Utah Still Lacks Respect for Teachers

Even State Superintendent Brad Smith -- a lawyer, not a teacher, by training -- took a cheap shot at teachers and their friends by petulantly dismissing a Capitol rally in support of the governor's plan as the behavior of petulant toddlers.

Cracks like that don't help.

Smith, most of all, should be creating an atmosphere where the teachers and administrators who do the unfathomably difficult work of trying to educate children of all social, economic and ethnic backgrounds are treated as full and respected partners in a job that is not only the most important task of government, but of the whole of society.

Read the SL Trib Editorial

Herbert Budget Should Be Approved

It is a quandary that likely is at least as old as Plato's open-air academy. How to make the most efficient use of time and money to do the best job educating the next generation? If the answer were easy, it is unlikely that we would still be looking for it after more than 2,000 years.

That hasn't stopped members of the Utah Legislature from becoming a never-ending font of ideas that they are eager to sell as the silver bullet cure for public education. From private-school vouchers to iffy charter schools, from ever-changing testing regimes and over-simplistic grading systems to the idea that the next wave of technology will solve all of our problems.

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Some Legislators' Motives Questioned

The Utah Legislature seems to have taken the micromanaging of public education to a new level. Where there were once a dozen or so education measures proposed by lawmakers each year, we now regularly see more than 150 bills that impact our schools, teachers and students in a given year. This seems a bit disingenuous for legislators who claim to abhor government regulations and advocate for local control.

Read the Commentary by UEA President, Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh

Davis Teacher, Jill Major, Expresses Frustration

I teach 31 K-6th-grade students who have mild to moderate disabilities in reading, writing and math. I just read in the Deseret News about the 2 percent base budget cut from education ("House, Senate approve base budgets," Feb. 10). Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, said, "It's an exercise that will prepare them (so that) when the storms that are out there somewhere do start to roll across the horizon, we're ready." The evidence plainly demonstrates that storms have been swirling around and through Utah education with hurricane-force winds for years.

Read the Article in the Deseret News

No More Excuses

The Utah system for funding K-12 education is broken. It's a yo-yo of uncertainty. For a generation every February, the state fiscal analysts, with some drama, release state revenue projections. If they look good, Utah funds education. If not, we tell our children, "Sorry, maybe next year."

Read the Commentary

Time To Invest in Public Schools

The governor has put his money where his mouth is in terms of local control. Much of the new money in his budget would flow to school districts without strings on how to spend it. It remains to be seen if the Legislature can be so hands-off. Whoever makes the calls will need to focus these resources, and it shouldn't be for a massive technology vendor (iPad in every hand) or across-the-board raises.

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Teachers Have it Tougher than You Think

Teaching sounds all rosy, especially in elementary school. It must be easy to walk in the door around 9 am and leave at about 3. And the summers...oh the wonderful summers. The reality is that teaching is 24/7, and I'm not overly concerned if you believe it or not.

Read the whole article.