Those who know me well know that I’m not opposed to an equitable, well-crafted voucher bill. In all of the discussions of HB 148, including its incarnations in past years, the one piece of information I’ve always wanted but never come across is an income chart showing how household income translates to voucher amounts.
The following […]
The Deseret News ran an article about HB 68, which allocates state money to reimburse local districts for the cost of fee waivers.
Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan, suggested looking at boosting the state’s per-student funding formula to get rid of fees altogether, if equity is the question. She and two others voted against the bill.
“We […]
I’m at the Utah School Boards Association’s “Day on the Hill.” I’ll be live-blogging parts of the discussion and comments from those present.
Some discussion of HB 234. I wasn’t completely paying attention (was working on a different topic), but it sounds like they’re missing the point here. Ass I read it, the […]
I quite enjoyed last week’s joint meeting between the State Board of Education, the State Board of Regents, and many of our legislators. District officials, local school board members and concerned parents were there too.
I found it more productive than other education summits for one simple reason: policy makers at multiple levels were able to […]
Tomorrow the legislature will likely cut our taxes. My response is somewhat mixed.
I’ve listened to senators, representatives, and even the governor sell the plan. They do a bang up job, and each time I walk away being convinced it’s in the best interest of Utah. But when I stop to think […]
Yesterday, an anonymous reader commented:
EVERY voucher/tax credit proposal in Utah since 2002 or so has had a means-testing component to it so how can you say that the Utah Taxpayers Association’s comment bore only passing resemblance to previous legislation?
It’s a fair question.
Yes, tuition tax credit bills in the past few years have had means testing. […]
The Utah Foundation Breakfast last week was certainly interesting, but not terribly helpful. Half of the presenters were there primarily to push their political interests, some ignoring the purpose of the summit as I understood it.
Paradox Lost
If your keeping an eye on the public education debate in the state, you know that the Utah […]
I was chatting with a colleague when he ask why university enrollment was declining. My unresearched, off-the-cuff answer was, “The economy is doing well.”
After spending some quality time with my good friend Google, I can more confidently say I’m partly right. Here’s a list of likely reasons; we’re not being hit with just […]
Grant Harkness recently questioned the concept of paying math and science teachers more than their peers in other subject areas. His criticism centers around the perceived prioritization of math and science over English in the curriculum.
His arguments misdiagnose the problem: it’s not that Math teachers are more important than English teachers. It’s that […]
I ended my last post asking, “Is public education the proper place for a solution?” It’s a bit of a loaded question. Certainly, public schools should teach what amount to basic life skills, right?
Here in Utah, the Legislature has mandated basic financial education for high school students (Utah Code 53A-13-108). It happened partly because bankruptcy […]
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