Deseret News | Nominating panel ousts 2 school board members

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Nominating panel ousts 2 school board members

Anonymous | 12:42 a.m. June 3, 2008

Anyone supporting vouchers should be thrown out on their ear.

Haven't "we the people" made that clear by now?

Here We Go Again | 3:45 a.m. June 3, 2008

Just because someone "supported" vouchers does not make them the enemy. Now, if you were running a "Private School" then if someone was supporting something against your desire then you could do just that, but your in the PUBLIC ARENA and we are supposed to "celebrated diversity" which is in thought and desires, too, not just color of skin.

How hypocritical can people get when difference of thought is not respected nor discussed.

John | 7:25 a.m. June 3, 2008

The powerful education establishment is flexing its muscles again to prevent any threat of competition from school choice or vouchers.

Although Utah's schools are not as bad as most public schools, the "professional" educators are determined to retain their power as they descend from mediocrity.

Vouchers were defeated by lies and demagoguery, not on the actual merits.

Two words for the nominating committee:
HOME
SCHOOL

Comments continue below

Anonymous | 7:28 a.m. June 3, 2008

Why is school choice bad again?

Charter School Dad | 7:58 a.m. June 3, 2008

TO: Anonymous,

I am still part of "we the people" and I still support choice in education whether through vouchers, public charter schools or district schools.

The way our children are educated today is broken and there is no longer a "one district/teaching model fits all" method of teaching children. Some children do better with a more hands on approach and others do well in a direct instruction approach.

Which is best for your children?

Utahns need to wake up and allow parents the option to choose the best education model for their children. It may be a district school a.k.a "the establishment" (includes PTA, UEA and others). Publicly funded charter schools with their parent groups, private education and others.

Why settle for the status quo? We left the district school because his teachers seemed to have to gravitate to the students needing the most attention. He played computer games with the other students who finished sooner. It's not the teachers fault but the district playing "this is the way we teach."

RE "Here We Go Again" | 8:23 a.m. June 3, 2008

Interesting (and hypocritical) comment. Private schools can do whatever they want but public schools have to be accountable. The voucher debate and the current committee debacle are not about "difference of thought". They are about power, the control of taxpayer money and, of course, social engineering.

Robert H | 8:34 a.m. June 3, 2008

I have to say that I am amazed at the rancor of comments. So this is all about vouchers?

Have you no clue that you have lost a serious part of democracy here? The issue should not be about voucher versus no-vouchers, but Democracy versus some other regime that makes decisions for you.

We should have a primary process just like any other and let the people decide. What a world class shame that, like a dog to our vomit, all we care about is the voucher. We should care about losing our freedoms. This system has been around a decade and a half and needs to end.

Not about vouchers | 8:37 a.m. June 3, 2008

I'm not surprised the comments devolved into a voucher debate, but may I suggest this was not a case of the "educational establishment" (as John put it, above) flexing its muscles. The vote to keep the incumbents on the list came from the "ed establishment", and was voted down by the rest of the committee, which outnumbered them.

Private school teacher | 8:55 a.m. June 3, 2008

Get off the vouchers. The law was wrong. It wanted to give a tax break to parents who put their childern in my school. That is great, but I don't have any childern and I want the tax break. Do you voucher supporters really want to open a can of worms. Anyone who dosn't have childern in school should get tax breaks? I have taught in private and public schools, THEY ARE THE SAME! If parents want something better for their kids take a little effort and work with them after school, unless you are willing to pay for one teacher per student.

Non UEA teacher | 9:44 a.m. June 3, 2008

All of the people that left our local school for the new charter school were most of the problem at our school. Things got better when the parents left. They were the ones constantly whining and enabling their children. Discipline problems were cut in half.

Now the problem is they keep trying to come back.

We need to pass a law that says if you choose to go to a charter school then you stay there for at least the entire year. I'd really like to see them have to stay forever but I know that isn't reasonable.

I'm just tired of the parents that are moving their kids from school to school whenever they get into trouble or start failing classes. I had one kids come back from the charter school 3 times in one year.

Ridiculous.

I know that isn't the majority of the charter school parents but it seems like a higher percentage gravitate to the "NEW" school.

Chuck | 9:59 a.m. June 3, 2008

I think a better system would be to have the local board members in those districts select two representatives to run. That way locally elected people would be on the committee instead of whomever selects the current state committee. It would also elevate the role of the local board member.

Who's the "Selection Committee"? | 12:22 p.m. June 3, 2008

So, who is this "Selection Committee"? Did we elect them? How did they get the authority to select who our candidates would be?

Selection Committee | 2:08 p.m. June 3, 2008

Before the law was changed (around 2003), there used to be local selection committees, one for each district. The current centralized committee is appointed by the governor, based on extremely loose guidelines set in statute. In each of the three years the centralized committee has operated, one side or the other has claimed the committee was significantly weighted against them.

(Score: "Ultra-Right-wing business": 2 (2004, 2008), "Liberal educators": 1 (2006)). In truth, the committees have been a bit more balanced than each "losing" side claims, but the system does lend itself to arguments of bias.

nauseated | 2:39 p.m. June 3, 2008

Who selected this committee? Dave Thomas, a former state senator who consistently voted anti-education... (a home-schooler) - to be on the State Board of Education...and the #1 candidate! Are the other two from out of the country?

Concerned about Democracy | 3:02 p.m. June 3, 2008

Every person in this state should be aware that, in passing the law which created this centralized committee, we have put into the hands of the governor all power to decide who can and cannot run for the state school board. He selects the members of the committee and he also selects which two of the three people chosen by the committee will go on the ballot.

How is this any different than the totalitarian, communist regimes who allow their citizens to vote but tightly control who will be on the ballot? I suggest everyone find out what position their senator and representative took when this committee was created. If this system concerns you, we must take this into consideration when we vote in the primary and general elections. If we don't vote those who supported this out of office, what is to stop them from putting the same system in place for other elected offices.

Anonymous | 4:21 p.m. June 3, 2008

Anyone who talks about accountability in public schools doesn't know what they are talking about. There may be many hoops and excessive amounts of paperwork and testing, but these don't equate to accountability. Our educational standards are too low. Too many teachers are just filling time in the classroom. Too many students are just sliding by. Try being a parent pushing for improvement and watch the system attack, preventing accountability to the parent.

There is no accountability within public education and there is no one to be accountable to. Big, monopolistic bureaucracies fight accountability.

Anonymous | 4:27 p.m. June 3, 2008

We've lost our freedom decades ago. Today we live in a democratic tyranny that just keeps squeezing us under government oppression. Many like the idea of vouchers because it provides greater choice, but it's still just prettying up a socialistic pig.

Republicans and democrats alike promote big government programs. Public education is the biggest one in the state. It redistributes wealth. It reindoctrinates children to the big government agenda.

Anonymous | 4:42 p.m. June 3, 2008

john Birch, Eagle Forum, should I go on?

Commoner | 9:47 p.m. June 3, 2008

Open up running for office to anyone who wants to run and let the people decide who will represent them. Only our public education system can see a problem with that.

Concerned about Democracy | 10:32 p.m. June 3, 2008

Commoner needs to know that the public education system and every educator I know is strongly opposed to the present system of nominating state board members. Public education advocates have been opposed to this system ever since it was put into law in 2002. You're blaming the wrong people.

You only have to look at the history of the law - who wrote it sponsored it, and voted for it to know who has a problem with letting anyone who wants to run do so.

If you want to blame someone, blame the majority party in our legislature. They are the ones who passed the law that created it in 2002. In 2004, the Republicans killed a bill in committee that would have changed this disgusting nominating procedure. That year, the House of Representatives twice voted overwhelmingly for legislation that would have eliminated this central nominating committee and a handful of Republicans voted it down in committee and refused to allow the Senate to even vote on it. It is the majority party in this state that doesn't trust the public and wants complete control over the state board of education.

StalkingBramble | 11:13 p.m. June 3, 2008

The Lady of the Lake, her arm clothed in the purist white samite, held aloft Excalibur, proclaiming that I, the governor should be the determiner of who your candidates are.

That is why I, Jon, and Mike before me, are your kings.

Vice Elevated. We're all quite used to it, thank you very much, Senator Bramble.

Hunt | 7:45 a.m. June 4, 2008

How did this get to a "Voucher" discussion? I'm 100% for parental choice and 100% for vouchers. Wait....we have parental choice. In Utah you have a choice to Home School your child or send your child to a private, public or charter school. What great choices!!! Oh, I see, you want my tax money for your choice to send your child to a private school. Have you ever tried to make your public school more desirable? Have you gone down and volunteered? I'm for vouchers ONLY if they are funded privately. Government funded vouchers are NOT the best use of tax dollars for yet another government program. Also, should you get a voucher if you hold any consumer debt? Should you get a voucher if you have cable, internet, you eat out, or you take vacations? Think about it......

Now for the topic of this article. I call on a legislator or the governor to get rid of this system of choosing the State Board of Education. It's a simple fix - put all the names on the primary ballot and the top two have a run-off in November. Doesn't take a genius Huntsman.

anonymous | 10:18 a.m. June 4, 2008

Although I am not a big fan of Bill Colbert this nominating system has to go. The Republican party is slowly gaining complete power in Utah. Note to Utahns: Just because someone has an R by their name does not make them the best candidate. Just because someone has a D by their name does not make them a baby killer. I for one am a registered Republican who will vote for who represents my views Republican or Democrat.

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