Formal Opposition to HB 399 Regarding Character Education and Student Safety

Executive Summary

The Utah School Social Work Association (USSWA) formally opposes HB 399. While we respect the Legislature’s interest in clarifying the role of schools and parents, we cannot support a bill that fundamentally undermines existing Utah law, weakens school safety and prevention efforts, and exposes schools to punitive enforcement for fulfilling long-standing statutory responsibilities.

HB 399 does not simply adjust instructional boundaries; it restructures how student support, prevention, and safety are governed in Utah schools. In areas involving student wellbeing and life-saving intervention, legal clarity and alignment with existing law are essential. As written, HB 399 creates instability, risk, and contradiction within Utah’s education and safety framework.

Primary Concerns: 

• HB 399 Conflicts with Existing Utah Law and Policy: Utah law already requires schools to provide civic and character education (§53G-10-204), implement bullying prevention programs (Title 53G, Chapter 9, Part 6), and operate youth suicide prevention programs (§53G-9-702). The Utah State Board of Education’s Portrait of a Graduate further establishes expectations for schools to cultivate responsibility, resilience, wellbeing, service, and civic engagement. HB 399 would penalize schools for engaging in the very practices Utah law and policy already require.

  
  

• Prevention is Required, Not Optional: Utah’s suicide prevention statute (§53G-9-702) explicitly requires schools to implement prevention programs that include life-affirming education, relationship-building, early identification of risk, and coordination with bullying and substance-use prevention efforts. These responsibilities depend on observation, documentation, and early support. HB 399 discourages or penalizes those same practices, making it safer for schools to wait for crisis rather than intervene early.

  
  

• Punitive Enforcement Undermines Student Safety: HB 399 shifts enforcement away from education agencies and local governance and introduces automatic fines, public reporting, and expanded investigatory authority. This punitive structure creates a chilling effect that will lead districts to reduce or eliminate prevention and early-intervention supports to avoid liability. In the context of student safety, deterrence of prevention is not a neutral outcome—it is a dangerous one.

  
  

• Existing Parental Protections Already Exist: Utah Code §53G-9-902 already establishes clear boundaries around clinical mental health therapy in schools and requires parental consent for therapeutic services. HB 399 goes far beyond these carefully targeted protections by broadly restricting non-clinical, preventive, and educational supports that are consistent with best practice and existing law. This blurs distinctions Utah has intentionally maintained.

  
  

• Disproportionate Impact on Rural and High-Need Schools:Schools with fewer staff and resources rely most heavily on universal prevention, early intervention, and coordinated supports. HB 399 increases legal and financial risk without providing replacement infrastructure, disproportionately affecting rural and high-need districts and widening safety gaps across the state.

  
  

Our Position & Call to Action

The USSWA believes student safety, prevention, and early intervention are core responsibilities of public education. We urge lawmakers to:

1. Reject HB 399 in its Current Form: The bill’s conflicts with existing law and its punitive enforcement structure make it unworkable and unsafe.

2. Preserve Prevention and Early Identification: Utah’s legal framework consistently favors early support over crisis response. That principle must be upheld.

3. Maintain Coherent Governance: Education policy should be implemented through education agencies, guided by educators and mental health professionals, and aligned with existing statutes.

   
   

Conclusion

Utah has spent decades building a school safety and prevention framework grounded in shared responsibility between parents, schools, and communities. HB 399 disrupts that framework by introducing contradiction, instability, and punishment into systems designed to protect students before harm occurs.

Prevention is not ideological. Early intervention is not optional. Student safety should not be collateral damage of statutory misalignment.

We respectfully urge legislators to vote No on HB 399 and to reaffirm Utah’s commitment to coherent, prevention-focused, and student-centered education policy.

Respectfully,

The Utah School Social Work Association Board