From Deseret News archives:

Huntsman praises vision

He signs bills at Orem school, says those who make laws serve future generations

Published: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:49 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
OREM — Many of the issues that politicians weigh in on each year are often irrelevant to their own generation, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said at a school ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday in Utah County.

"Politics by its very nature and decisionmaking by its very nature is forward thinking," he said. "The generation we're serving is not our own."

Huntsman spoke of investing in children during the dedication of a new wing at Northridge Elementary in Orem, where he also signed three recently passed bills into law.

• HB139 specifies how school board presidents and vice presidents are to be replaced when their positions become vacant.

• HB188 provides money for the Public Education Job Enhancement Program, which provides signing bonuses to teachers who have achieved a certain level of expertise in math and science and provides aid to teachers seeking master's degrees in those subjects.

• HB382 increases the Weighted Pupil Unit — the basic per student funding allocation. It also provides money to the State Board of Education for school supplies and the electronic high school, among other items, and modifies the formula for calculating increases in enrollment.

Story continues below
The governor has spent much of the week signing many of the 370 bills passed in the just completed legislative session into law, said Mike Mower, Huntsman's legislative liaison.

Shortly after the ceremony at Northridge, Huntsman and his entourage were rushed to the airport for a trip to southern Utah.

In the afternoon he visited Kanab High School, where he signed a resolution opposing nuclear testing and bills affecting the Agricultural Advisory Board and amendments to state land use laws.

By Thursday evening he was in St. George, where he signed 20 bills into law, ranging from education issues to the title insurance industry.

Mower said the governor is trying to coordinate the bill signings with their relevancy to the areas he visits — local economies, issues of concern or legislation that was sponsored by local representatives.

At Northridge Elementary, the 800 students greeted Utah's top executive. The new wing cost $2 million, took about 10 months to construct and covers 19,152 square feet.

The space will be used for specialty programs — music, arts, computers, science and social studies — to free up space in the older building for core classes.


E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. lets Katy Jessop, a sixth-grader at Orem's Northridge Elementary, date HB139 Thursday. Kirsten Oaks, left, watches.

previousnext

Latest comments

Utahn aiding poor

Truly motivational. Thanks!

Cougars going back to Vegas

An overly skinny frosh QB isn't going to get it done vs. a good Pac 10 team....

Fremont will handle Bingham tonight.....in basketball

Byu and Utah playing in sub par bowl games! You guys are always with out fail...

Let's keep energy money in the U.S.

Most of your oil comes from Canada. If you don't want it we can sell it...

Another article proving how crazy our politians are becoming. Vote them all...

In a blind test, the AP gave temperature data to four independent...

Letters: Democrats' ethics

What a pathetic position to take.

Iowa stop spurs talk of Pres. Palin

with the Demos strategy of Obama's re-election in 2012.

"The amount of Carbon emissions has steadily increased and the temperature...

Advertisements