Gov. Mike Leavitt faced some of his tougher questions from youngsters in highly impacted schools Wednesday.
"Can you give my daddy a job?" asked a little girl at Maeser Elementary."What are you doing to help our school?" asked a child at Joaquin Elementary.
Liana Roper, a first-grader at Timpanogos Elementary, wanted to know what she has to do to become the governor of Utah.
And Leavitt had some pretty good politically correct answers as he moved from school to school in Utah County (and later to Jordan Ridge School in Salt Lake County) teaching children about the Beehive State and getting a firsthand look at some of the state's most severely stressed schools.
Joaquin, Timpanogos and Maeser are just three of 40 such schools identified across the state as highly impacted - meaning they have an extremely high rate of turnover in student population and consequently, major demands on limited financial resources.
Rosemarie Smith, principal of Timpanogos Elementary, said while the schools are trying a number of innovative and fairly successful ways to stretch the dollars, including forming partnerships with local business entities, testing a pilot mentor program and applying for federal grants at every opportunity, the schools still need state legislative financial attention.
Leavitt introduced legislators Jeff Alexander and Kevin Garn at Joaquin Elementary, after a child asked how the school can get money.
"See these guys," said Leavitt. "Let me introduce you to two very important people right here."
Leavitt told each school that he is working to make more money available to reduce class sizes and put more computers into the classrooms. He explained that some of his most difficult decisions as a governor involve dividing up the money when there just isn't enough.
He said the point of his school-to-school tour is to get some ideas and suggestions from those who attend and work in the elementary schools.
Joaquin named Leavitt as a Warrior of the Month, and Maeser made him an honorary Maeser Mustang. He collected a Timpanogos Elementary spirit sweat shirt, a Maeser school T-shirt and a Mustang pin.
In return, he left a Beehive State pin with each student and a pamphlet full of telephone resource numbers for each child's parents.
He answered questions at each school, named his favorite president (Ronald Reagan), listed his children by age, confessed to enjoying a game of golf when he has free time and told children he will support President Clinton if he decides to send American troops to Bosnia.
Leavitt urged students to stay in school if they want to get good jobs, turn off violence at home and recycle to keep Utah clean.
Smith said it's critical for Leavitt to see close up what a difference dollars make in impacted schools. "For us, $101,000 meant two full-time teachers, a part-time elementary school counselor, computers and an early reading program. For a school like ours with so many kids coming in without the basic learning skills, it's critical to get small classes in the early grades."
The next step is to provide more room so the "extra" teachers have a place to teach, said Smith.