More districts earn Partners in Learning certificates by improving their website

• New districts qualify for the Partners in Learning Certificate, including: Canyons and Ogden school districts.
• Sutherland Institute’s effort to review, rate, and award websites is a positive, non-legislative, and non-legal way to help parents access curriculum and drive their children’s education.

​More districts have qualified for Sutherland Institute’s Partners in Learning Certificates. That’s good news for those districts and even better news for parents with children enrolled there.

In April, when we announced our intention to review and rate district websites for their effectiveness in sharing information about curriculum, our goal was to raise awareness, garner positive recognition for excelling districts, and, most importantly, drive improvements to the websites.

We think we’re doing that.

After announcing the first round of districts with perfect scores that earned the certificate, other districts were interested in receiving this recognition.

We announced earlier this summer that we would conduct a second round of reviewing district websites and offer districts Partners in Learning Certificates, which they have now also achieved.

See below for those districts that have earned the Partners in Learning Certificate in the second round.

Who earned a Partners in Learning Certificate in the second round?

After the first round, we learned that 16 districts qualified. As of today, we have 18 districts out of 41 that qualify. That means roughly 44% of districts in Utah have a website that is parent-friendly for sharing curriculum information.

Why is Sutherland Institute sponsoring this?

Sutherland Institute believes that parents should be supported in their fundamental right and responsibility to guide their children’s education. Most parents choose to enroll their children in public schools, but this doesn’t mean they cede this critical role in education. To the contrary, public policy must proactively make space for and seek their participation.

Having easy access to what schools are approving for instruction and teaching in classrooms is a key public policy that supports them as they guide their children’s learning.

It’s not just Sutherland; this is a national point of focus. Parents’ rights have been at the center of several federal and Supreme Court cases in 2025. In the much-anticipated Mahmoud v. Taylor case, where parents in Maryland were suddenly denied notice and the opportunity to opt out their children from instruction on gender and sexuality against their religious beliefs, the United State Supreme Court affirmed parents’ rights. Sutherland Institute’s constitutional law and religious liberty fellow wrote that the court, “recognize[d] that public schools must respect parents’ right and responsibility to direct the education of their children, including how they are taught about sexual issues in school.”

We’ve discussed how public policies like curriculum transparency and opt-outs help parents, and we recommend boosting such policies in states as a way to make public education work for more people.

Likewise, a case before the Sixth Circuit revolves around a Kentucky parent who wanted access to a survey given out in class because she thought it asked inappropriate gender and sexuality questions of the students. When she was denied access due to a copyright claim, she filed a lawsuit. On appeal, Sutherland Institute signed onto an amicus brief arguing that this amounted to abuse of copyright law that kept parents from accessing what their kids are exposed to in school.

We’ve also written about what copyright law might mean for public schools sharing more about curriculum.  We think districts should not be intimidated away from trying to share more details even if they seek to comply with the federal law.

Thus, Sutherland Institute’s effort to review, rate, and award websites is a positive non-legislative and non-legal way to make reforms. Nevertheless, the goal is clear: we want to help parents have actual access to meaningful information that helps them drive their children’s education.

Congratulations to the Utah districts that are doing just that.