Comments about ‘Utah Legislature: Lawmakers mull education cuts’

It's amazing how everytime we get cuts it's always about where the politicians can hurt us the most:
Teachers, students, fire and police. It's never about cuts for administrators, state employee salaries and benefits. When there's spending cuts to be made they always look at how they can hurt the
middle class and children. The message being from lawmakers...don't cut OUR revenue or we'll make you pay.

I beg to differ with Mr. Stephenson's believe that education can accommodate a 5% cut. That implies that there is extra money, and nothing will be hurt. That is far from the truth, especially when they are talking about a 5% cut and no additional money for growth. The cut will be more like 8% at that point. If it has to been done, it would be nice if Mr. Stephenson could be honest and not paint a rosy picture that this is no big deal.

Here is the problem.

""Programs can accommodate the 5 percent cut," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, co-chairman of the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee."

No they can't after what you have done the last 3 years.

Wake up.

Quit electing this guy.

Is Howard blonde? Or is he Alice in wonderland? The only place I can see that can be cut is in supt. & asst. supt. salaries.

. . . 53% of immigrant households with children collected welfare from at least one government program in 2008.

These programs include food stamps, Medicaid, and free school lunches. And yes, that huge number also includes legal immigrants.

The immigrants America is attracting these days are mostly poor and badly educated. These are not people doing "jobs Americans won't do." These are people getting benefits Americans often don't qualify for.
taken from NumbersUSA

supt. and asst supt. salaries if totally taken out of the education budget would still not make a significant dent in what the conservative republicans say they need to cut in education. It is nice to blame the top, but it would be nicer to find a real solution to education's lack of relationship with the legislature.

Education has been neglected far too long in Utah. We need to increase funding for the kids--I don't care if you have to raise my taxes, and I don't even have kids who go to school.

Schools need to look into that advertising idea that was reported yesterday in the deseret news. I think that can help soften the blow of the cuts.

It is amazing that the conservatives who claim to be for America and that we have to stay strong are the same people that are trying to turn the country into a third world country as fast as possible.

If schools really are for education, substantial cuts can easily be made in the athletic departments. Eliminate all the ass't coaches and a ton of money would be suddenly available. Long ago, I taught in a school district where the supt did precisely that. He made the school system a place for education.....not playtime.

It is interesting that when funding cuts need to be made so often some of our legislators believe that those cuts should come from education and services provided to lower income folks. It just re-enforces my belief that so many people in this state that claim they love and care about their fellowman are liars. What they DO love is power and money is power.
I never hear about cutting expenses or salaries in our state offices such as the executive branch. I have also written to some of the education committee members in the state senate and house regarding the insane number (317) of employees in the state office of education - no feedback whatsoever.
Please folks, lets vote out the incumbents!

By all means, CUT!
Cut and run, teachers. It's time to get out. Stephenson et al are determined to destroy the neighborhood school and substitute a for-profit system. Nothing will stop them. You have no prospect of winning this battle. They will continue to cut you slowly to ribbons until you give up. So get out now while you still have some self respect.

Our kids will once again suffer for the mismanagement by the legislature.

You are dooming our once great state.

Oblivious, clueless, wow.

Cutting asst. coaches will save money?

Really?

Most asst. coaches aren't paid. Most are volunteers, usually a parent of one of the athletes.

Those that are paid get what works out to less than $5 an hour.

Do we really need all those people at the district level? Lets start there. Do not let the districts decide how to cut, put a parent, board of education group together to make the cuts at each district.

We need a complete reorganization of education.

Start with higher ed -- get rid of 2/3 of state-run colleges. The ones that can make it as private institutions stay. The rest are put out of their misery. Make institutions of higher learning just that. Not government-funded institutions of inane and useless research, or life-tenured institutions of unwarranted self congratulation.

Elementary and secondary ed -- get rid of 95% of non-teaching administrators, counselors, and librarians, as well as sex-ed, English as second-language, and other "resource" specialists. Cut 12th grade for everyone, not just the most able, and take a good, hard look at ALL sports and extracurricular activities.

ALL schools and educators should be rated and paid in proportion to how well they educate. Objective tests are a good start, but only a start.

Part of a child's education should be that we can't afford their every whim. it's too late for too many UEA members, but perhaps the new generation could learn our parents' thrift and caution -- born of similar economic times.

Fortunately 'We need MORE cuts' is obviously not in charge and has no authority otherwise we were have a generation of stepford children.

I think we should get rid of the janitors and have compulsory cleaning by the students for one of their class periods. This would save money, and teach the students a good skill and future profession, since they won't be able to get a good job with the future failing education system.

Its amazing how many people think they KNOW more about what is going in the educational system than those who are in the trenches. I would never tell the doctors how they can do a better job, or an engineer, etc.

The facts are Utah has underfunded and cut public education funding every year for 30 years (except for one year). It has been cut, slashed, mashed, squeezed, and been pounded every year, but is still the LOWEST FUNDED by far in the U.S. You say cut administrators, they have been cut! Cut teachers pay- WHAT PAY? Cut athletics or fine arts? Really- there is a reason these programs have the highest GPA in every school.

Then there are those people who say more money doesn't make a better education. True, but a lack of it and a lack of decent teaching DOES. Can you imagine what education in Utah would be like if it was funded on the national average???? Or even 49th???? Utah's system is doing an amazing job for the results it is getting.

Finally, the real problem is how many kids we have in Utah? Either pay for them or raise taxes.

I don't see a problem with large class sizes of 150-200 for certain classes, like history and economics. I had that large of a class in college, and I learned just fine. The tests could be multiple choice, scored by the computer, so a teacher could easily handle 200 students, seven claesses a day. Mr. Stephensen is correct that there is plenty to cut.