Policy & Governance

Identify an issue that you care about personally that relates to the Deaf and/or interpreting communities. Go to le.utah.gov and search that issue by using keywords. Identify a bill that corresponds to your issue and answer the following: What is the name of the bill? Who sponsored the bill? What happened to the bill (did it become law or did it “die” in committee?)? What, if any, was the fiscal cost of the bill? Does the bill go far enough, too far, or is it just fine? Please upload a link to the bill you looked up onto your e-portfolio along with your responses and upload appropriate multimedia onto your e-portfolio along with your responses.

A few days before I started this assignment, I saw a news report on The Daily Moth about Deaf Texans opposing HB 3458. This bill would give the Texas governor the ability to hand-pick two members of the Texas School for the Deaf's board and solely determine its presiding officer. The board currently has 9 members, 51% of whom are Deaf or have experience working with Deaf children. HB 3458 would change that by adding two people with no involvement with the Deaf community that could potentially take over. The Deaf Network of Texas explained, “We feel that Governor Abbott and the House Public Education Committee are conspiring to control the future of our precious Texas School of the Deaf. Their motive is obviously political and suspicious in nature.” Deaf Texans are encouraging people to oppose the bill locally (Deaf Network of Texas).

When I saw the Concept Cues for this module, I felt curious to know if Utah had any laws regarding the board in charge of USDB. I could not find any. The board of The Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind Education Foundation is not a state entity, but rather a separate 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

I decided to look for a bill related to Deaf Education. While searching le.utah.gov I found a bill designed to fund a new building for USDB in St. George. "The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB) is required to provide educational services to students across the state. Due to growth in the student population served in the Southwestern Utah area, USDB identified the need for a new building. The Legislature funded the building through H.B. 475" (COBI). HB0475 directs the use of one-time funds from the Education Stabilization Account to pay for the building.

HB0475 - USE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION STABILIZATION ACCOUNT ONE-TIME FUNDING

2022 General Session

State of Utah

Chief Sponsor: Bradley G. Last, Senate Sponsor: Derrin R. Owens

Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind - Advisory Council

I was curious to learn more about how Policy and Governance is approached within the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. I used their website to learn more about their Advisory Council. The Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind (USDB) has been serving students who are deaf, blind, or deaf-blind throughout Utah for more than 100 years; their Deaf school is ranked #1 in the country for high school graduation/completion rates for Deaf students (https://www.usdb.org/about/).

The mission of the USDB Advisory Council is to advise the USDB Superintendent and Associate Superintendents regarding the needs of Utah children who are deaf, blind, and deaf-blind (https://www.usdb.org/about/advisory-council/). They hold meetings at least 10 times a year that are open to the public. I was curious to know a little bit about the make up of the council members. Looking at the bio's of the council members listed, I could see that representation is valued/considered when seeking members for this organization. Of the 10 members, 2 are Deaf and 2 are blind/visually impaired. Three more have Deaf or Deaf-blind children or family members. Two are USDB teachers (one of Deaf students and one of blind students) who are non-voting members. The last is a district liaison between Alpine school district and USDB. Representation is an important societal issue for many Deaf people, especially in governance and educational policy.