Education in Utah

Early Mormons fled to present-day Utah – which was a Mexican territory at the time – to escape religious persecution and the Missouri Governor's extermination order, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

[1][2] The independent nature of each school and the fluctuating funds between areas meant that the quality of education and curriculum offered to pupils varied throughout the state.

[3] County superintendents were put in place, and the legal responsibility for school operations moved from Bishops to city councils.

Local governments began to collect taxes to provide for teacher salaries and school supplies.

[3] Though Utah Mormons had been relatively isolated, the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 grew the population with a number of non-LDS groups.

[2][4][5] Protestants sought to eliminate Mormon teachings in schools by educating the children of Utah in the hope of converting them.

[3][4] In 1887, the federal government stepped in, issuing the Edmunds–Tucker Act which required changes to many of the LDS Church's political and social practices.

When Utah achieved statehood in 1896, this law expanded to make the schools government-funded and free of sectarian control.

[verification needed] Non-Mormon families in Utah felt that public schools were essentially private because of the heavy LDS Church influence on curriculum.

[verification needed][5] After World War II, teachers and schools started to seek more funding from the government.

This proved challenging during the governorship of J. Bracken Lee (1949–1957) due to sweeping budget reforms and his objection to receiving federal aid.

[9] Once Lee left office, governors sought ways to better fund teachers and the education system, but these efforts proved insufficient.

This resulted in around half of Utah teaching jobs filled by uncertified people or those certified through questionable means.

Participation required children to be baptized members of the church, be relatively free of emotional oddities, want to be educated, and keep good grades.

[13] The approved public education budget for the 2020 fiscal year was $5.6 billion, and the state graduation rate for 2019 was 87.4%.