Reader comments
Action plan for Salt Lake City is presented by Becker

The mayor has almost no responsiblity for primary education, if he thinks it is so important why doesn't he run for a position that actually has to do with education, like PTA president.

Also the last thing we need is more government bureaucrats, what we need is more and better paid teachers.

Ralph wants to bridge the political divide? Is this the same partisanship that he insists on campaigning with? I've seen Ralph's campaign commercials and banners- they have only Democrats on them. He won't bring our city together, on the contrary, he will continue the "us vs. them" mentality he has had this campaign into office.

The idea of an education coordinator is an excellent one. The barriers between different divisions of government (such as school district and city) are artificial and arbitrary. So much of what is inefficient about government results from agencies being unwilling or unable to see outside their cubicle. Coordination will not increase bureaucracy, but decrease it by reducing redundancies and ensuring allocation of political, financial, and social capital in the most efficient way. This is the best idea I've heard in city politics in a long time.

There is a lot that the mayor/city council can do to improve education in Salt Lake City. I would suggest that "Interested" actually read Ralph Becker's plans for enhancing education before jumping to conclusions. And of course, Becker has been supporting higher pay for teachers for some time now. I also agree that creating a position within the city that deals with education is a good one. I'd hardly say that hiring one person to facilitate those relationships is creating a more bureaucracy.