Gov. Spencer Cox names new members to the Utah State Board of Education and Utah State Charter School Board

SALT LAKE CITY (Feb. 12, 2021) — Gov. Spencer J. Cox has nominated Stacey Hutchings to the Utah State Board of Education, and Erik Olson to the Utah State Charter School Board. Both appointments require Senate approval.

Stacey Hutchings is a third generation teacher who taught history and Spanish. She taught at Kearns Jr. High and Riverton High School, and later was a founding teacher at Utah Virtual Academy where she was later the head of school for five years. Currently, she is the director and principal of Career Path High School which focuses on personalized learning as a blended, competency-based model located on the campus of Davis Technology College. Hutchings served previously as a member of the Career Path High Board of Directors, Utah Association of Public Charter School Board, Salt Lake County Library Board and member and chair of the Kearns Town Council. She is an alum of the American Council of Young Political Leaders and was given the Presidential Service Award. She served an LDS mission in Malaga, Spain and speaks fluent Spanish. Hutchings earned her teaching degree at Brigham Young University, a master’s of Educational Studies from the University of Utah and a master’s degree of Educational Leadership from Western Governors University.  

Erik Olson is an attorney at Marshall, Olson & Hull, where he has specialized in trials and appeals for more than 20 years. Olson has been recognized by his peers as one of the leading trial lawyers in Utah, appearing annually in rankings by Mountain States Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers of America, and the Utah Business Legal Elite. He attended the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, where he was editor-in-chief of the Utah Law Review, after which he clerked for Justice Leonard H. Russon on the Utah Supreme Court. Olson is also an avid volunteer. He has served on several nonprofit boards, as an unpaid Salt Lake City Justice Court judge, and as a part-time adjunct professor at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. Additionally, as an advocate for public charter schools, he was a co-founder and board of trustees chairman at Canyon Rim Academy, a successful K-6 charter school located in Salt Lake County, stepping down in early 2020 after over 14 years of service. While involved as a volunteer at Canyon Rim Academy, Olson found opportunities to work with Granite School District, the Utah Legislature, the State Charter School Board, and other charter schools on various matters of interest to public charter schools in Utah.

“Both Stacey and Erik have a track record of professional success and a deep desire to serve the public,” Gov. Cox said. “I’m excited that they have accepted these new responsibilities and look forward to their dedication to serve Utah’s children and their families.”

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