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House panel holds bill that would require districts to staff certified teacher librarians

Utah House Education Committee · February 17, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The House Education Committee heard testimony supporting HB364, which would create 19 district-level certified teacher-librarian FTEs funded by the state and estimated to cost roughly $1.7–$1.8 million; after extensive questioning on funding and local control the committee voted to hold the bill for further study.

Representative Arthur introduced HB364, which would require each local education agency or regional education service agency to staff a full-time certified teacher librarian at the district level and create 19 FTEs statewide. Arthur said the positions would support literacy programs, collection development and legal compliance for instructional materials.

Gretchen Zaitsev, district library media specialist for Canyon School District, testified that certified teacher librarians significantly increase student engagement and literacy: she told the committee that…

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