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Commissioners question USU Extension's STEM role and funding in county contract
Summary
Commissioners raised doubts about funding a USU‑led STEM coordination role in the county contract, arguing the program overlaps with school districts and other local universities; USU said its STEM lead targets underserved youth and is convening a large coalition to identify service gaps.
At the Utah County work session, commissioners pressed USU Extension on whether the extension should use contract dollars to convene a countywide STEM coordination role rather than target underserved children directly through 4‑H and other programs.
An unidentified commissioner (Speaker 3) said he supports STEM education but questioned whether the extension is the appropriate entity to convene and run broad countywide STEM efforts, arguing the program duplicates work done by school districts and other local universities and lacks clear direction: “this is not the best distribution model…this program…is a piece of funding that I am questioning going forward in the contract.”
Andrea Walker Bravo and Ton Bettis defended the extension’s STEM efforts as focused on populations that lack access to typical STEM camps because of cost or geography. Andrea said Dallin (the STEM lead) has worked to convene roughly “50 ish” STEM organizations to identify gaps and coordinate services and that some activities are deliberately low‑cost or mobile (including reusing older school computers and planned drone demonstrations for air and water quality education).
Commissioners and USU staff agreed on the need for clearer deliverables: if the county funds STEM through the contract, the commissioners said the contract should specify intended audiences, measurable outcomes and whether funds should be redistributed through school districts or partner organizations instead of funding broad coordination activities.
No final decision was made; commissioners said they will consider whether the county should fund STEM activities directly through other local institutions or specify more exact deliverables in the USU contract.
Next steps: USU and county staff will clarify the STEM position’s scope, deliverables and target populations before finalizing how (or whether) STEM programming is funded in the contract.
