Sign this petition to demonstrate your support for Utah K-12 students and educators by showing your opposition to legislative overreach in public education.

Utah Legislature’s House Bill (HB) 427 entitled ‘Individual Freedom in Public Education’ creates restrictions on what policies, programs, displays, and instructional material state boards, local educational agencies (school districts and charter schools), and faculty and staff can allow at public schools in Utah. This bill strips the control of state boards, local educational agencies, and teachers over their curriculum and professional development standards.

This bill contributes to an existing environment of fear for our already overburdened and overregulated teachers. It will restrict parental rights, the education of all students, and it will harm non-binary gender students and students of color. It is also inconsistent with Utah’s Antidiscrimination Act and the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

The following are examples of plausible repercussions of HB 427:

• Our public-school teachers will lose their jobs for instructional material that contains content that a parent or caregiver dislikes.
• Viewpoints of one group will be prioritized over other groups in public school curriculum (i.e., viewpoint-based discrimination).
• Symbols that represent inclusion and belonging (e.g., flags) will be prohibited.
• Children reporting discriminatory incidents by a teacher or peer will be ignored.
• There will be no accountability (e.g., funding) for disparities in educational success.

HB 427 is part of a national effort to censor free speech and cultural heritage by pushing a specific political ideology and persecuting those that fall in the margins. Its language is comparable to Florida’s HB 7 'Individual Freedom Act' (AKA Stop WOKE Act), which was recently blocked by a federal judge. Please help us do the same. 

We cannot let this legislation impact our public schools. Stand for teachers, parental rights, and children.

Petition Organizers: John Arthur, Kevin M. Korous, PhD., Darlene McDonald, Trevor Warburton, Ph.D.