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State board approves rule to collect school employees' work email addresses, asks legislature to repeal sharing requirement
Summary
The Utah State Board of Education approved R277-482 (draft 2) to require LEAs to provide work email addresses for school employees, and voted to request staff work with the Legislature to repeal Utah Code 53G-7-224, which allows legislators access to those addresses for up to three joint emails per year.
The Utah State Board of Education on a voice vote approved R277-482 (draft 2) to collect work email addresses for school employees and adopted an amendment directing staff to work with the Legislature to repeal the statutory sharing provision in Utah Code section 53G-7-224. The final vote on the amended motion was 10 yeses, 3 abstentions and 1 no.
Board members said the rule is intended to comply with recent legislation while the requested repeal would remove the statutory requirement that the board provide work email addresses to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House and allow them to jointly email school personnel up to three times per year. "Before October 1 of each year, an LEA shall provide the state board with the work email address of each school employee," Deputy Superintendent Stallings read from the code during the meeting.
Why it matters: the change creates a centralized list of work email addresses for licensed and nonlicensed school personnel, including paraprofessionals and school secretaries, and sets a deadline for LEAs to submit addresses. Deputy Superintendent Stallings said the Legislature asked that list be made available so legislative leaders could send official communications directly to educators, and that current licensing records often contain personal, not work, email addresses.
Board discussion centered on two competing concerns: complying with the statute and avoiding the appearance of government-facilitated political messaging. "I've been contacted three times by representatives of House leadership to see if we've created a solution yet," Superintendent Dixon said, adding legislators wanted to reach educators before the start of the school year. Member Norton expressed caution but said she would "vote yes" while noting concern about whether teachers would be held harmless if they used a work email inappropriately.
Several board members argued to comply with the law now and pursue repeal later through the Legislature. Representative Candace Perucci, who sponsored the legislation, was cited in committee remarks as having told legislators the change would let them inform educators about legislative actions that affect K-12 implementation.
Action taken: The board approved R277-482 (draft 2) on second and final reading and, by amendment, asked staff to work with the Legislature to repeal the requirements of Utah Code section 53G-7-224. The vote on the final amended motion was 10 yeses, 3 abstentions, 1 no. The transcript records the no votes on related prior votes as Member Boggess, Member Carrie and Vice Chair Earl on an earlier item; for this final action the transcript lists the abstentions as Norton, Strait and Davis and the lone no as Chair Moss.
Implementation notes and timeline: Deputy Stallings said LEAs must submit employees' work email addresses to USBE on or before Oct. 1; the statute limits the Legislature to no more than three joint communications per year and requires 48 hours' notice to superintendents and charter directors before sending.
The board directed staff to comply with the law while pursuing legislative change; staff will report back as discussions with legislative leaders proceed.
