate timing to avoid rework.

Next steps: district staff said they will deliver the completed GIS files and the county-signed plat to the county and, once those documents are in order, the board president will sign the resolution. No formal board vote on the resolution was recorded at the study session; staff presented the status and requested direction to finish the technical documents.

Community details and budget effects: Devon said the parcel transfers affect property valuation but that exact revenue changes depend on how the district sets tax rates; she characterized the net effect as increasing Provo’s taxable valuation without producing additional immediate revenue for the district unless the district changes its tax rate. Specific valuation figures discussed in the meeting included an earlier valuation figure cited from a county record (described in the meeting as around $14,150,000) and a much larger current figure (described as around $160,000,000); Devon characterized those as illustrations of valuation changes over time rather than as final revenue projections.

Board members did not take a formal vote on the resolution during the study session; staff will return with the completed survey plat and final documents for administrative signature and any required follow-up actions.","Board staff said Alpine School District signed the joint resolution and county preliminary approval is in place; the board was told a new GIS map and a county-signed plat are the remaining steps before the board president signs the resolution.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Board study session centers on salaries, class-size trade-offs and aides; staff seeks direction for budget priorities

Board reviews draft ‘Portrait of a Graduate’; district to engage teachers and students for grade-level definitions

Provo district committee proposes AI guidelines, launches short pilot of screened classroom tools

Provo board reviews joint boundary-adjustment steps with Alpine; GIS map and county plat remain to be completed