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
Sat, 14 Feb 2015 13:55:00 +0000 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
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 14:10:00 +0000 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.
Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:32:00 +0000 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.
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, a former Utah Teacher of the Year who recently was elected president of the National Education Association, kicked off the Utah Education Association's convention at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy. Her opening address condemned the use of standardized tests as a measurement of teacher effectiveness and encouraged educators to "let the test scores fall wherever they fall."
"I'm not afraid of tests. I'm not afraid of data," she said. "I'm afraid of pretending that this test score means something that it doesn't."
