The Utah State School Board seems to be behaving like FEMA did during the Katrina disaster with our students being the victims left behind.

When Katrina happened, most Americans were stunned by the images on the TV showing the stream of SUVs inching their way out of New Orleans. Then, in contrast, the cameras panned on those left behind without the means to leave — the poor, the elderly, children, the disabled — most of whom were black.

Some parents that have the ability to leave public education are doing so, while those that don't are being left behind. And FEMA, like the State School Board, suffered from bureaucratic sclerosis. It was unable to respond to the new disaster because no one was able or willing to make a decision. All government agencies — federal, state and local — played the bureaucratic blame game. They did nothing while hiding behind policies and memoranda of understanding.

In Utah we now have crises in education and with our state's workforce. We have a public school system that is not structured to prepare students for the higher-skilled and knowledge-based jobs that pay higher wages, a higher education system that is scrambling to fill the declining enrollment, and a Department of Workforce Services sitting around like the Maytag repairman waiting for business. It all seems to mirror the various government agencies during Katrina where there was no communication between agencies and each one was waiting for the other to do something. Most disturbing were the insensitive FEMA bureaucrats who told the poor, who were literally trying to keep their heads above water, to log on the Internet to find out where they could get help. They seemed to have no awareness of what poor people have to deal with on a daily basis, let alone with a life-threatening disaster.

For many parents, Utah's education system has reached disaster status. Though many have tried to make their voices heard calling for change, the state school board did what the government agencies involved in Katrina did — blame the next level of government. Some parents who have the financial means and knowledge of how to navigate through today's complex world are enrolling their children in private schools, or fleeing to charter schools. Because their child's future was at stake, they could not wait any longer to try to make the educational system prepare their children for today's economy. The poor, and the ones without the wherewithal to leave the system, are being left behind. And like the FEMA bureaucrats and others who thought the Katrina victims could help themselves, the state school board has told parents they have school choice. But without money, there is no choice.

Now what may be occurring is that we have a "separate and unequal" school system, where those that can move to a better one, leaving the poor and minorities to put up with a system that seems unable to give students the quality of education the governor's Economic Development Board is urging the school board to produce for Utah's economy. Other parents willing to fight the system are struggling to start their own school districts. In the mean time, state school board members seem to lack the courage leaders need to stand up and move quickly to restructure the existing system so it can respond to the problems parents have in educating their children. Unless parents demand that the state school board begin focusing on educating students so they can succeed in today's economy, short of a disaster or a revolution, nothing will change.

The school board is now contemplating raising the high school graduation requirements. The question is do they have a plan with a budget to make it happen, or will they simply pass the buck on to the legislature?

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Utah native John Florez has founded several Hispanic civil rights organizations, served on the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch and on more than 45 state, local and volunteer boards. He also has been deputy assistant secretary of labor. E-mail: jdflorez@comcast.net