Legislative Ethnic Studies commission looks at how to mitigate fears of ‘DEI police’ 

Students work in a math class at Wasatch Junior High School in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Almost two months after the implementation of a Utah bill that restricts Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in public entities, higher education institutions have decided to err on the side of caution, with some eliminating cultural centers and advising faculty on how to remain neutral to comply with the law. 

As the Ethnic Studies Commission, a legislative group tasked with making recommendations to the governor on issues that impact Utahns of diverse ethnicities, is searching to instruct K-12 schools on how to adjust to the new Utah statute, Democratic lawmakers hope teachers don’t go overboard in their quest for neutrality.

As of now, a draft advising a narrow consideration of ethnic studies is being considered for submission in the future.

“The legislature should continue to examine the neutrality standard in HB261,” a 2024 bill that overhauled DEI programs, such as DEI statements in hiring and certain trainings, said Lacey Johnson, a policy analyst for the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel. The goal is “to strengthen positive outcomes and address any unintended consequences,” she said.

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The Utah State Board of Education should also “carefully consider the use of ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum to ensure a narrowly tailored incorporation of age appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus,” Johnson told the commission on Thursday.

The Utah public education system should also “incorporate curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics,” Johnson said. However, it should do so without commentary seeking to violate HB261.

“It doesn’t mean that you can’t talk about different groups and history,” said Mike Curtis, attorney for the commission, explaining the policy recommendations. “But it does mean that actions or policies that you take can’t promote one or individual characteristic over another, or treat someone differently based on that.”

Both House and Senate Minority Leaders, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, and Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, represent areas on the west side of Salt Lake County, home of some of the most diverse populations in the state, and have heard concerns from constituents about the programs they would like to see implemented in their communities. 

A Pacific Islands studies class added to West High School would be acceptable if it’s open to all students, legal counsel said about a specific example. Programs that could lose federal funding with the state restriction may also be allowed. 

“It’s clear that we need to be very careful not to go crazy on HB261, and maybe that’s not the correct term, ‘crazy,’ but (to) exaggerate on what that statute looks like,” Escamilla said, “because you do have the combination of potentially federal funds coming in and having some of those programs that will be then protected.”

To comments from Herriman Republican Rep. Candice Pierucci about federal funding representing about 10% of the education budget, Escamilla clarified that school districts apply to smaller federal programs that don’t go through the state. 

Title I schools, serving low-income students, and Title III institutions, which provide assistance to English learners and immigrant students, all use federal funds and impact marginalized populations in the states, said commissioner Michelle Love-Day, who is also an educational consultant.

“Utah is exceptionally high in Title I because of one-working-parent homes, so that affects a lot of people,” Love-Day said. “And then you also have Title XI, which is our Native education, and that’s a grant that’s applied for through the (Utah State Board of Education) grant system, but it’s also federal funds, and so there’s programming that is required through those funding sources to operate specifically for those communities.”

Educators and administrators are interpreting a “complicated” bill, Escamilla said, so the Legislature should prevent those interpretations from impacting programs that shouldn’t be affected by the new law. 

“My concern is that people have to be clear within the framework. That is, that (they) will not necessarily be in violation of HB261,” Escamilla said.

There has been confusion. A teacher, for example, asked Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Sandra Hollins whether Black History Month posters could be on public school walls, she said. 

“I would say no, because we don’t want you to be called into the state by what I call the DEI police,” she said.

Hollins is concerned teachers don’t understand what narrower conversations around race and ethnicity mean either. 

“I can tell you that part of what I’m hearing from teachers is they’re scared to talk about anything, and for lack of a better word, that’s not white,” she said.

To those comments, Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, the chair of the commission, said the intention isn’t to micromanage what happens in classrooms, but to speak on the core standards and curriculum. Not all coursework, he said, has to necessarily touch on everything.

“If you go out of your way to incorporate certain discussions in studies that aren’t necessarily touching on that, that’s where it feels inappropriate,” Cullimore said. “But when we’re talking about social studies, when we’re talking about English, language, arts, when we’re talking about history, when we’re talking about all the social studies like that, that’s where these discussions are appropriate and should be held.”

Many questions and concerns weren’t resolved on Thursday. The commission is planning on meeting again in October to finetune the details of the recommendations.