Why do we need a law to vote for a partisan State School Board? We already have one — the Utah Legislature, controlled by Republicans, that morphed itself into the state’s “super” school board. So how is that working?
Legislators continue to dismiss public opinion that supports a nonpartisan state school board and ignore the state constitution that gives the Utah State School Board the responsibility for “control and supervision of public education.” They have taken over its responsibilities with a plethora of bills that have only created failing schools. The Legislature has no clear vision for our schools in the 21st century, yet it continually changes testing, accountability and graduation requirements that keep schools in chaos and waste tax dollars.
The latest venture: the proposal by lawmakers last week to dump the $6.5 million annual Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence, or SAGE test, without any evaluation or public discussion. The SAGE test had been piloted for seven years and implemented for only one year. Legislative leaders, who originally championed the test, made the call to abandon the test and seemed to show no regrets for having done so. Then they went on the radio demanding the State Board of Education suspend and replace the SAGE test. Some SAGE testing has already begun for this year, so what happens with the rest of it?
Then there is the “data alliance” legislation (SB34) that is supposed to coordinate data between state agencies and give new life to Utah Futures, which in turn is supposed to help students with career planning. The fiscal note: $1.8 million. However, now students and parents can get free apps to do career planning. One has to wonder what private corporation would tolerate that type of fiscal management.
Lawmakers have hijacked the State School Board and taken control of education, including curriculum and teacher pay, and made local control of schools meaningless. The Legislature has used the State School Board as a scapegoat to blame when things go wrong and become public, such as the SAGE test. Legislators require the board to write more regulations and then blame it for being bureaucratic. Lawmakers even established a Legislative Task Force to create a vision and coordinate an education plan for the future, which legislators ignore.
Lawmakers, who are now proposing to have State School Board elections become partisan, argue it would increase school accountability, transparency and clarity. What they fail to see is they are the ones who created the system as it exists today — without a vision and in chaos. They broke it, they own it.
Public education is rudderless, mostly due to lawmakers who have shown little respect or thought to the importance of public education in a free society. It should be free of political influence. Furthermore, it seems irresponsible for the governor and Legislature to call for more tax money to be put into a failing system until the State School Board has the opportunity to renew the vision and mission of public education to succeed in the 21st century.
There is nothing more important for the maintenance of a free society than an education system free from politics and overseen by citizens elected as nonpartisan members. In the end, it’s moral and dedicated individuals who put community over self that will keep our society free.
Utah native John Florez served on the U.S. Senate Labor Committee and as Utah industrial commissioner. His White House appointments included deputy assistant secretary of labor and Commission on Hispanic Education member. Email: jdflorez@comcast.net