Certified Teacher Librarian Amendments

4
53G-11-210
0
Certified Teacher Librarian Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: John Arthur
Senate Sponsor:
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill requires a school district or regional education service agency to staff a full-time
certified teacher librarian.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
defines terms;
requires a school district or a regional education service agency to staff a certified teacher
librarian to:
oversee the curation of materials in a school's library;
develop certain curricula;
assist schools in complying with certain state statutes; and
provide professional learning and mentorship; and
requires the State Board of Education to:
distribute funds the Legislature appropriates; and
make relevant rules.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
This bill provides a special effective date.
Utah Code Sections Affected:
ENACTS:
53G-11-210
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
53G-11-210
is enacted to read:
53G-11-210
. Certified teacher librarian.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Certified teacher librarian" means a full-time employee of a school district or
regional education service agency, who:
(i)
oversees and works to improve the curation and development of a library
collection within a:
(A)
school district; or
(B)
regional education service agency;
(ii)
works to improve student academic achievement in reading and other content
areas;
(iii)
assists a school with navigating the sensitive material requirements described in
Section
53G-10-103
;
(iv)
develops curricula and best practices for teaching state standards regarding
library media;
(v)
facilitates collaboration between teachers and school librarians to support student
academic achievement; and
(vi)
provides professional learning and mentoring to teachers and school librarians,
including:
(A)
core library practices and operations;
(B)
research backed best practices for instruction and student engagement;
(C)
research backed best practices for promotion of literacy and reading
motivation;
(D)
integration of information literacy, news literacy, media literacy, and digital
literacy across all content areas; and
(E)
library technology and systems.
(b)
"Regional education service agency" means the same as that term is defined in
Section
53G-4-410
.
(2)
Before July 1, 2031, each school district shall staff a full-time certified teacher librarian
at:
(a)
the school district; or
(b)
the school district's regional education service agency.
(3)
The state board shall:
(a)
subject to legislative appropriations, distribute funds to a school district or regional
education service agency to staff a full-
time certified teacher librarian, in accordance
with Subsection
(2)
; and
(b)
make rules, in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative
Rulemaking Act, to establish:
(i)
minimum qualifications; or
(ii)
licensure requirements for a certified teacher librarian.
Section 2.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
July 1, 2026
.
1-26-26 9:05 AM