Lawmaker touts benefits of Singapore Math

While many education officials and lawmakers are sold on the success of Singapore Math, how to pay for launching the program in Utah is causing heated debate.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, is proposing legislation to create a program that awards grants to school districts or charter schools that offer Singapore Math in grades kindergarten through eighth.

The bill appropriates an ongoing $3 million, subject to future budget constraints, from the Uniform School Fund for fiscal year 2009-2010.

Singapore Math has students in southeast Asia excelling in math, according to education officials.

The math program teaches students core concepts by repetition, then moves on to solving problems by applying that knowledge. It is extremely visual and involves word problems.

Utah is experiencing budget cutbacks due to a revenue shortfall. However, Singapore Math is something "we should move forward with even though resources are scarce," Stephenson said, addressing the Legislative Education Interim Committee on Wednesday.

"I'm just not willing to stand still and wait for the economy to rebound before we move forward with improvement in math," Stephenson said. "I think our students deserve it. It's a modest pilot program."

Stephenson said it's never a good time to fund new programs. The 3,500 students learning Mandarin Chinese and the 500 students learning Arabic in Utah wouldn't have happened "if we had followed the State School Board's recommendation two years ago," he said.

Steve Peterson, director of the Utah School Superintendents Association, told lawmakers that school board members and superintendents have voiced concern, in this difficult budget year, over a chunk of money being taken from the state education fund. They would prefer to choose how to spend the funding rather than have lawmakers dictate.

"We need to have the money ... to take care of the unique needs in our schools," Peterson said. "Local boards want local control."

Kim Coleman, director of Monticello Academy charter school, which has been using Singapore Math since fall 2006, said she can see both sides of the argument but added "we keep putting money into the (weighted pupil unit) without seeing results."

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