A Republican state senator has proposed allowing candidates for the Utah Board of Education — the elected panel that oversees the state’s public schools — to run under a political party.
It’s an unexpected and contentious move that comes three years after the Legislature already approved a bill to do that — but which was immediately held up by a lawsuit alleging the measure violated the state constitution. A 3rd District judge ruled against the law and a final decision from the Utah Supreme Court is still pending.
And this latest action, coming before that ruling with a 5-2 vote of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, could raise even more legal challenges.