The Unified Church School System is the predecessor of the Church Education System (of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).

Ever since the organization of the Church in 1830, its leaders have emphasized the importance of both spiritual and secular education (ideally studied side by side, especially since in God's eyes there is no distinction). During the early history of the Church, elementary and secondary schools were established everywhere the Saints settled, and a university was even founded in Nauvoo. Schools sprang up almost immediately after the Saints' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, and a few years later, the University of Deseret (later renamed the University of Utah by the territorial legislature) was founded.

In 1875, Church leaders began to establish academies throughout the intermountain United States, as well as a few in Canada and Mexico; and in order to supervise their curricula and growth, a General Church Board of Education was established in 1888. The first man to occupy the office of superintendent of Church schools, later to become the office of Commissioner of Church Education, was Karl G. Maeser. Within 15 years, due to the increasing presence of free public high schools, attendance dropped, and the academies were either closed or reorganized as junior colleges, most of which were turned over to state governments. The only exceptions were Brigham Young Academy, which in 1896 became Brigham Young University, and Ricks College, which later became BYU-Idaho.

In 1912 and 1926 respectively, in conjunction with public high schools and non-LDS universities, the Church began to establish religious seminary and institute programs to foster daily religious education. So successful were these programs that they have since spread to many parts of the world (wherever there are LDS populations desiring a daily Gospel influence for their children outside the home). The conglomeration of these academies (now universities), seminaries, and institutes became known as the Unified Church School System, which was later renamed and today stands as the Church Educational System, now governed by the Church Board of Education and the Board of Trustees of each respective institution. (Information taken from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism's entry on CES).