Whether the Legislature's Education Interim Committee realizes that children in Utah deserve better is questionable. With the support being given to spending more than $30 million on the proposed Utah Performance Assessment System for Students, one has to wonder about where their priorities are placed.
In an editorial printed on Dec. 5 in the Deseret News, the writer backs the proposal and points out that the bill does not include grading, rewarding or punishing schools based on how well students do on the tests. To quote from the writer: "It ought to. Without consequences and rewards, testing would be useless."Before such decisions are reached and passed on, the legislators need to personally tour the schools and see how unfair comparing test results would be. Some of the schools are furnished with more than ample textbooks and supplies, while others have not only inferior physical plants but inadequate books as well as supplies. Many teachers are forced to buy their own materials or have the students do without.
Class size must be considered, especially in areas where many children are from broken homes, abused and neglected, with no possibility of parental assistance or cooperation with the schools.
At least be fair enough to give the dedicated teachers in the community an even break. Those who teach in less than desirable surroundings without the necessities to provide for the students' needs can't be expected to compete with the more affluent areas of the community. Two questions come to mind. How are you going to "reward" the winners and what "consequences" are you going to mete out to those who don't measure up?
Voters, please encourage the Legislature to spend the $30 million to upgrade the schools so that doing better on any test is more of a possibility than under the present circumstances of overcrowding, inadequate material and low teacher salaries. Utah should be ashamed to be at the bottom of the list of states in the amount spent per pupil for education.
Helen Fleming
Salt Lake City