State Lawmaker trying to create a way for parents to appeal school board decisions

SALT LAKE CITY — If you don’t like a decision made by your child’s school board, one state lawmaker is trying to create a new 5-member panel allowing parents to appeal.

Representative Steve Waldrip says the panel wouldn’t be so parents can appeal everything.

“We want this to be something where there’s just an imminent risk that we cannot wait for an election to resolve,” he said.

His bill, set to be heard next week, says when enough parents have an issue they can file an appeal and the school district can respond. The 5 member panel can either uphold the policy, overturn it, or send it to the state school board to work it out. 

Waldrip says the pandemic has highlighted the need for this. 

He said, ‘What’s been exposed is an imbalance of power of parents to get solutions when there is a significant imminent threat to their children’s education.”

The panel can also recommend the board be stripped of its authority.