Learn More About UTCE- Who? Why? How?

The Utah Council of Educators (UTCE) was founded to provide professional educators with a powerful, intellectual, and effective voice on Utah's Capitol Hill. UTCE is incorporated as a non-profit organization with the purpose of improving the educative climate in Utah through deliberate, thoughtful, and targeted strategies aimed at securing greater resources for public education.

UTCE is not a labor union and is careful not to waste resources by getting mired in divisive issues unrelated to public education. UTCE acutely focuses on strategic educational objectives and the establishment of common educative goals rather than getting sidetracked with controversial partisan politics. In doing so, UTCE's mission is not jeopardized by allocating resources for non-educational purposes.

UTCE is deeply committed to using its resources judiciously in behalf of Utah public education. This means being attuned to the academic, social, and emotional needs of students as well as the professional needs of educators. In fact, over 95% of UTCE's financial resources are used right here in the Beehive State to directly benefit the lives of Utah students and educators.

In addition to providing each member with their own personal $2 million educator liability insurance plan, UTCE is implementing strategic initiatives to improve working conditions, reduce class size, enhance student learning, attract quality teachers, optimize benefits, provide professional growth opportunities, and to generally improve the state of affairs in Utah public education.

UTCE Membership and Dues

UTCE membership is open to all certified and classified W-2 employees of Utah's K-12 public school system. Eligible members include licensed and ARL (alternative route to licensure) teachers, counselors, school psychologists, and other  employees including school and district administrators working in the State of Utah.  Retired educators who have returned to work in the public school system, interns who are currently working towards licensure in an accredited education program, and w-2 employees of other educational entities within Utah are eligible for membership in the Utah Council of Educators. 

UTCE Member Dues:

UTCE monthly dues are both reasonable and affordable.  With UTCE membership, professional educators not only protect themselves from the various uncertainties associated with working in a complex and dynamic teaching environment, but they also become part of an innovative, progressive, and powerful movement to effect widespread change in Utah education.  Monthly dues are as follows:

• Certified Educator (Licensed, ARL, or Interning Educators):  18.50/month
• Classified Employee:  18.50/month
• Other W-2 Employee of Educational Entity:  18.50/month

UTCE Affiliation

Thousands of Utah educators are happy to know that UTCE is an affiliate of the Association of American Educators (AAE), a non-partisan professional association, which neither supports nor opposes controversial political issues unrelated to public education. Our partnership with the AAE provides access to an extensive collegial network of educators throughout the United States and unlocks access to a wealth of knowledge and experience held by some of the finest educational leaders in the country. The AAE also provides local support services to UTCE and advocates for our members at the national level in Washington D.C.

Community Support

Parents, community leaders, business patrons, and other constituents who wish to support the mission of UTCE can make financial contributions through our community support link on the UTCE homepage.   

UTCE Vision and Mission

UTCE Vision: An Exceptional and Unsurpassed Education for All Utah Schoolchildren - A Rewarding and Gratifying Career for all Utah Schoolteachers

UTCE Mission: Our mission is to provide Utah career educators with strong and effective representation on Capitol Hill; to promote a safe, participatory, thriving, and academically rigorous educational environment for Utah schoolchildren; to develop the professional capacity of career educators; to embrace and support positive innovations in public schools, and to generally improve the educative climate throughout Utah.

UTCE Strategic Initiatives

• UTCE is implementing a sustained public relations campaign to educate the public of the realities in Utah public schools. These efforts are infused with a positive and progressive outlook for the future while promulgating the current realities in public education.
• UTCE is addressing the issue of large class sizes in Utah schools and works for legislation and/or policy that will encourage smaller class sizes regardless of contextual circumstances. In other words, small class sizes should be an absolute.
• UTCE is working to recognize the significant and valued efforts of career educators by restructuring salaries to reflect our society's value of education. UTCE is working tirelessly to ensure salaries and benefits are commensurate with the service rendered in behalf of students, parents, and Utah's communities.
• UTCE addresses the societal ills that spill into Utah's public schools. UTCE lobbies for legislative funding to support initiatives to deal with problematic student issues including criminal activity, deviant behavior, and dangerous and disruptive conduct, which permeate our public schools, interfere with student learning, and detract from a positive and wholesome educative climate.
• UTCE supports a professional set of standards for Utah educators and expects teachers to abide by a professional code of ethical conduct.
• UTCE works to attract only the most capable and competent individuals to education by supporting initiatives, which provide for a livable and competitive wage to incoming teachers.
• UTCE recognizes the value of continued and ongoing education and provides educators with opportunities for professional growth and development.
• UTCE offers alternative funding solutions to finance Utah education at levels that will ensure thriving neighborhood school networks.
• UTCE is working to increase Utah's annual per pupil expenditure to levels above the national average.
• UTCE lobbies and educates state representatives.
• UTCE is working to secure the financial resources to reinstate educator benefits that have been lost or revoked over the years.
• UTCE employs efforts to improve retirement benefits for career educators.

Why?

It is becoming increasingly evident that Utah career educators have little or no influence over matters that affect Utah's system of public schools.  A shared vision for public education between educators, lawmakers, parents, and community leaders has not been established.  This is largely due to the lack of strong relationships between educators and these stakeholder groups.  Building strong, enduring relationships, particularly with our legislators, is paramount to successful representation. UTCE is committed to forging these important relationships.

Our ability to garner greater resources for public education rests in our ability to build a shared vision within our legislature.  Most of our Utah legislators are wonderful individuals with genuinely caring dispositions and a strong desire to promote the public good. Most are conscientious citizens with a good understanding of the vital importance of an educated populace. Too, the majority of our Utah legislators are kind, loving, and dedicated parents or grandparents of children who are currently attending public schools. 

Our common desire to improve public schools transcends party lines. Our friends across all political parties recognize the power in education to mitigate the growing societal ills that are problematic to a highly functioning, harmonious, and happy citizenry within Utah. The Utah Council of Educators was founded to provide a strong voice for educators in an effort to facilitate a more prosperous Utah by means of a world class education for each of its citizens.

Who?

The Utah Council of Educators was first conceived in 1996 by Dave Barrett, an educator in the Jordan School District. After he received his first paycheck of just over $1400 for a month's labor as a professional educator, Dave wondered why such important work was rewarded so immaterially. He left education only two short years after he began as a young, idealistic science teacher because he could not earn a livable wage for his family. Later, Dave returned to public education determined to effect widespread change in Utah's public school system.

Dave founded the Utah Council of Educators, a non-profit 501 (c)(6) organization, to provide an effective and powerful voice for Utah educators. Dave is uniquely equipped to lead the Council because of his teaching and administrative experience, entrepreneurial capacity, extensive interdisciplinary network, and fierce desire to improve Utah education and support the efforts of exceptional teachers. His love of students and passion for education is unsurpassed. He enjoys an acute understanding of classroom and school dynamics, and his reverence and admiration for dedicated, hard-working teachers is impressive.

Having experienced the fast-paced private sector where creative infusion, fierce competition, and risk of capital drive the economy; and also having experienced the behemoth, slow-moving institution of education where massive amounts of inertia prevent responsive change and where funding constraints impose limitations on personnel choices, deter innovation, and stifle teacher motivation, Dave has a perspective that few people enjoy.

Dave shared his vision with dozens of other respected educators across the state and invited several gifted educators, community leaders, and business leaders to serve on the UTCE Board of Directors, UTCE Advisory Board, and also to work in key leadership positions within the Council. Dave has also enlisted the support of retired educators who have previously served in key state and district leadership positions. These retired leaders have been providing important insights into historical contexts in Utah education. They have been sharing personal experiences and providing consulting services to the Council and have been working closely with Dave and other UTCE leaders to bring important insights into key issues.

How?

UTCE leaders recognize that educators are incredibly frustrated with the inability of a few influential legislators to understand the alarming realities of our resource deprived climate in public education. UTCE leaders also understand that educators and legislators suffer from poor communication because they lack sufficient commonality and understanding to establish a framework that can govern productive dialogue. In most cases, educators and legislators have common goals, but differing ideological trajectories to achieve those goals. A shared vision does not exist largely because of a lack of mutual understanding and trust.

UTCE leadership is committed to the important task of building a shared vision among lawmakers, policymakers, business owners, parents, taxpayers, and educators.  Bridges need to be built, understanding established, and legislative support of education fixed as the single most significant governmental responsibility to a citizenry. To accomplish this, UTCE will implement its five-prong proprietary process to achieve its 13 strategic initiatives for the future of Utah education.

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