Legislative rhetoric is running high in 2011 and excessive classloads are putting the accreditation status of many Utah high schools at risk

I have followed the legislative session fairly closely ever since 2007 and vouchers. The rhetoric behind vouchers and the following debate over the referendum when the legislature campaigned against the evil UEA and teachers who care more about adults than kids opened my eyes to the depth of ideological hatred against public education in a segment of Utah politics. The 2011 session has started out as openly hostile toward public education and maybe even more.

I listened to a good part of two education committee meetings today (1-26-11) and heard elected officials and invited guests openly and indirectly accuse teachers of hating America, families, and students. I think most people have no idea how organized and influential this anti-public education group of legislators and Eagle Forum members are among the legislature. Legislators need to hear from the majority who are not represented by this extreme faction styling themselves as the moral mainstream. Please listen to any committee meeting from the three main committees dealing with public education. You can listen to meetings live or listen to the recording afterward. You have to block out 60-90 minutes to listen to one, but I think it will be worth it in order for you to hear who is really shaping Utah education policy and using what claims.

The Joint Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee is composed of both Utah House Representatives and Utah Senators. It is chaired by Senator Chris Buttars. The next meeting is Jan. 27 at 8:00 am.

The Senate Education Committee is chaired by Senator Howard Stephenson. The next meeting is Jan. 27 at 4:00 pm. Here is the direct link to the audio file for the Jan. 26 meeting which made me so frustrated. Karen at the Utah Moms Care blog has already posted her summary of the meeting. She also comments on her surprise at the "level of disdain being openly shown toward the administrators of public education in Utah."

The House Education Committee is chaired by Representative Bill Wright. The next meeting is not currently scheduled, but you can find the audio for the last two meetings via the link.

Finally, I want to call attention to another potential cost to the severe budget cuts in public education. In December, three Wasatch Front high schools from three different districts were put under "advised" status in their accreditation evaluations because of too many teachers with student loads of over 180 students. They were Kearns, Bingham, and Timpanogos High Schools.

All schools have to be accredited by the state of Utah and high schools have to be additionally accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission in order to have their credits accepted by universities.

The state's accreditation standards do not have a student load threshold, so we are free to stuff as many students as possible into jr. high and middle school classes because no one is checking. Student loads over 200 are the norm for full-time jr. high teachers right now. I have my first classes of 38 this year in my core class, and next year the numbers are projected to be around 40 students in core classes. The "non-core" classes are seeing class sizes closer to 50 right now.

However, the high schools facing the Northwest Accreditation standards face a limit to how many teachers can have these enormous student loads. Kearns, Bingham, and Timpanogos got caught, but schools only go through the accreditation process every 3 or 6 years, depending how they did on the previous evaluation. There are many other schools that would earn an "advised" status if they were being evaluated this year. The three schools on advised status need to show they have remedied the problems observed in order to leave advised status and not endanger their accreditation. There is little chance for those schools to hire more teachers with 7% budget cuts currently slated for public education, besides the fact that the system grew by over 13,000 additional students this year with no new funds to pay for them and is expected to grow by almost 15,000 students next year. Plus, an additional 1/6 of schools will face accreditation next year.

There could be serious, longterm consequences for public education if these extreme numbers are not addressed.

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Legislature 3-2-09 on HB 312: "Of course diverting an ethics reform bill to an unrelated committee in order to kill it is ethical. Trust us."

The Senate Education Committee is apparently the ideological right-guard of the Senate; a non-education bill is being re-routed inappropriately to this committee to die. Things like this just fill me with confidence that the Senate Education Committee is making well-reasoned, non-ideological decisions to improve education.

After passing the House on a 55-15 vote despite any lingering bad feelings towards sponsor, Rep. Sheryl Allen, from Republican legislators upset over her involvement in the ethics charges against Rep. Greg Hughes, HB 312 has taken a curious turn.

The Senate Rules Committee and its House counterpart evaluate bills and send them to the appropriate Standing Committees to be debated. (Revealing my ignorance here…I have no idea WHEN the rules committees make their decisions. They have no meetings listed and the calendar is full of other things. It’s just one of those mysteries I guess.) A look at the list of ethics reform legislation (which is just unnecessary appeasement of the gullible public whipped up by the sensationalistic media says House majority leader, Kevin Garn) shows that the vast majority of the bills are stuck in committee, generally Rules or the House Ethics Committee. The Senate has allowed only two of six Senate-initiated ethics bills out of Rules Committee so far, SB 156 and SB 162. They Rules Committee sensibly sent both bills to the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee, which then sent both bills to the Senate floor and eventual passage in the Senate. They were sent to the House and assigned to the House Ethics Committee.

Now three House ethics bills have passed a House vote, two after also passing through the House Ethics Committee, and arrived to be debated in the Senate. HB 345 and HB 346, compromise ethics bills from Rep. Brad Dee with many loopholes that nonetheless represent a step forward, arrived in the Senate and were assigned to Rules on Feb. 25th. They have not yet been assigned to a Standing Committee.

Rep. Allen’s HB 312, Amended Campaign Finance Filings, arrived in the Senate the day after on Feb. 26th. It passed via the House Government Operations Committee. (HB 312 is a no-duh, common sense change that requires legislators and lobbyists to submit an explanation when they amend their financial reports after filing them. Changes in reports happen as a matter of course—all for totally understandable administrative mistakes according to legislators—but this bill would help limit possible abuse of amendments to conceal donations or expenditures until after the election. It costs nothing and adds a reasonable safeguard.)

The next day, HB 312 was immediately assigned to the obvious choice…The Senate Education Committee?! Hmmm. Let’s see. The Senate Rules Committee composed of:

Sen. Margaret Dayton, Chair
Sen. D. Chris Buttars, Vice Chair
Sen. Curtis S. Bramble
Sen. Gene Davis
Sen. Peter C. Knudson
Sen. Mark B. Madsen
Sen. Scott D. McCoy

…saw that the appropriate and logical destination for HB 312, the relatively moderate (by Senate standards) Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee, composed of:

Sen. Peter C. Knudson, Chair
Sen. Gregory S. Bell
Sen. Jon J. Greiner
Sen. Scott K. Jenkins
Sen. Daniel R. Liljenquist
Sen. Scott D. McCoy
Sen. Luz Robles

…had already passed the other two ethics bills and stood a very good chance of passing this common-sense bill as well. They therefore skipped the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee and shipped HB 312 to the Senate Education Committee, composed of:

Sen. Curtis S. Bramble, Chair
Sen. Margaret Dayton
Sen. Brent H. Goodfellow
Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard
Sen. Scott K. Jenkins
Sen. Karen W. Morgan
Sen. Howard A. Stephenson

Do the members look familiar? Sen. Dayton sent the bill to her own committee where ethics reform stalwarts such as herself, Sen. Bramble (also, on Rules Committee), and Sen. Stephenson can proceed to vote down the bill. I can think of no other explanation for such obvious, purposeful, and expedited routing of a campaign finance bill to the inappropriate committee while other ethics bills with high-profile support languish in Rules. But remember, it’s all the media’s fault anyone thinks there are ethics problems in the legislature.

HB 150, restoring State School Board elections to a democratic process and eliminating the state nominating committee

After the farce of a process for choosing candidates for our State School Board elections last fall, HB 150 was proposed to change the process to a non-partisan primary and election just like most city councils, eliminating the nomination committee entirely. It was passed by the House yesterday with some split voting among Republicans. My county voted poorly. I think Steven Sandstrom, Francis Gibson, and Kenneth Sumsion were the only Utah County representatives to vote for the bill. Representatives Dougall, Frank, Fowlke, Daw, Lockhart, Steven Clark, Herrod, Grover, and Painter voted against the proposal, with Rep. Morley missing the vote.

The current members of the State Board unanimously supported the bill, even those members who were nominated through that process. Various Republicans tried to amend the bill to convert the State School Board elections into partisan elections with candidates run through party caucuses and conventions (Rep. Sumsion eventually voted for the unamended bill, but said partisan elections would provide information on candidates’ stands on sex education…) or argue that the current process was fair and effective. "Why fix things that aren't broken?" said Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley City. Thankfully, their attempts failed and the bill has moved on to the Senate.

Please contact your Senator and ask them to support this bill making the process of electing State School Board members more fair and open, rather than merely the gubernatorial appointments of committees and candidates posing as an “election.”

Especially contact the members of the Senate Education Committee (Click on this link and then the Committee Membership link on the left side), who will decide if the proposal will even get a floor debate and vote, and express your desire for fair elections. They meet tomorrow, Wed. Feb. 25, at 8:00 am. HB 150 is not currently on the agenda, but that may change. If not tomorrow, they will likely consider the bill next week. This common sense bill needs your support.