Becker outlines plan to improve education

Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Ralph Becker on Thursday outlined his plan for improving education in the city, a central point of his campaign since he first announced to run in November.

"The core of every great city is a well-educated population," said Becker, a Democrat who represents Salt Lake City in the state Legislature and is current House minority leader. "A world-class educational system attracts residents and businesses to our community, and it provides our young people with the tools they need to compete in a rapidly advancing, every-changing world."

City government has an official oversight role in public education, but Becker has said he believes the mayor's administration can work more closely with the Salt Lake City School District.

His education "blueprint" includes:

• Creation of a senior-level education partnership coordinator position in the mayor's office. In addition to working with the schools and crafting city policy on education, the coordinator would work with other entities, such as businesses and state government, to help schools get the resources they need.

• A monthly school summit, hosted by the mayor, bringing together high school and junior high principals to discuss ways the city can help address needs and problems.

• A plan that Becker says would ensure every student would be proficient in a second language by age 18. The idea includes encouraging the city's refugee population to "share the languages and cultures of their home countries."

• Building on the YouthCity program to further school-city partnerships. City employees would be rewarded for ideas and volunteer participation in schools, and Becker envisions the city participating in such things as read-a-thons, student art exhibits, musical performances and recognizing outstanding students, teachers and staff.

• An initiative Becker is calling E3: Expanding Excellence in Education. "I will work with teachers and the school district to ensure that every Salt Lake City school student can benefit from the innumerable extracurricular learning opportunities the city provides," Becker wrote in his blueprint plan.

Examples of such opportunities he listed are ecological study of the surrounding environment, museum visits and learning from the city's research and trade professionals, among others.

Becker's education plan received praise from Salt Lake City school officials, including Doug Nelson, chairman of the school district's Board of Education, and Heather Bennett, a member of the board, as well as former Utah first lady Norma Matheson.

Other candidates have also made education a key talking point in their campaigns.

Former City Councilman Keith Christensen in May announced a plan that would aim to have all Salt Lake schoolchildren reading at grade level by the time they leave third grade. Christensen's Read by 3 program would match volunteers with children based on their tutoring needs.

And current City Councilman Dave Buhler, who works for the state Commissioner of Higher Education, named stronger city support for public education as one of the four pillars of his campaign when he announced his candidacy for mayor.

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