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Among Utah's more than 630,000 public education students are 222,000 who live in low-income households, 71,000 who receive special education services, and 38,000 who are learning English as a second language, according to the latest data from the state Office of Education.
Those changing demographics, according to the state school board, require a consideration of diversity that goes beyond race and ethnicity.
On Thursday, the board voted to create the Advisory Committee for Equity of Educational Service for Students, or ACEESS.
The 15-member council will comprise two representatives each from the American Indian, black, Asian-American, Latino and Pacific Islander communities, as well as five at-large members selected for experience with other at-risk populations, such as refugee children, LGBT youth or individuals with physical disabilities.
"We have some really serious needs and I would like to hope that this will bridge the gap," said board member Terryl Warner.
But the creation of ACEESS comes at the demise of the Coalition of Minorities Advisory Committee, or CMAC, and some worry that racial minority voices will be diluted on the new advisory group. CMAC, a 30-year-old council that filled a similar role, was never formally established, according to the school board.
Traditionally, the chairman of CMAC sat on the state school board as one of several non-voting members. But non-voting members were removed from the board last year following a change in state law.
And roughly one-half of the Utah Board of Education currently consists of freshman members who joined the board in 2015, further diminishing the relationships between the school board and its advisory committees.
During Thursday's meeting, board member Joel Wright remarked that he was essentially unaware of CMAC's existence.
"I was not hearing these voices that I needed to hear," he said. "I hope that this [new committee] will jump start it so we start hearing those voices."
But for members of CMAC, the characterizations of the group's lack of influence are exaggerated.
Freddie Cooper, the council's former chairwoman, said that while she no longer serves as a non-voting board member, CMAC continues to send recommendations to the board and maintains a presence at the Utah Office of Education. "We were at every meeting," she said.
Following the vote to formally create ACEESS, frustrated members of CMAC gathered in a hallway and expressed their intention to continue meeting independent of the new committee.
While the scope of ACEESS was broadened to include a more generalized definition of diversity, the number of panel members representing the five major racial groups was shrunk from 15 to 10.
"What you're essentially doing is asking individual people to represent an entire race," said CMAC Chairman Roderic Land, "which you can't do."
The board's initial proposal called for a nine-member panel with a single representative for each race community, but the structure was changed after coalition members expressed concerns of underrepresentation.
"We've come from, I would say, polar opposites to a point where we're closer to a middle ground." Land said.
Board members argued that a smaller committee is able to be more efficient and gives greater weight to the voice of individual members. Anything larger than 15 members would be "an arena," according to Leslie Castle, who served on the task force that drew up recommendations for the ACEESS structure.
"I was one who wanted just nine [members]," she said, "but I can see the value of listening and making it 15."
Board member Linda Hansen said shifting five members on the advisory council to an at-large status would allow the state school board discretion in responding to changing demographics.
And the formal creation of ACEESS will help heal the breakdown in communication between CMAC and board members, she said.
"I think that has been the board's fault, frankly," she said. "We didn't give them the direction they needed."
Twitter: @bjaminwod