At the start of each calendar year, the Utah General Session is held to determine which bills will be introduced, debated, amended, and potentially passed into law. Another main focus of the General Session is to finalize the state budget for the year. The state budget effects numerous institutions, among them the Utah State Board of Education, which is the governing agency for Utah’s public schools.

The Utah State Board of Education recently made headlines after it was discovered that board members had been given an extremely tight turnaround time to deliberate, create and present their annual budget proposal to legislators and policy makers. This entire sequence of events caused a handful of board members to express their dissatisfaction working within such a limited time frame.

Regarding other General Session matters, many board members expressed support surrounding new legislative changes, chiefly, the bell-to-bell cellphone ban which will outright prohibit Utah students from using their cellphones during school hours. The bell-to-bell ban, which is now considered state law, will be fully implemented at the beginning of the 2026-27 academic school year.

Julie Jackson is a member of the Granite School District Board, representing Precinct 1 which encompasses Holladay and Millcreek. This is her sixth year serving on the board.

When asked about her thoughts on the recently ratified bell-to-bell ban, Jackson expressed support stating, “We’ve had great success with taking cellphones out of our schools. The key is to create a successful environment of enforcement for the school staff. It’s one thing to pass a law, it’s another thing to enforce it.” Jackson further elaborated, “I think it is better to put cell phones away during the school day. I also think we need to limit access to Chromebooks.”

While many board members showcased a range of reactions regarding the General Session and its outcomes, Jackson herself felt that solid progress had been made on a multitude of issues. “We were very successful in working with legislators to pass some good bills and to defeat many that weren’t,” Jackson said.

One success that Jackson feels particularly excited about is an allocation of funds that will directly benefit at-risk students. This is an issue that particularly hits home for Jackson, as Granite School District is responsible for serving one of the largest at-risk student populations in the state. Jackson also noted that additional funding will be dedicated to literacy initiatives impacting K-12, something she is eager to see.

As of late, there have been many conversations regarding literacy in Utah after a recent study by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah was released. The study revealed that a large percentage of Utah’s K-3 students have failed to meet grade-level appropriate reading standards. Per Utah’s state policy, a student is considered to have satisfied grade-level expectations if they meet or exceed a score of 405 on the end of year benchmark reading assessment. The study’s data showcases that just 50.3% of third graders are achieving appropriate proficiency.

The literacy issue is affecting students across the state, as a result, legislators have vowed to remedy the problem by enacting policy changes. Utah’s Early Literacy Outcomes Improvement Act (SB 127, 2022) aims to address these challenges by setting a statewide goal of 70% third-grade reading proficiency by 2027. On the other hand, Utah also continues to lead the charge in book banning. As of April 2026, Utah has officially banned 27 books at the statewide level. Utah, along with a handful of other states, now leads the charge in most books banned, statewide.

When it comes to the practice of banning books in schools, Jackson believes those decisions are probably best determined at the local level. “I think individual school communities should be making decisions about what is in their schools. Prior to this legislation [House Bill 29] these decisions were being made at the local level, and I appreciated that. Communities know best what is right for their kids, not legislators.”

On the subject of legislators, Jackson didn’t necessarily yield the same frustrations as several of her board colleagues, however, she did assert that it often boils down to the individual legislator you work alongside. “I think [the success of collaborating with legislators] totally depends on the legislator. There are lots of legislators who completely collaborate with, and trust, board members and some who don’t. I think where strain exists, it is because trust has been broken in the past.”

When asked to elaborate on how to improve channels of communication between board members and legislators, Jackson stated that building relationships is a good starting point. “I think every board member should know the legislator who represents them and should build a relationship with them. Honestly, if this were the case, education would look very different.”

Now that General Session has ended, many school districts are refocusing on their own goals for the rest of 2026. As one of the largest school districts in Utah, Granite School District tends to stay busy. However, there are two main goals that Jackson says the District is currently focusing on. Firstly, the district wants to increase their graduation rate by 1%, and secondly, they want to increase English and math literacy by 1%.

Despite the challenges that come with being a board member, Jackson feels passionate about the work that she does.

“Our schools are incredible. They are full of hope. They are full of curiosity,” Jackson stated. “Our kids are learning like crazy and our results prove it. We’ll always be working to resolve the problems we are facing, but our amazing teachers combined with our invested community result in some of the best schools in the state of Utah.”