ST. GEORGE — Should school districts have the right to keep information about a student’s change in gender identity private from parents? Some Utah lawmakers say no and are working to ensure all parents have access to this information.
The School District Gender Identity Policies bill, officially designated as SB 100 in the 2023 Utah Legislature, enacts provisions ensuring a parent’s access to information related to their child, including gender identity.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Todd D. Weiler, said the bill prohibits school districts from adopting secret policies and hiding them from parents when it comes to a gender transition plan.
“There’s been kind of a national movement over the past five years to get schools to adopt these policies,” Weiler said. “And I just don’t agree with that. I think if a school wants to adopt a policy about a student’s transition, that’s fine, but the parents should not be excluded from that process.”
Weiler said the bill won’t require a school to “out” a gay or transgender student, but if they’re adopting a policy, every school employee will be notified, including substitute teachers in order for a student to go by a specific name or gender. Where a formal policy is in place, the parents should be included.
“This is just not hiding stuff from parents,” Weiler said. “Remember, the parents can pull their students out of the school if they wanted to, so ultimately, the parents should be in charge of their children’s education and livelihood.”
Previously, Weiler said the Salt Lake School District had a policy that allowed schools to store a student’s gender transition plan in a hidden file. The principal was then empowered to decide if the parents would be supportive enough to be informed. Weiler said, in his opinion, that’s not the proper role of government.
While that policy was on the books for a few years, Weiler said when he was alerted to it, he asked them to change it, and they did.
“So this bill is not really going to change any policy,” he said. “It’ll just kind of keep the status quo moving forward.”
As of Wednesday night, the bill received a favorable recommendation by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, with Southern Utah-based Sen. Evan Vickers voting yea.
Check out all of St. George News’ coverage of the 2023 Utah Legislature here.
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