S.B. 34 Public Education Revisions: transcript

Thank you very much. So, uh, this bill, SB 34 Public Education Revisions is a targeted, uh, statutory statutory alignment bill that implements several recommendations formally requested by the Utah State Board of Education. And I've got the board chair Matt Hymes with me. And, uh, this, this is their recommendations. We actually heard this in committee and, uh, we're, you know, there are a few changes since that, in fact, there's a substitute online that I would like to move if that's possible. I'll entertain a motion.

Thank you very much. Now to the substitute, the substitute actually, or, uh, does, does three things. Uh, it, it changes the name, uh, from Catalyst to Apex, which is the Applied Professional Education experience and incorporates portions of the USBE rural related to the Catalyst APEX grant program. So that's one thing that's changed in the substitute. It includes, uh, uh, some changes to the superintendent report, and it adjusts some language that just wasn't clear in the bill. So, back, back to the bill. Uh, the bill does not create new programs, expand mandates, or require additional funding. Instead, it clarifies governance authority aligns terminology across statutes, improves safety related processes and strengthens administrative accountability. The guiding intent of SB 34 is to ensure Utah's public education statutes are internally consistent, operationally clear and capable of being administered effectively by state and local education agencies. So the major provisions are, uh, the, uh, the USB request, the USB, the Utah State Board of Education actually had a whole list of requests, uh, that they presented in the interim. And, uh, this actually deals with, uh, many of 'em. So the first request was to c clarify governance and safety oversight for us, uh, db, uh, which is the governance of the Utah Schools for Deaf and Blind. And it shifts safety assessment responsibility to the appropriate state level authority. So the action in this bill, the bill explicitly authorizes the state Superintendent of public instruction to oversee, uh, Utah schools for the deaf and blind resolving ambiguity in existing statute. This aligns the, uh, USDB governance with the broader public education system, while preserving its unique mission and services. SB 34 also update safety assessment processes to ensure coordination with appropriate state safety leadership reflecting US B'S request to modernize and generalize responsibility for USDB safety assessment. Second, the Juvenile Justice Reintegration Planning. Uh, it amends rei the, their request was to amend reintegration statutes to replace district with LEA. So charter schools are clearly included. Uh, the bill standardizes reintegration language across statute by replacing district with local education agency, ensuring charter schools are clearly and consistently covered under reintegration planning requirements. It also clarifies the reintegration is not automatic LEAs routine authority to deny reintegration in cases involving serious or violent offenses. Safety considerations remain paramount. This aligns the statutory language with existing practices and removes ambiguity without expanding, uh, restrict or restricting reintegration policy. Uh, the third point is the school safety assessment requirements. It improves clarity and operational effectiveness of school safety assessment processes is what they wanted. The the action in the bill is to, uh, it updates the safety assessment requirements by establishing a minimum three year assessment cycle, uh, requiring coordination with school safety or security leadership. This changes, uh, this change improves consistency. Insurers assessments are informed by practical on the ground expertise. It does not impose new safety standards, unfunded mandates or reporting burdens. And then, uh, number four, uh, the Suicide Prevention Program Administration. Uh, the request was provide limited flexibility in administering SU suicide prevention funds. The current statute, uh, in code establishes a suicide prevention program, and it requires the State Board of Education to distribute $1,000 per school. School USBE requested this be amended to address situations in which the total legislative appropriation for suicide prevention is reduced under current law. If the overall appropriation decreases, the board would be required to distribute the full thousand dollars to fewer schools, excluding others entirely. This would allow, uh, the board instead to reduce the per school amount and distribute funding to all schools Preserving statewide participation in the program. Uh, the suicide prevention program is not eliminated or weakened. No funding is removed by statute. The change ensures continuity and equitable distribution. If funding levels fluctuate, this provision provides administrative flexibility while maintaining the program. Statewide. Read number five, records classification and privacy. SB 34 classifies certain records as protected, consistent with existing, uh, grammar standards, particularly where records involve student safety, juvenile justice matters, sensitive administrative information. Uh, it provides equitable flexibility and su oh, that's, and that what SB 34 does not do. It does not create new education programs, does not mandate curriculum changes, does not expand state control over local instruction. Instructional decisions does not add administrative burdens to EA does not appropriate funds. Uh, there are no appropriations implemented using existing staff and resources, and it reduces ambiguity administrative friction rather than adding compliance cost. Uh, the rationale to this is it reflects a core legislative responsibility, ensuring that statutes governing public education are coherent, enforceable, and aligned with how programs actually operate. Each provision addresses a documented gap or inconsistency identified by USBE and corrects it in a narrow, non-controversial manner. So it improves governance, clarity, safety oversight, accountability and flexibility, and grant administration statutory consistencies across, uh, LEA. So the summary would be, uh, it's a technical fiscally neutral bill that implements multiple Utah State Board of Education legislative request for the 2026 session. It clarifies USDB governance aligns reintegration statutes for all LEAs and improves school safety assessment processes. And with that, do you have any other things you want to add to that?

Uh, I dunno if I can, It says Mayor Hy May, may I Thank you Chair. Uh, I, I won't go over everything. You, I mean, that was Yeah. Fantastic. But, uh, the USBE in our conversations, uh, yes, did request these. We're truly grateful for, uh, Senator Johnson, uh, for putting these together and, and helping us obtain clarity as we continue to, uh, do our best at the work moving forward. So, thank you, Senator. Nothing more to add to what he's doing here.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam Chair. Excuse me. I said, Mrs. Chair, I apologize, madam. Um, I did not, when this bill came to interim, it was a lot smaller. It had a lot less focus, and it, I had a lot focus. It focused on the lines 1 71 that talked about, um, moving the, uh, superintendent of the schools for the deaf and the blind to be, um, part of the state superintendent and the role of the superintendent for the school, for the deaf and the blind, and to another employee of the state board. So not, this says that we will no longer have a superintendent that, uh, is over the schools for the deaf and the blind, and who the person that is the new superintendent can actually give those roles to another employee. Is there if here somebody here from the school for the deaf and the blind, or the advisory committee that supports this change, because as I was on the state school board, I recognized that we not all, sometimes we did not meet the needs of the school for the deaf and the blind because we were so overwhelmed and they were a little umbrella under us. We were so do they support this change? Because it seems like they're now losing advocacy and there are, have been diminished in their person who's gonna be in charge of them. It's not, it's not just the superintendent, but the superintendent can pick somebody and that's just an employee. So that's really alarming to me.

Yeah. Thank you. If I may. Yes. Um, chair Hymes. Uh, yeah, there, there has been some discussion about that as, and, uh, uh, I don't wanna say relinquish of control, but, uh, uh, understanding of oversight and responsibilities. Right now, we're kind of in an, uh, interim stage with, uh, superintendent Darren Nielsen watching over, uh, or keeping an eye on that. We have found that it has been working well as a board as of now. We haven't moved to take any direction based on what legislation happens here, but we have found in, in working with the, the board, working with the state superintendent that all of the needs are still being met. Uh, but it was sometimes you have a board and, and, uh, who will go through the process of, of hiring somebody outside. And sometimes the, uh, state superintendent has the knowledge and oversight that can be helpful and, uh, understands where, uh, recommendations could fall. And we found that, uh, having the ability to work with the state superintendent and have her take on that oversight role was fruitful, especially since the USDB has recently been moved completely under the USBE as far as, well most everything, uh, including financial lately. I dunno if that answers your question, Senator.

Not really. Okay. Um, I'm a big fan of Darren Nielsen. I think he's amazing. But did he relinquish his, um, position as being over assessment?

It's in, it's in pause right now because he's the interim director or interim superintendent. And so nothing with nothing official. If, if it does go forward and say, yeah, the USDB, uh, or USBE can do this, or Yeah, we support this, or if this comes out in code, then yes, he would relinquish, relinquish that he would not be tasked with two roles. Okay.

Um, well, I, I, I would ask that the us uh, the Utah State for the, the Utah School for the Deaf and the blind would reach out to me and tell me whether they support this or not, because this isn't alarming. It seems really, um, not in the best interest for those students as a school teacher, I've seen that they frequently that's okay, are forgotten about, and they don't get the resources they need while they're in schools that are outside of school for the deaf and the blind. And when we think about the school for the deaf and the blind, it's not just that building. They actually are supposed to advocate for every kid who is sight impaired or hearing impaired in the state. So that's a little concerning, and we can go into that at another time. The other question I have is when we change the name from Catalyst Center to Applied Professional Education Experience Grant, I know our grants are very, very specific and prescribed. What is the difference between the Catalyst Center grant and the Applied Professional Education Experience grant? Why would we change the name and if we're just changing the name, is there anything that's in that grant that will be different than the grant that we have right now? Because, uh, for example, if you have a grant for STEM education, you have a certain requirement to have a certain amount of hours, you have to have a reporting back to a certain committee. If we take away that grant and just change the name, is this a whole different grant?

Yes. Chair Hyers. Thank you. I I would have to phone a friend on that one. And, and I don't have a friend in the room, so, uh, I don't have You have lots of friends. We just need some answers from anybody here. Lincoln's my friend, but, uh, uh, yeah, I can't answer that for you right now. I apologize. Who Do we have? Well,

I do want to go back. If I could chair just briefly to let you know that, uh, uh, associate superintendent or not, uh, interim superintendent Darren Nelson is online recognizing that you're asking if Darren's great, maybe not asking him if he'd be the great, but I, the the best person to answer. But I do want to provide that to you. Yep. And then back to your, uh, catalyst question, If I may. Senator Johnson, uh, would you Yes. Would you like to allow Superintendent Ni Let's have him, let's have him comment, and then I'll comment on the, we're going to promote change of the name, Promote, we'll go ahead and promote Superintendent Nielsen online.

Yeah, thank you. Good afternoon. Just wanna note, I'm wearing my Mr. Rogers sweater today, so, um, we can all be friends, Uh, to Senator Rees's point, um, about her, um, interest in making sure that iCal for the Deaf and Blind is adequately, uh, supported and represented. Um, I can tell you that it, since I've been here, uh, October, I think of 2025, I've been in this position. Um, we have, uh, we have, me and the associate superintendents and the staff that I interact with here have felt, um, a strong level of support from the U Utah State Board of Education. Um, some changes that have happened governance wise, uh, since Senator Riebe served on the, the Utah State School Board. Um, we have a standing committee that meets, uh, with the Board of Education, specifically for issues related to the, to the ICALs for the Deaf and Blind each month. Um, so we have that dedicated time and support. Um, we have a fully functioning advisory council that enlist this, the engagement of members of our, uh, community. Um, we have good channels of communication, uh, between that Advisory Council and the State Board of Education. And then, um, my appointment here to Senator Re's question about other duties as assigned, um, the Board of Education has put me here, um, and working solely and fully on responsibilities in this assignment. Um, and the other duties that I had when I worked for the, the State School Board on their campus was have all been, um, did redistributed, uh, temporarily, um, to other individuals to help carry that load. But, um, we feel, uh, wonderful support from the, the state school Board and believe that, uh, there is certainly sufficient energy being placed to try to meet and address the needs. We also are grateful for the interest of legislatures had in, um, addressing the needs of the students here that we serve, both on our campuses and across the state through outreach. That concludes my comments. Thank you.

So, so we, let me respond to, to the other question about the Catalyst Center. Okay. And then, we'll, I'm gonna have, and Then we'll go to Senator Riebe after that. Yeah. Uh, apparently I've got some people listening online. So, uh, from Dr. Voorhees, Leah Voorhees at the USBE, she says the Catalyst grant would not be changed. The name change is proposed because the Davis building is called the Catalyst Center. And other LEA quote centers want to have their own names and to be distinct. Uh, and, and if you want more information on that, we do have Stephanie Patton online as well. But that's up to you Chair. I, I, I think that, I think that pretty well explains it. And, uh, that, that was an addition that that house wanted to make actually, uh, you know, and given that the speakers, uh, the primary, uh, one behind the catalyst centers Right. And pushing that, that was, that was basically the response to it.

Thank you. Um, looking on lines 3 37 all the way down to lines, uh, 4 0 6. So this is the same definition that we had for the Catalyst grant, and now we're just replicating it for the Apex Grant. Yes. Okay. It's just changing the name. Okay. Just making sure that no one's losing their funding. And the last question I have is on line 4 57, we crossed out 53 E dash three dash 5 0 7, and we replaced it with 53 F dash five dash 2224. So in 53 E three, that money goes to Carson Smith and SOEP, and we crossed that out. And now this 53 F oh, would that change where the money goes if we are changing the section? So private donations, grants, gifts, be requests or money made available for any other source to implement this. This is a big change from Carson Smith and SOEP. How come we're changing that line item? Because under this code, this account would be spent in different places now. So are these people in Carson Smith and SOP still getting their funding? That's a good question. I got lots of questions and I, I think that's probably one that we're gonna have to circle the bill on just to, and until we clarify that, uh, We get before, I'll give you an opportunity to pass this bill out. I don't think that's a huge question. I think the bill that you have in front of us. It's a good question though. Yes. I know. I have great questions. If I do my homework,

Thank you. And, uh, Mr. Darren Nielsen's always been a Helper, and whenever I've needed help, I've always sought out for him and his Mr. Rogers. So I appreciate Darren for your questions, but I'll ans I'll listen to those questions offline. Thank you. Thank You.

Good afternoon. My name is Tiana McCall and I'm on here on behalf of the National Association of Social Workers, the Utah Chapter. Um, we represent licensed social workers serving students and families across Utah. Uh, we are particularly concerned about the proposed change that would allow school-based suicide prevention funding to be automatically reduced if appropriations fall short. This was presented earlier as a way to address the reality that there are more schools and can be fully funded at a thousand dollars each. We understand that challenge, however, under funding should not be solved by normalizing reductions to lifesaving prevention efforts in Utah. More than one in five high school students seriously considered attempting suicide. And nearly one in five made a plan in a school of 500 students that's over a hundred students thinking about suicide and nearly 90 with a plan. Much of this funding supports training, training school staff to recognize warning signs and intervene early. That training saves lives, reducing per school funding, weakens school's ability to do that work. And we urge you to protect school-based suicide prevention funding from automatic reductions.

Awesome. Thank you. Um, chairman Johnson, members of the committee. My name is Tanner Hone. I'm a licensed clinical social worker and I'm here on the behalf of the, of the Utah School Social Work Association. Um, and I'm here today to speak to those same concerns that, um, Tiana had just previously talked about. Um, the 2025 sharp, um, data released last month, um, confirms that Utah's current approach to suicide prevention is working. We have seen a 28% drop in suicidal ideation over the, the last two years. This progress is built on the stability of our current funding, our current funding model. Suicide prevention is not an elective, it is a lifesaving infrastructure. Um, SB 34 moves us from a guaranteed a thousand floor per school to a precarious up to model for our rural districts that a thousand dollars is often the only predictable funding. Um, they have to train teachers, um, and provide parent seminars. If this funding becomes a variable expense, we create a safety gap where our most vulnerable students in low resource areas lose to safety net exactly when economic or social stressors are high. So we urge you to maintain the statuary requirement for at least $1,000 per school. Um, we don't want to gamble with the progress we've made, so I appreciate your time.

I do. I, my son. Um, I, um, I, I'm willing to work with you on those questions that I've asked, but I really do believe that suicide prevention money isn't super important. We have the largest rate of suicide in the nation with some of our peers, um, to the northwest, east and south. So, uh, I, I would be willing to support this bill and work with you on those other changes. But with the money taking away from suicide prevention, I'm gonna have to be a No thank you.

Um, the, To some, To some, yes. First. First, there's no money taken away in this bill. It's simply providing, uh, flexibility for this, for the State Board of Education. Uh, secondly, I think, uh, I think it's important for us as a committee, and this is something I've been committed to do as, as chair of the committee. And that is to, uh, listen to our State Board of Education and, uh, and help with the things where they, they feel they need, uh, help. And that's what this bill addresses. So with that, I waive

Okay. Thanks. I, I, I appreciate being here. I haven't, uh, appeared through the, before this illustrious committee. It's different since the last time I was here. So, uh, I've seen many of you in the Senate committee, so SB 34, we do have a substitute and an amendment, and I don't know what, what stage you wanna move those? We'll, we'll do those in after the public comment and the action items, if that's okay, Senator. Okay. You're welcome to speak to them if you'd want. Would Like them. Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you what's in the amendment. This actually started as our committee bill to, to clean up the language, uh, for the State Board of Education. And so the key changes to, on the third substitute, really, it, it expands SB 34 in several important ways. Uh, the bill is no longer technical alignment. It now includes, uh, clarified constitutional definitions, expanded workforce alignment provisions, grant program restructuring and safety coordination updates. So it does add a definition. And this, this actually was in the previous substitute of general control and supervision. And, uh, it simply says general control and supervision means that the state board shall direct and manage all aspects of the public education system in accordance with laws the legislature makes, including compliance and monitoring of an LEA. So this is, uh, this is a definition that actually came out of, uh, I, I don't know if you know, the, the state board was actually, uh, sued. Uh, and, uh, this was basically what, what the lawsuit yielded. And it, it, it was basically, uh, it basically made a decision that, you know, their, their job, the general control and supervision does mean that they have the, the ability to control and supervise the, the LEAs. And so that's basically what it is. So we added that definition in here. So earlier versions, uh, reference constitutional authority, uh, substitute three now expressly just defines the phrase and explicitly signs it, uh, ties that. Uh, so the practical, uh, effect is this just codifies in definition in statute what, what that means. Uh, of course, you know, the, since it's a constitutional provision that could change at, at, at any time. So it also outlines USDV governance and restructure. Uh, of course there was a, there was a bigger bill, uh, from, uh, Representative Whyte that just passed the Senate that I was the Senate sponsor on that, that goes into more detail here. But what it does is it aligns USDB structure with broader executive management. Clarifies reporting lines, maintains board governance, but centralizes administrative supervision. Uh, the Catalyst Center is renamed to apex, the Applied Professional Education Experience Grant program. Uh, so this actually provides more detailed definition. I don't know if you realize, but Catalyst Center was actually something that the Davis School District had named, and they just wanted to clarify to make this definition broader for the whole state. So it emphasizes workforce alignment, industry partnerships, labor market responsiveness. It adds stronger grant criteria, accountability metrics, and it builds, uh, explicit collaboration with the first credential and workforce initiatives. So it tightens the focus. Uh, there is some language that was added to this on the Grow Your Own educator pipeline. We actually had a bill that, uh, that I ran in the Senate where, where we allowed that, uh, grow your own educator to expand into, uh, into other areas in special ed. And, uh, there was some of the language that wasn't, wasn't put in that bill. So we added it to this bill just, just for clarification. And then it, it looks at juvenile justice reintegration. So the LEA alignment there, it replaces school district with LEA. So there were just some clarifications to the language that it made. And then, uh, the school safety needs assessment. It, it actually, uh, the three year cycles are codified, uh, the suicide prevention funding flexibility. Now, this is one that, that, actually, I don't, I don't know if you've seen, but there's been a number of newspaper articles about this. The fact that, uh, the state board actually wanted some, uh, some flexibility, uh, in code. It actually said every school is given a thousand dollars and they weren't sure exactly where the budget was going to be, but they wanted to make sure they at least funded, uh, the basic programs. And rather than just picking a few school, you know, the number of schools they had money for and give them a thousand dollars, it allowed them flexibility so they could still, you, you know, fund the programs in all the schools. But, uh, I, I, I learned today that the budget was fully restored for that. In fact, they gave them more than they need to provide a thousand dollars to every school so that that's there. And, uh, so that, that's basically a bill. There's no new appropriations, although the, uh, maximum amount for the Catalyst program was raised to a hundred thousand dollars in the a hundred million dollars right in the, in the amendment that's coming forward. So, uh, this is just more definitional. Uh, and, uh, I'm, that concludes my presentation.

Leanne Wood, vice Chair U Utah State Board of Education. We just wanted to publicly take the opportunity to thank Senator Johnson for running the bill. Uh, our staff works throughout the year to look for areas where there might be incongruencies or areas that need to be updated to, to better align with what needs to be done. And so we appreciate always, um, those of you that will take those bills and run with them and help us to accomplish our work better. So, thank you. Thank you, Thank you.

I'd like to speak on SB 34 public education revisions. I would like to stress the critical importance of maintaining funding for suicide prevention and mental health awareness organizations, foundations, in all school related programs. Having personally experienced the loss of a friend to suicide witness, family members struggled with this devastating challenge. And as well as face my own mental health challenges as well. I urge you to prioritize these issues in our education systems. I come from a school district that didn't give these matters, the attention they deserve, which had a tragic impact on our community. Utah has ranked among the states of higher than average suicide rates for over a decade. And it's essential that we implement meaningful changes to support our children facing these challenges. Thank you.

Chaise Rahla. I'm representing myself.

Awesome. Well, I'm Tanner Hone. I am the President of the Utah School Social Work Association. And, um, I'm in Cedar Hills and work as a school-based therapist, LCSW. Um, and I just want to echo from that last comment. Um, I think we believe that that thousand dollars should be maintained, that that flexibility shouldn't be there. So that's, that's where kinda we stand with it. Um, that funding is much needed. I'm glad to hear that funding is maintained for those schools, but I don't think there should be. I think that flexibility piece shouldn't be there. I think it should be at least $1,000 per school every year. So, thank you.

Thank you. And you said there were, what was it?

All right. Fantastic. In that case, I move that we adopt third substitute to SB 34.

Will waive. All

Fantastic. I move that we adopt Amendment one to SB 34.

Waive All right.

If you willing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Um, I move that we favorably recommend SB 34 as substituted and amended, Uh, motions in an order. Would you like to speak to it?

Sure. I just think that this makes sense in a straightforward, and I'd like to see it move forward. Thank you to the members of the committee. Um, I just would like to address the concern of the, uh, two, uh, uh, members of the public who spoke to the, um, allocation of funds from, uh, the distribution money under subsection seven. They're referring to line 2010. Um, the state board of requested an accommodation if for some reason there was a change in appropriation, uh, that they'd be able to allocate those appropriate, the allocate those funds commensurately. So, I just wanna clarify that there isn't any change in funding for suicide prevention. And, uh, uh, but, but there is a need, there is a need in statute to accommodate some of those, uh, changes if they're not fully funded, and that, uh, sometime in the future. And so the intent wasn't to change the funding levels or, uh, to set something up so that the legislature could do something different. There was just an acknowledgement that there needed to be some flexibility in the future. Um, if, uh, if for some reason, uh, that that came before the legislature. So I just wanted to clarify that important question from our members of the public.

Th Thank you very much. I, I, I appreciate, uh, that clarification. And I, I'm, I'm excited actually, to announce that they, they're gonna fully refund, refund that there's actually more money, uh, appropriated than, than they need for a thousand dollars per school, so that that will all be restored. So, thank you, uh, for allowing me to be at the committee today.

I will waive. All right. Thank you.

Claim the substitute. I wanna, so I wanna de delete title and body of, uh, first substitute Senate bill 34 and replace it with second substitute Senate bill 34.

Okay. So this, this substitute actually creates, actually fixes some problems that, uh, Senator Riebe pointed out in, in drafting, uh, from the committee. It also pulls, uh, some language from, uh, a bill that, that has tried to be run, uh, three years in a row. That, that, that actually updates the, the language. It includes a definition of, uh, what what is meant by general control and, and supervision. And then it aligns with representative White's, uh, bill HB 4 48 regarding the superintendent of USDB. And that was requested by the State Board of Education. It adjusts language in the Apex, uh, grant program to give flexibility in membership of the advisory board. And it corrects the drafting areas that I, I mentioned before. And what I'd like to do is, is move this, uh, this substitute and then I'll circle the bill, uh, so that people can, uh, give me feedback on that. Thanks.

The, the motion will be to circle this bill? Yes. I, I want people to be able to see this. First. I, I will point out that the, uh, state board actually voted to, uh, accept the, the substitute. Uh, but there were a couple of people that, that, uh, voted against it. So I wanna make sure that I get their feedback before I move it forward.

Has the announcement and the motion is that I move the Senate adjourn until Monday, February 9th At 11:00 AM I think we have a motion to adjourn until Monday, February 9th.

Okay. So this second substitute is comprehensive, but technical Public education alignment Bill, it does not appropriate funds create new mandates or change curriculum. Instead, it modernizes and clarifies statute to ensure our public education code reflects how schools actually operate today. First, the bill clarifies governance definitions in Title 53 E and 50 3G, including the meaning of general control and supervision and expressly recognizes the Utah schools for the Deaf and the blind as a local education agency, it also formula formalizes the state board's authority to have the state superintendent appoint and supervise the USDB superintendent ensuring clear lines of accountability. Second, it aligns juvenile justice reintegration statutes across all LEAs, including charter schools. And USDB reintegration is not automatic. The bill maintains LEA authority to deny reintegration in CR cases involving serious or violent offenses requires structured planning and protect sensitive records under Grandma. Third, the bill strengthens the school safety coordination requires periodic safety assessments. Clarifies the role of school safety personnel, improves coordination with law enforcement and allows USDB uh, to work directly with state security. Chief sensitive safety information remains protected. Fourth, it updates and renames the Applied Educational Experience grant program, uh, to better align with work workforce and career pathways. That used to be the, uh, the, uh, oh God. Now I can't even, it used to be called the Catalyst program, but that was something that Davis County actually named, so that's why they updated it. Uh, finally, the bill provides limited flexibility in the SU suicide prevention program. It, uh, if legislative appro appropriations are reduced, the State School Board may adjust the per school distribution so that all schools can continue to participate rather than excluding some entirely. The program itself remains intact. In short. SP 34 Substitute two, uh, improves clarity, safety, governance and administrative flexibility using existing resources. It is a technical alignment, uh, bill designed to make existing law work as intended. And, and this was actually from the, uh, uh, the State Board of Education. This was actually their so-called cleanup bill. But with that, I yield for questions.

Uh, i, I move that second substitute SB 34. Uh, be read a third time

Senator Spery. Aye. Lewin Brammer. Aye. Bus Fillmore Escamilla Fillmore Aye. Roper Aye. Harper? Aye. Kins Ipson Aye. On two Johnson? Aye. Juab McKay mac Mikel Aye. Milner Musselman Owens.

Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Aye. Pickers Aye. Weiler Aye. Wilson. Aye. Winterton Lewin

Senator Millner, Thank you very much Mr. President Pro Tim, I'd like to encircle Senate bill two 20. The motion is to circle Senate Bill two 20 Veteran Scholarship amendments.

Thank you very much Mr. President.

we covered this quite a bit yesterday. Uh, I'm, I'll just say in short, SB 34, substitute two improves clarity, safety, governance and administrative flexibility using existing resources. It's a technical alignment bill designed to make existing law work as intended. And with that, uh, I'm open for questions.

With that, I I move that second substitute SB 34 pass.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, each year the, uh, house and Senate in their interim, uh, meetings, work with the State Board on a couple of policies that would be important to the state Board. So, uh, this year, uh, that bill was carried by Senator Johnson at Senate Bill 34. And most of the issues are issues that were brought to, uh, the chairs by the State Board and asked to address a few clarifications and then, and then there's a, uh, important change. So let me, uh, an important change to last year's, uh, catalyst program. So let me identify the few items that, uh, the state Board has asked us to work on. The first one is a definition of general control and supervision. Many of you're aware that in the state constitution, the legislature is assigned to the establishment and maintenance. That's the legislature's role. Legislature's role in public education. And the state board's role is general control and supervision. And so this bill provides a definition for general control and supervision. And it clarifies that the state superintendent, uh, under the direction of the state board appoints and supervises the us, the, the Utah Schools of Deaf and Blind Superintendent. Uh, there was a, there's been some, uh, uh, restructuring that they felt like needed to be codified, and so we made that clarification. Uh, the third thing is that it, uh, clarifies and expands the allowable use of funds for the Grow your own educator pipeline. And specifically it allows for paraprofessionals, uh, to participate, uh, when they are, uh, doing, uh, trying to qualify via clinical experience. Um, it allows the schools of the deaf and blind to coordinate with the State Security chief rather than Loa local security officer. Some of you'd understand the structure, the state, the schools of the deaf and blind may have, uh, operations in many different, uh, uh, counties or municipalities. And so for our school safety issues, it allows 'em to work with the State Security Chief. Um, these suicide prevention grants, this has actually got quite a bit of, uh, uh, uh, press. So there's been some conversations about it, but it doesn't change or restrict the state's, the suicide prevention grants. All it does is says if the legislature were to appropriate less funds than what was in statute, that they would have the ability to, to balance their accounts, um, as it relates to that. And then finally, um, this bill changes the Catalyst program, which we created last year. It changes the name of that program to the APEX program. It adds additional funding to that program from the public education stabilization account. And in addition to that, it uh, puts some additional, uh, guardrails around the program in terms of accountability and outlines the ways that the, uh, uh, program in our public education, uh, local education agencies would work together with our and collaborate in appropriate ways with, um, our institutions of higher education. Those, that's the outline of the things that, uh, house, sorry, Senate Bill 34 does. And with that, I'm open to questions from the body.

Yeah. One, one of the biggest problems is there, there was a drafting error and the way they renamed the Apex Center and the expansion of that. So, uh, that I, it, it really needs to be cleaned up.

Motion to Concur. This is a great group this morning, Mr. President.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Personal privilege.

Representative Walter. Thank You Mr. Speaker. I move that we concur with the amendment, uh, move that we, uh, prove the conference committee.

Uh, we were able to address the technical change in just a few minutes. It was very good committee.