Students rally to back global program

About 80 students from the Early Placement International Baccalaureate Program at Syracuse Junior High in Davis County visited the state Capitol Monday to meet lawmakers and show their support for a measure that was called "anti-American" by some legislators last week.

HB266 would provide $300,000 for International Baccalaureate programs to fund the costly academic track in seven Utah schools.

IB leaders said they were stunned when the bill failed to clear the Senate Education Committee last week after sailing through the House Education Committee and getting a unanimous vote on the House floor.

Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, sponsor of the measure, said last week's accusation that the IB program is anti-American is an embarrassment to the state.

"I am not opposed to reading books from other countries and not opposed to understanding the world, but I am opposed to the very anti-American philosophy that is somehow woven into all the classes as they promote the (United Nations) agenda," said Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, during the committee hearing last Thursday.

Moss said she later received a document from Dayton with some concerns gathered by the Eagle Forum about the program.

"Nothing that was said on there was true," Moss said.

She said, however, that the bill is not dead and hopes the Senate will bring it to the floor before the end of the session. Even though the committee voted it down, the Senate can still consider the bill, taking into account the negative recommendation from the committee.

Under the IB program, students can earn college credits by taking rigorous courses that emphasize global issues. The program can be found in more than 800 U.S. schools and 126 countries worldwide. Students with an IB diploma also have an equivalent of 30 credit hours toward a post-secondary education.

Rebecca Odoardi, director of the IB program in the Davis School District, who accompanied the students, said the bill would give much needed funding to fledgling IB programs that would cover costly things like IB teacher training, which must be done out of state.

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