The report, "An Efficiency and Effectiveness Study of the Utah State Office of Education," January 2002, was charged with determining "the degree to which the USOE — the operational arm of the State School Board — is efficiently and effectively meeting its constitutional and statutory responsibilities."

The report found an agency that was confused about its constitutional and statutory responsibilities. The most serious findings were not the bureaucratic spending procedures, but rather:

1. An inability to clearly define its mission — its core purpose — its reason for existence.

2. Inconsistency and lack of understanding of its regulatory and enforcement responsibilities.

3. Lack of a systematic planning process and accountability system. The projects are started, but there is no common thread designed to support the Office of Education's mission or primary function.

4. Lack of internal policies and operating procedures to track the "enactment of statutes" or link them with agency operations.

5. No established enforcement procedures for state statutes and regulations, in a timely fashion, nor adequate guidance to school districts to ensure compliance with reporting requirements.

6. Not being clear about its regulatory responsibilities of monitoring to assure that local school districts are complying with all applicable laws and regulations.

The difficulty elected state leaders have in being accountable is that their constituents are Utahns, who are trusting people, who believe in their leaders and tend to avoid confrontation. As a consequence, some legislators end up being courted by lobbyists and special interest groups, who gain the legislator's ear with promises of help for re-election. While we may have honorable and well-meaning elected leaders, any one who holds the levers of power is in danger of self-deception, and thus may not always be trusted to be honest when being self-critical.

Let's heed Ronald Reagan's advice, "Trust, but verify."

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Utah native John Florez has founded several Hispanic civil rights organizations and has 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