From Deseret News archives:
Local control of schools has become a myth
It seems our state education system is fast becoming like the old Soviet economy that did central planning for a nail factory. It received its production quota from Moscow: 10 metric tons of nails. The factory had strong incentives to meet its quota, which it did, by making 10 nails each weighing one metric ton.
Our education system has become more centralized by politicians who tell us one thing when running for election or re-election, and then do another thing once they are in office. They know how strongly Utahns believe in local control; so, when on the campaign trail, they use the hot button that gets Utahns ready to vote local control. They lash out against federal control and tell us they want to cut government waste and reduce government but all we get is more government.
All too often, legislators fail to do oversight on the system to make sure it is carrying out its legislative mandate, until problems become public. Then they try to "fix" the problem with a barrage of new laws and regulations that only inflate the bureaucracy even more and further erode local control.
Legislators seldom monitor to see how effectively the State Office of Education is carrying out its constitutional and statutory responsibilities. Citizens can help by insisting their state representatives and state school board members are accountable to them as to how effectively the state education system is working.
For example, citizens might start by asking, specifically, what action, if any, was taken to correct the deficiencies identified in a report completed two years ago, which the State Board had commissioned to audit the Utah State Office of Education.
Comments
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