State school board to sport new faces

Some of Election Day's school board races showed voters ready to be out with the old, in with the new — and young.

Thomas Gregory, a 26-year-old Overstock.com business analyst, became the youngest man in memory to be elected to the Utah Board of Education. He's also one of three new state school board members to express interest in tuition tax credits, counter to the board's current stance.

In Granite District, 20-year school board incumbent Lynn Davidson fell to political newcomer Carole Cannon.

And in Salt Lake City, a race for an open school board seat remains a toss-up. Just six votes separated Michael Clara and Alama Uluave.

"That's a cliffhanger," Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said, adding thousands of provisional and absentee ballots will take until Nov. 16 to research and count.

The three newly elected state school board members have leanings toward tuition tax credits, a divisive issue in the education community.

Gregory, father of three young children, believes his views will "increase our range of ideas and options to work toward better education in Utah."

"I believe in very basic economic principles, that . . . the more choices and range of choices you have in (a) product, people will be competing for customers," the Orem resident said. "With tuition tax credits, I think a well crafted bill could be worthwhile, but I would want to have a pretty good idea on what its effects on our public system would be."

Gregory defeated BYU chemistry and biochemistry professor Brian F. Woodfield with 56 percent of the votes, according to unofficial results.

He will be joined by Mark Cluff of Alpine and Draper City Councilman Bill Colbert, who also have expressed interest in tuition tax credits.

Still, Cluff, a software company co-founder, believes "there are other areas where we (as a board) will have full agreement. We have to make sure our public schools are strong and meeting the needs of the majority of our students, and that's always been my stand."

Cluff beat David Adamic, co-founder of John Hancock Charter School, with 59 percent of the vote in the District 12 race.