Education

If we are to remake our public school system we must commit to the ideal that "education begins in the home."

Utah's high school graduation rate is among the best in the U.S.,¹ and our students' scores on college entrance exams are above the mean nationally. ² Our students' SAT scores, in particular, are among the nation's best and still rising.³ Additionally, the number of Utah students enrolling in AP courses is growing and our pass rate on AP exams ranks 3rd in the nation.⁴ Utah's teachers have done well, and there is still more for them to accomplish.

Our teachers deserve our congratulations for their work as well as the $1,700 raise our GOP legislature awarded them this year. And let's not forget our teachers' "hidden paycheck" (i.e. their benefits package). Being in the business of benefits enrollment, I have had first hand interaction with teachers locally and their benefits, and the fact is that when you add the value of their employer paid benefits (e.g. health insurance, dental, 401(k), vacation days, etc.) to their salaries, many have a total compensation package greater than $50,000 per year.

Our Republican legislature has also been behind the development of Utah Valley University including its new $50 Million library. It's true they did not give UVU as great an amount of per student funding as our other state colleges and universities, and that is because UVU elected not to put a cap on enrollment. In other words, the legislature doesn't have the power to give UVU a blank check even if it wanted to. However, our legislature, and Republican Steve Clark in particular, are enthusiastic supporters of UVU.

And when Governor Huntsman called our legislature to meet recently to rebalance the budget, our Republican legislature held education harmless. That is, while looking for places to cut the budget, they didn't take a dime from education.

While education is among our highest priorities, there will always be more that we can do. But are we willing, as Democrat Don Jarvis is, to take away from other projects including our roads, water, and healthcare? If more money were always the answer, we should expect our best students to come from Title 1 schools. Sadly, that's not the case. If we are committed to education, we cannot abdicate our responsibility to teachers and administrators. If we are to remake our public school system we must commit to the ideal that "education begins in the home."

And before compromising the quality of our water, health care and roads, perhaps we should reevaluate the need for UVU's posh new student lounges with flat panel TVs (that are nicer than my own), or additional multi-million dollar libraries (especially as we enter an age of electronic documents). Maybe, since UVU is primarily an undergraduate teaching facility (not a research institution like the University of Utah), we could fill more part-time and adjunct teaching positions (with the benefit of a more practical perspective) and reduce the number of life-tenured faculty.

Let's vote for education in a balanced and measured manner. On Tuesday, vote for Steve Clark.

1. Erin Stewart, "Utah's graduation rates among best in U.S." Deseret Morning News, June 21, 2006.

2. Janice Houston, "A Summary of Utah's College-Bound Students' Test Scores, Part 1: ACT Score Analysis," Center for Public Policy and Administration, University of Utah

3. Tiffany Erickson, "Utah students again top U.S. on SAT," Deseret Morning News, Aug 31, 2005.

4. Erin Stewart, "Utah's seniors place 3rd in U.S. for AP Exam scores," Deseret Morning News, Feb. 7, 2007.