The Davis School District Board of Education on Jan. 21 approved on first reading a policy change to permit limited corporate naming rights for portions of school buildings, restricted to academic spaces and subject to board approval.

The change, proposed by district legal staff, narrows the district’s prior naming rules to allow corporate donations in exchange for naming rights but limits any contract to 10 years and requires board approval for individual proposals. “This policy comes to us from a request from the superintendency, to consider a policy change that will allow the district to relax the the naming policy so that we can accept corporate corporate donations in exchange for naming rights of portions of our buildings,” General Counsel Beninofrio said at the meeting.

District leaders said the policy is intended as a cautious, first step to broaden partnerships that support academic programming, particularly career and technical education (CTE). Superintendent Lindford told the board the district wants “academic partnerships to bring in...business that has real interest in our students learning specific skills” and emphasized that sports facilities and other high‑visibility venues were intentionally excluded because of concerns over advertising to captive student audiences.

Board members debated scope and safeguards. A policy committee member noted the draft currently limits naming to academic spaces and said that if the district later wants to permit naming of outdoor fields or pools, the policy can be revisited. The policy passed unanimously on first reading; the board will schedule a second reading and final action if it moves forward.

Why it matters: the change allows the district to pursue private dollars tied directly to classroom programs while keeping final naming authority at the board level and guarding against commercial advertising in spaces such as athletic fields.

What was decided: policy 10CR‑005 was approved on first reading with these explicit limits: board approval required for any naming agreement, contracts limited to 10 years, and naming restricted to academic spaces (for example, CTE labs). Athletic facilities, pools and fields were not included in the current draft. The board can revisit the policy if it chooses to expand permissible locations.

Next steps: if the board approves a second reading, individual naming proposals and any associated contracts will come before the board for separate approval.