Terry Hutchinson (Utah)

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Terry Hutchinson

Republican Party

Candidate, Utah State Board of Education District 11

Prior offices:

Washington County School District, District 3

Years in office: 2016 - 2025

Successor: Ron Wade (Nonpartisan)

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2016

Next convention

April 25, 2026

Terry Hutchinson (Republican Party) is running for election to the Utah State Board of Education to represent District 11. He declared candidacy for the Republican convention scheduled on April 25, 2026.^[source]

Hutchinson was a member of the Washington County Schools, representing District 3. He assumed office in 2016. He left office on January 6, 2025.

Elections

2026

See also: Utah State Board of Education election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on June 23, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Utah State Board of Education District 11

Lacey Peterson (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Utah State Board of Education District 11 on June 23, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Lacey Peterson

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Republican primary

Republican primary for Utah State Board of Education District 11

Tracy Nuttall (R) is running in the Republican primary for Utah State Board of Education District 11 on June 23, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Tracy Nuttall

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Democratic convention

Democratic convention for Utah State Board of Education District 11

Lacey Peterson (D) is running in the Democratic convention for Utah State Board of Education District 11 on April 25, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Lacey Peterson

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican convention

Republican convention for Utah State Board of Education District 11

Terry Hutchinson (R) and Tracy Nuttall (R) are running in the Republican convention for Utah State Board of Education District 11 on April 25, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Terry Hutchinson
	Submit photo	Tracy Nuttall

---

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Endorsements

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2016

See also: Washington County School District elections (2016)

Three of the seven seats on the Washington County School District school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on June 28, 2016. In District 1, Becky Dunn defeated Richelle Nelson in the general election after defeating Brian Beckstrom, Evan Johnson, and Kyle Wilson in the primary election. Aaron Prisbrey and LaMar Winward originally filed to run for the District 1 seat but withdrew from the race before the election. There was no primary for the District 2 seat since only two candidates filed to run for the seat. Incumbent Carl Seegmiller defeated Rick Nelson in the general election. Terry Hutchinson defeated District 3 incumbent Debbra Zockoll in the general election after defeating Susi Lafaele in the primary election. Richard Briggs originally filed to run for the District 3 seat but withdrew from the race before the election.

Results

These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

Washington County School District, District 3 General Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Terry Hutchinson	51.23%	4,276
Debbra Zockoll Incumbent	48.77%	4,071
Total Votes		8,347
Source: Utah Secretary of State, "Utah Election Preliminary Results," accessed November 9, 2016

Washington County School District, District 3 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Terry Hutchinson	39.63%	1,078
Debbra Zockoll Incumbent	36.47%	992
Susi Lafaele	23.90%	650
Total Votes		2,720
Source: Washington County, "Election Resuts," accessed September 26, 2016

Funding

Dunn reported $600.00 in contributions and $1,998.28 in expenditures to the Office of the Washington County Clerk, which left her campaign with -$1,398.28 on hand as of November 1, 2016.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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2016

Hutchinson participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions.

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:

Education policy
Click here to learn more about education policy in Utah.
Education on the ballot

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Balancing or maintaining the district's budget
2	Improving post-secondary readiness
3	Expanding school choice options
4	Closing the achievement gap
5	Improving relations with teachers
6	Improving education for special needs students
7	Expanding arts education

“	I think that the oversight of the budget and the way its allocated as to administration vs. actual teachers and facilities is important. I think that the District Administration allocation is extremely important. I believe the three key words are oversight, accountability and integrity.	”
—Terry Hutchinson (May 13, 2016)

Positions on the issues

The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.

Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.)
Yes. The more options parents have for their students, the better. Charter schools can provide education in areas that some students want.
Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement.
The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases.
Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement?
Yes. While there are exceptions to this, the vast majority of cases require measurement against a set standard. The real issue is how what is measured by the tests.
What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative?
I think that there should be a regular standard, but I do not believe the execution of the Common Core has been handled well at the federal or state level. When the majority of teachers I've talked to don't approve of it, then there's something wrong with it.
How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district?
Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. When the problem is not one of intentional misconduct or intentional lack of effort, then rehabilitation and additional training would help. If that doesn't do it, then they should be terminated. I'm not in favor of promoting continued failure for long periods of time. This applies to administrators as well.
Should teachers receive merit pay?
Yes. While merit pay is easy to talk about, it is difficult to measure. This can encourage false reporting and cheating. I believe merit pay can be secured through observable achievements like percentage of students who pass the AP tests, etc.
Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program?
Yes. I believe that increased competition helps all of the students and the parents. When parents believe they have more choice, then they don't always feel private schools are better. If they believe the public system fears to compete, they are more likely to assume that the public system is worse.
How should expulsion be used in the district?
It is necessary at times and needs to be used to protect other students.
What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration?
Teachers. The teacher is the most important factor. Their passion for their subject is transferred to the students. Parent involvement is important. Parents can provide structure and the teacher should work with the parents to encourage this. Still, the better the teacher, the more effective the student.

Campaign finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

See also

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