Improving Public Education

The toughest thing to do in a political arena is to move away from the status quo. Nowhere is this more true than public education. Yet, twenty percent (20%) of Utah’s graduating seniors this year did not pass the basic skills test (a simple test). That poor result comes, despite the fact that each student gets 5 shots at the test, starting at the end of the sophomore year; and, despite the fact that remediation money specifically was provided for students who had failed parts of the test 3 times.

Twenty percent. One-fifth of all students (who haven’t already dropped out). And, compared to the rest of the nation, these are very teachable students. This is a crisis of the first order.

Part of the problem is funding. Utah has two significant challenges. First, Utah has more school kids per taxpayer than any other state. Second, Utah has less land on the tax rolls than any state, except Alaska and Nevada. Still, we need to secure more funding for our schools (by growing our economy). Over the last 4 years, the Legislature has increased public education funding in Utah by 40%. That’s a good start, but we still have much more to do.

But, despite protestations to the contrary, funding isn’t the only issue. All areas of government, including public education, could do better through increased innovation, reform and accountability. However, the dialogue on public education is highly, if not completely, politicized. As a result, not surprisingly, Utah is more dysfunctional on education policy than any other subject – stifling innovation, reform and accountability.

In a quest for better dialogue, I am pulling together a local group of 15 people to discuss K-12 education issues on an on-going basis. I've invited 9 educators/administrators and 6 parents. I am hopeful that good ideas will emerge.