The Utah State Board of Education approved a revised mission and vision and a brief purpose statement on Wednesday after members reviewed feedback from a recent two-day strategic workshop and a steering committee.

The board adopted the following language for the vision and mission:
- Vision: "Open doors of opportunity for all Utah children."
- Mission: "Academic and organizational excellence in Utah education for an elevated, educated citizenry."

Members also approved a short purpose preamble to appear before those statements: "The Utah State Board of Education is responsible for general oversight and supervision of the public education system as established by the Utah Constitution. With an appreciation for Utah's pioneer heritage, we look ahead working as policymakers and educators committed to support parents in their central role as their children's first teachers." The preamble passed unanimously.

Board members then considered and approved a series of strategic priorities that will guide staff work. Motions passed (by roll call where noted) to adopt language that will guide implementation and staff direction:
- Establish systems that identify and support highly effective educators and empower them to share best practices statewide.
- Streamline licensing pathways to attract and retain highly qualified professionals to public education.
- Strengthen administrator and educator professional development with evidence-based training to improve leadership, teaching and student outcomes.
- Enhance instruction by identifying, supporting and scaling effective teaching practices that optimize student learning.
- Support initiatives and interventions that enable educators to close individual learning gaps and equip learners to meet or exceed grade-level proficiency.
- Under the board's oversight goal, the board approved priorities to support and monitor entities under the board's supervision to ensure compliance, strengthen risk-identification and mitigation processes to improve internal controls, and to direct performance-improvement steps as necessary.

Several motions were amended and discussed in detail; many were the product of committee work and the workshop. Board members said the priorities should give staff clear direction while leaving implementation details to the agency.

What comes next: Staff will compile an implementation plan and reporting schedule. The board indicated it expects monthly budget and program updates relevant to the priorities and will receive targeted reports on audit follow-up, attendance campaign results and contingency spending tied to the priorities.