Opinion: Public education is ground zero in Utahs culture wars [Video]

Public education remains a major battleground in Utah’s culture wars. In a February Salt Lake Tribune op-ed, five former superintendents of Utah school districts noted: “Public and higher education institutions cannot achieve desired outcomes if the governor and legislators persist in limiting diversity of opinions, canceling DEI programs and banning books.” They also criticized the state legislature’s majority for pursuing their negative agenda on the basis of hearsay unsupported by evidence and research. During the 2024 legislative session, Utah’s culture warriors pressed their advantage on all three fronts identified by the educators.

On March 18, Utah’s legislative culture warriors scored a major victory on the book-banning front: Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB29 into law. This legislation empowers 10% of Utah school districts and charter schools to remove books from public school libraries statewide. Books determined by this minority to have “objective sensitive material or subjective sensitive material” — pornographic or indecent content devoid of “literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors” …