Reader comments
John Florez: Let the people — not politics — choose Board of Education

I couldn't disagree more. Having the UEA and PTA as gatekeepers in the selection process is crucial. They are the education experts. They should decide who gets on the ballot. Education is too complicated to leave just to ordinary voters.

Just ignore the troll. The UEA and PTA had nothing to do with the commission selection system set up by the legislature. Business interests dominated this year and removed two incumbents on split votes where some governor-appointed "business community representatives" voted as a block for favored candidates. The governor eliminated a third highly regarded board member from Cache Valley because that same block gave her fewer points in their voting system.

In other words: Seven politically well-connected persons (well-known enough to be appointed by the governor) arbitrarily decided what Utah's diverse business community wanted with no checks on their power. They had no mandate--even fewer people know the identities of these commission members than know the school board members--and eliminated the right of the local communities to decide if they approved of the job their state school board representative did.

Redefining what the state school board's duties actually are is an interesting idea. But the blame for the current electorial mess lies squarely at the feet of those who devised and enforced the current non-competitive rules: the Utah state legislature and the governor.

Dear "Gatekeeper",

Please go somewhere else where your urge to control others is more in keeping with their centralized government style. The "new" Russia would be a good place for your ilk.

You "Gatekeepers", including the Board, the UTA, the PTA were responsible for diverting public attention away from the mistake of the Jordan District split.
If you "gatekeepers" hadn't been so fear-mongering and greedy that you could not allow even 1/2% of new money to escape your control for vouchers, you, as "gatekeepers" should have helped prevent the split vote from succeeding. That Jordan-split will cost education many times more than that tiny voucher amount.

Thanks a bunch, Gatekeeper.

Oh, and thanks to our weak-kneed Governor, too. He could still do the right thing and put a stop to the split till the Legislature can fix it and send it back for all to vote on it. But, he won't.

I'm all in favor of opening up the election of the board of education to the regular political process. HOWEVER, the election should be handled just like other State-wide or major races: On a partisan basis with the delegates and primary voters of the various political parties vetting nominees just as they do for legislature, governor, county commissioners, sheriffs, auditors, treasurers, and other critical offices.

Let the political parties offer support and organization to these candidates' campaigns. Require the candidates to stand before delegates and primary voters--those voters most likely to be informed of issues and positions--BEFORE they are allowed to make mass appeal.

Finally, we might consider what role the State board of education ought to play in setting policy compared to the local boards. Perhaps we'd be better off if local boards--who also need to be chosen in open, partisan races--had far more power, authority, and autonomy and could not so easily pass the buck for any unpopular decision that came before them.

by implementing the proportional representation electoral system that has been used in Cambridge, MA and New York City, NY to elect its school district members.

Majority rule with fair minority representation is what proportional representation is designed to achieve. Silencing minority viewpoints is what the winner-take-all system us designed to achieve.

I actually agree with something that Mr. Florez has written here.

It's about time that we know the politics of school board candidates. Making their election a partisan choice would accomplish this end. However, I observed plenty of pretend Republican UEA delegates at the Salt Lake County GOP convention who soundly rejected a Ronald Reagan resolution to eliminate the Department of Education and to require disclosure on the national curricula/testing standards which are counter to some religious/political values.

Unfortunately, we place too much importance on the state board of education. If we truly wanted to fix things, Utah would opt out of national standards entirely and demand that our money stay at home, rather than traveling all the way to Washington and then coming back to us with less value and strings attached.

We�d see less bureaucracy, more money and curricula that actually reflect Utah values rather than those of liberal Democrats in Washington or at the UEA/PTA.

Either way, the danger always remains that the UEA and its PTA cheerleaders will have another direct-democracy referendum tantrum when they don't like what our representative form of government (the legislature) does.

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar
World Class Education Research

Cherilyn's extremist views are routinely rejected by members of her own party.

Watch out, folks, there's "dangerous democracy" ahead if we allow the people who voted against vouchers 62%-38% to directly elect their state school board members.

Cherilyn doesn't trust Utah voters because she cannot control the outcome the way she and other ultra-conservatives can through their fringe delegates at convention.

To Cherilyn, oh please!

If Ronald Reagan was an "extremist," the readers can assume that you are a liberal, and therefore we can know the source. Reagan was actually the first Republican president to promote the notion of "choice" in education. These views are accepted in GOP platforms across the nation.

Personally I support curriculum choice while remaining ambivalent about vouchers, opposing them in most cases because the history of vouchers internationally shows they ultimately bring private schools under state control and secularize parochial schools who can�t compete with other subsidized voucher schools.

I reject the notion of taking issues not of constitutional amendment stature to referendum. Likewise, the American Founders rejected direct democracy. The best referendum for rectifying what we don't like that legislatures (our elected representatives) do is to vote them out of office in the next election.

Yet the Utah PTA passed a resolution unanimously supporting direct democracy. If they can't get their way with the legislature, they will bludgeon their ideas through referendum, swaying the vote with millions of �foreign� dollars flooding our state from liberal national unions and special interests that influence through deception to the less informed.

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar
World Class Education Research

An additional comment to "Cherilyn, oh please!"

An appropriate interpretation of �democracy� is exactly what Mr. Florez advocates: the direct election of Board of Education candidates, as opposed to the present process of funneling candidates through a selection committee and then giving the Governor the unilateral authority to select the candidates.

Direct election of candidates is the process the Founders set in place for a Constitutional representative (republican) government.

Unfortunately, once elected, school board members become puppets to federal regulations imposed on the states. But that's what happens when the Department of Education dictates national standards and national testing. States are told its "optional," but the states have become so dependent on federal money, the price to opt out would be challenging to negotiate.

Smaller class size is on the docket for the next referendum. I'm in favor of smaller class size. Who isn�t? However, I asked the Utah PTA presenter what the cost will be. She didn't know. It would be enlightening to get this accounting and to review research on just how much further state dollars would go if they didn�t have to make the round-trip to D.C. first.

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar
World Class Education Research

How did the delegates in the last Republican convention vote on your latest proposals?

Democracy is Dead in Utah!!! We live in a one party state that does not believe in good open government. We have the lowest voter turn out in the United States. It is no wonder we have such a terrible State Government. We get what we vote for!!

To "To Cherilyn"

My Democrat Representative Carol Spackman Moss has already raised this question on a radio interview we did recently in an attempt to label those who disagree with her liberal education views as extremist. I don�t expect Democrats to agree with President Reagan's positions on education. The Utah Education Association had a strong presence at GOP caucuses, even though the NEA's own statistics show that its members vote overwhelmingly Democratic (liberal/socialist), especially on education issues.

At the Salt Lake County GOP convention, I ran two bellwether resolutions specifically to expose just how many crossovers and RINOS were represented at the convention. The first resolution was an energy independence resolution. It passed in spite of liberal/socialist environmentalists who approached the microphone in opposition.

The second was an education resolution. UEA members approached the microphone in opposition, it required a standing vote and it failed.

This demonstrated to GOP leadership that delegates who do not support the GOP platform on education were elected in GOP caucuses. There is much work to be done in the Salt Lake County GOP, and my goal is to do my part to strengthen precincts and ensure the platform is upheld in future conventions.