Reader comments
Pignanelli & Webb: What did we learn from the elections?

We don't want education reform. what is to be reformed? We have a great system in Utah that is achieving great things with the worst funding in the nation.

The only reform we want to see is better pay for our teachers so we can keep them around.

Seriously, that is all I want changed. The legislators have to know that by now and not raising teacher pay this year would be an absolute travesty.

The legislature has no controll over teacher pay!

Dear 'Webb is wrong',

Actually, we do need reform. Our schools are churning out mediocre students who can't communicate effectively, write reports, fill out resumes properly, analyze business information or make change without the cash register spitting out the correct change automatically. (BTW: those change machines are not for reducing theft but to more correctly return change and reduce cash over/short reports.) Our students are also not prepared for the demands of college.

As for the statement "Utah is last in per pupil spending", that argument simply does not work and never has. Why? Because each state has different citizen demographics, student enrollment levels and trends, different education funding structures, and employment base towards funding education. If all demographics were identical, THEN that could be an argument.

Utah also gives a tax deduction for each child, therefore, those using the system most, don't pay into it. Hmmm, I guess everything is just fine.

If you want a teacher pay raise, go talk to your district. There is plenty of money being handed out, and minor reforms would produce that money.

Teacher's do need a raise. They are way underpaid. The problem is, every time the legislature (or the county) hands them more money, the greedy district people gobble up more than their fair share and kick the crumbs over to the teachers. That's why there is so much hesitancy from our legislature to throw more money down that rat hole.

If there were meaningful efforts at efficiency and reform, you would see more money coming from legislators, and less resistance from the taxpayers.

Really Dave? Then why did they give all teachers in the State a raise this year?

Yes, indeed, the legislature pretty much provides pay raises when they add money to the WPU. Then the associations work (battle?) it out with the school district to determine if that money goes to across the board pay raises, raises for extra work,pays for increases in insurance costs, etc. If the legislature doesn't put more money in the WPU, teachers don't get a raise.

Some teachers deserve a huge raise, some deserve a small raise, some deserve a pay cut, and some deserve to lose their jobs. Making a blanket statement like "teachers deserve a raise" is completely unhelpful, because the current system rewards longevity, not quality. And before anyone says that it would be too difficult to know who are the "good" teachers and who are the "bad" teachers, let me just say that the argument is absolute hogwash; every parent, every teacher, and every administrator knows who the lousy teachers in the school are, and the only reason they still have their jobs is because the UEA and other teacher unions make it nearly impossible to fire any teacher.

To anticipate another argument, we do have a teacher shortage, but part of the reason for that shortage is because good teachers don't get rewarded for being good, so many of them leave the system and go somewhere they can be rewarded for their efforts. Reform the system and watch well-rewarded good teachers fill the schools.