Carol Barlow Lear
State Board of Education member, District 6
Salt Lake CountySummit & Wasatch
Office held
| State Board of Education member | District 6 | Source |
Teaching and legal preparation
Carol Barlow Lear grew up in East Mill Creek and graduated from Olympus High School and the University of Utah. She taught high-school English for five years before graduating from the university’s S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1982. She later earned an administrative license and taught in Utah State University’s education-leadership program as an adjunct professor. [1]
Education law and elected service
Lear directed law and policy at the Utah State Office of Education for twenty-seven years. She later practiced education law at Lear & Lear, representing school districts, charter schools and parents, and has since retired from legal practice. First elected to the state board in 2016, she won subsequent elections in 2020, 2022 and 2024. Her represented area includes parts of Salt Lake City and nearby mountain communities. [1]
Professional and parent involvement
Lear’s official biography lists work on school fees, student-data governance, bullying rules and professional-practice matters. Her public-education involvement has also included community councils and PTA activities. These experiences combine legal administration, teaching and parent participation as the background for her statewide board work. [1]
Lear currently serves on the board’s Law and Licensing and Audit committees. [3]
Stated funding and classroom priorities
On her campaign website, Lear supports higher teacher pay, professional development and flexibility in school funding. She also advocates parent engagement, teacher participation in policymaking and access to arts and music instruction. She opposes vouchers and tax-credit arrangements that she says draw resources away from public schools. These are her stated policy positions, distinct from a record of enacted changes. [2]
Profile sources
In the news
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