12 vie for 5 seats on school board

A home-schooler, a legislative leader's wife, and at least one pro-voucher candidate hope voters let them bring new perspective to the State Board of Education.

They're taking on incumbents for five seats of the 15-member school board.

The board sets policy affecting more than a half million children and oversees a $2.7 billion budget. Yet board races are relatively obscure, or what Utah PTA legislative vice president Ronda Rose calls "the silent election." And that, she says, must change.

"A lot of money isn't being poured into those races, the reporters aren't reporting on those races, there's no red, there's no blue" because they're non-partisan, Rose said. But "it is the office that affects our children most directly in education, or has the ability to affect them most directly ... we need to make sure we have good people in there who are making those decisions."

Incumbents Greg Haws of Hooper and Laurel Brown of Murray are running unopposed, as is appointee Denis Morrill of Taylorsville, who served on the board a few years ago.

The election is Nov. 7.

Here's a brief overview of candidates in contested races.

District 3: Richard Moss of Santaquin, Utah County, has worked for nine years building and developing schools, most recently for U.S. Charter Development. He says performance pay would help teachers "to perform well, have higher test scores and enhance childrens' achieving and creating in their classrooms." He supports government vouchers for private school tuition to give parents more choices.

"I'm running to serve because I think I have something unique to offer," Moss said.

Incumbent Ed Dalton of Erda, Tooele County, wants to look at testing expectations for teachers and develop plans to recruit and keep good teachers. He wants to stress civics, service and character education in schools. He taught for 10 years and has worked in an educational foundation regarding energy.

"I hope to continue to help create a vision and opportunities, provide leadership to move education forward in a positive way," Dalton said.

District 5: R. Christopher Barden of North Salt Lake has a doctorate of psychology and a law degree. He says his experience and global speaking engagements would bring an informed perspective to the board. He wants performance pay for teachers, an easier welcome for professionals from other fields into the classroom and to have data on schools independently gathered, among other initiatives.