The Utah Education Association (UEA) is a labor union for teachers and other education professionals in the state of Utah that supports left-of-center tax, curriculum, and LGBT-related policies. ¹

It is the Utah-state affiliate of the National Education Association. Its political action committee affiliate is UEA-PAC. ²

Background

The Utah Education Association has its roots in the Deseret School Teachers Association, which was formed in 1860. Later in 1910, the direct predecessor organization to the Utah Education Association was incorporated as the Utah Educational Association. In 1924, the organization adopted its present-day name. ^{3 4}

In February 1973, the Utah Education Association registered as a tax-exempt 501(c)(5) nonprofit organization in Murray, Utah. It is an affiliate of the National Education Association, America’s largest labor union. ⁵

Policy

The Utah Education Association supports policies aligned with left-of-center aims relating to taxes, LGBT-issues, critical race theory, and curriculum oversight. For instance, the organization’s 2024 Bill Scorecard had an unfavorable opinion of Utah State bills such as HB 29 Sub 2, which would create a review process for objective and subjective materials and would require a statewide ban of materials removed by at least three districts; HB 257 Sub 5, which would place certain restrictions on the use of sex-specific bathrooms and showers in public schools; and SB 69, which would reduce the State of Utah’s income tax rate from 4.65 to 4.55 percent. ^{6 7}

The organization opposed HB 303, a proposed bill that would prohibit public school employees in the state of Utah from promoting political or social beliefs, sexual orientations, or gender identities through instruction, materials, displays of symbols, images, and so on. According to a note on the Utah Education Association’s website, the organization opposed the bill because of its “concern” that it would cause the “chilling” of critical thinking.⁸

UEA-PAC

Founded in 1964, the Utah Education Association’s political action committee affiliate is UEA-PAC. In general, the PAC supports and opposes the same bills as the Utah Education Association and supports aligned members of and candidates for the Utah State Senate. Every senator scored with a 100 percent rating on the PAC’s 2024 Legislative Voting Record Summary was a member of the Democratic Party. ^{9 10}

Leadership

Renee Pinkney is the president of the Utah Education Association’s board of directors as well as a social studies teacher in Park City, Utah. Previously, she worked as the organization’s vice president from 2019 to 2022 and was a member of its board of directors representing Eastern Utah from 2016 to 2019. ¹¹

Brandon Baca is the vice president of the Utah Education Association’s board of directors as well as a geography and history teacher at Sand Ridge Jr. High School in Roy, Utah. ¹²

Jennifer Boehme is the executive director of the Utah Education Association. Formerly, she was the director of the Jordan UniServ (Unified Service), a UEA-NEA political division; president and vice president of the Jordan Education Association; president of the UEA Council of Local Residents; and a member of UEA’s board of directors. ^{13 14}

Denise Lake is a member of the Utah Education Association’s board of directors and the National Education Association state director for Utah as well as teacher at Mountain Green Elementary in the Morgan School District. ¹⁵

1. “2024 UEA Legislative Summary.” Utah Education Association. 2024. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/sites/uea/files/2024-03/2024-leg-summary-final_0.pdf
2. “Utah Education Association.” ProPublica. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/870187145/202321989349301922/full
3. Taylor, Carl H. “The History of the Utah Education Association.” Utah State University. 1950. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2850&context=etd
4. ARCHIVED: “Fact Sheet.” Utah Education Association. January 29, 2006. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20060129104756/http://www.utea.org/insideUEA/whatIsUEA/
5. “Utah Education Association.” ProPublica. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/870187145/202321989349301922/full
6. “2024 UEA Legislative Summary.” Utah Education Association. 2024. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/sites/uea/files/2024-03/2024-leg-summary-final_0.pdf
7. “2024 UEA Legislative Summary.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/resource-library/2024-uea-legislative-summary
8. “2024 UEA Legislative Summary.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/resource-library/2024-uea-legislative-summary
9. ^[1] “UEA-PAC.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/advocating-change/uea-pac
10. “2024 Legislative Record Summary.” UEA-PAC. 2024. Accessed April 29, 2024.  https://myuea.org/sites/uea/files/2024-04/2024-utah-state-legislature-scorecard.pdf
11. “Our President.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/about-uea/our-leaders/our-president
12. “Our Vice President.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/about-uea/our-leaders/our-vice-president
13. “Our Executive Office.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/about-uea/our-staff/our-executive-office
14. “The Jordan UniServ is pleased…” Facebook: Canyons Education Association. December 12, 2016. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/CanyonsEA/posts/the-jordan-uniserv-is-pleased-to-announce-the-hiring-of-jennifer-boehme-as-a-uni/1366977903327175/
15.  “Our Board of Directors.” Utah Education Association. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://myuea.org/about-uea/our-leaders/our-board-directors