The Utah State Board of Education approved a state cooperative contract renewal for Lightcast software — an analytics platform that bundles labor-market data, skills taxonomies and program/degree outcomes — to support career and technical education planning statewide.

Wendy Morton, CTE coordinator, told the board the platform centralizes employment outlook, skills and program outcome data and would be made available to LEAs and regional planners. "It saves a lot of time for them, as well as allows them to look at it together, if that makes sense, without having to do a lot of, pulling from multiple sources and and viewing those and doing the analytics," she said.

Board members asked whether the platform duplicates data the states Department of Workforce Services already provides. Staff replied the Lightcast product offers additional program‑level outcomes and skill taxonomies that are not readily available in the DWS data and that it is intended to be used in conjunction with state workforce data. The procurement passed, with the board voting 12–3; Members Green, Carrie and Boggess voted no.

Why it matters: Centralized labor-market analytics can help LEAs and regional planners align CTE pathways to employer demand and credential outcomes. The contract authorized statewide licenses and regional access to Lightcast analytics.

Vote: 12 in favor, 3 opposed (Member Green, Member Carrie, Member Boggess).