Also known as “Referendum 1” for the 2007 voting season. The actual name is: “Utah Code — Title 53A — Chapter 01a — Utah Strategic Planning Act for Educational Excellence”. I support it.
You can learn more about Referendum 1 and why I am voting for it at the Vote For 1 web site.
If you do not support this Referendum, I would love to hear why. Please leave your comments below. If you email your comments, I will post them here anyway so that others and benefit.
Comments from supporters are also welcome, of course.
I have gone back and forth on this issue for the past couple years. I really don’t want to support another piece of legislation, because I think we need fewer laws, not more laws. However, the education system needs to be fixed and I think this Referendum is a small step in the correct direction. I would prefer to take the education system completely out of the hands of government and let private entities run it. Since that will not happen anytime soon, this Referendum is the best answer.
If you are confused by all the garbage being flung on both sides of this issue, just take a moment to find out who is backing both sides. Which side is being back by people who have their own best interests in mind and which has the best interests of the education of our children in mind?
There is a lot of confusion about this issue. That is because the ones that are against it know that they will start losing control of their “empire” if this Referendum is passed. They know that they will have to start answering to parents and actually give our children what they need.
Check out Vote For 1.
I am with you on this one. I have gone back and forth for a little while on the issue, trying to make heads or tails of all the different information that has come from both sides. I, like many Utahns, definitely fall short in gathering all the necessary info to make the most educated decision I can–which is likely what campaigners from both sides of the issue are hoping for. Marketing is such a sticky business, especially in politics.
That said, I believe that even though there may be holes and flaws (like in most legislation), there is much more that is redeeming about Referendum 1 than damning. I do not have a beef with the public school system as it relates to quality teaching and curriculum. Utah is known for its quality education in public schools. I graduated from public schools. I felt prepared for college and beyond. Enough said.
My issue with the public school system is its rapidly decaying social structure. Teachers aren’t sufficiently empowered to enforce discipline (GASP!) and hold students to a strict standard of morality and ethics. So much emphasis is placed upon friends, popularity, fashion and status that learning becomes increasingly difficult for many students – both those that are really there to learn in the first place, and especially those who probably need the extra attention, learning and discipline most.
Giving parents at least some choice and flexibility with where and how their children are educated is a step in the right direction. I support Referendum 1.
I wouldn’t say I’m anywhere near “the fence” on this issue. I think good public schools and good teachers have nothing to fear, and some healthy competition would encourage schools and districts to trim the fat. And there’s currently alot of fat.
That said, some of the pro-1 arguments strike me as a bit dubious. It makes me feel like I just must not be privy to something that’s obvious to everyone else. Does anyone really know the pricing on utah county schools, for example? I can’t seem to find any under 5K.
Jamie looked at Challenger and it was around $7000/year if I remember correctly. Although I have heard other people say that they have looked and found some private schools for lower than $5000.
All right, I’ll take the bait.
I’ll tell you why I will be voting AGAINST referendum 1 this coming election.
1) I don’t believe that private schools should be funded by taxpayers.
2) This law will help the rich more than it will help the poor. Think about it. The highest amount that can be given by this fund for an individual student is $3,000. Let’s say that tuition to a private school is $4,000. Do you really think that someone who desires to send his/her child to a private school who is monetarily challenged will be able to make up the difference? I doubt it. Then, someone who is not monetarily challenged who was thinking about sending his/her child to a private school anyway – well – they get a price break – thanks to the Utah State government. Sorry, that’s just not something I can support.
3) This law, in the long run, will HURT public schools. Yes, the law promises to reimburse schools for any lost taxes for students who choose to use the vouchers – for five years. So, what happens AFTER those five years? Less tax money? Critics may say, ‘Well, that just means that public schools need to ‘get better’ to ‘compete’ with private schools. Well, maybe we need to define what ‘get better’ means. The vast majority of teachers in the public schools teach because they want to make a positive impact in these kids lives. They certainly don’t do it for the money. Granted, there are some out there that have tenure, that are simply biding their time until retirement, who don’t teach very well. Those aside, most of them want to be out there to impact kids lives. So, what is the impact to THEM of this law? They’re being paid peanuts for the difficult work that they do. Some school districts don’t even have the budgets for the SUPPLIES that they need, so who foots that bill? The teachers do. So, Less tax money = less money to pay teachers what they’re worth, and less money to cover supplies. In my mind, again, this is a bad idea.
I could go on, but I’ll refrain. I’d love to respond to ads that I’ve heard on the radio about who’s behind defeating this referendum (the ‘all powerful’ NEA, Hillary Clinton, etc). A bad idea is still a bad idea, REGARDLESS of who’s behind it.
I’m working up some numbers stuff – tuition, financial aid, etc. I’ll have it posted soon.
Of course you know how I feel about this.
Hi Ralph!
My mom’s a public school teacher, so I definitely hear you on their lack of supplies, etc. She buys most of her materials on ebay to save money, and has also spent plenty of time gathering donations for libraries and what not. And she also works very hard, loves her job, and especially loves her kids. She also strongly supports Ref 1.
In my experience growing up in this district and now having my own children there, teachers like her are the exception to the norm. Many are only teaching because they’ve tried something else and didn’t enjoy it. Or started into graduate school and backed out. Teaching is often a fall-back job that, while it doesn’t pay well, gets decent benefits including a month or more off in the summer time. It’s also quite difficult for a teacher to be fired. Since pay is not performance based, there’s no real motivation to do more than just ‘get by’.
That is unless they came with a love for the kids, and also somehow managed not to get burned along the way by crusty teachers who encourage apathy so their own attitudes won’t look so bad. I know that sounds extremely harsh, and it’s certainly not directed at the teachers who are good, but if the teachers would stop being defensive for a moment and look around, they’d see exactly what I mean.
In fact, my mom has been chastised on a few occasions for having her students do too well. Don’t want to go setting that bar too high now, do we? Also when she purchased several used computers for her classroom for her lessons, using her own money, the district confiscated them, saying it was not ‘fair’ for some students to have computers in the classroom while others did not. If the district would stop behaving like a communist dictatorship, I think that’d solve quite a few problems, but so far, no such luck.
If she had any organizational skills (which she doesn’t, otherwise she’d be an organizer and not a teacher) she would love to start her own low-budget private school that aims to make the most of inexpensive materials so as to provide an excellent education to families on tight budgets. Maybe if Ref 1 passes, more people would be interested in making such an idea work. For now, I am thankful my kids got lucky and landed in a charter school.
Speaking of charter schools, most of the teachers we know who are anti ref-1 are also anti charter school, and what it appears to come down to is an attitude of not wanting any competition and not wanting to be seen for what they are. How can they blame their problems on money, for example, when charter schools are flourishing with less funding?
And back to the money issue, in the long run, will the schools actually have less money per student, or just less money overall if students don’t stay enrolled? I’ve heard the argument that within 13 years things will start to tank as those who were already enrolled in private schools without vouchers are all out of the system. I’m thinking though that those are probably the students who would be getting the smallest voucher anyway, and I would think too that within 13 years the effects of competition may have positively impacted public schools to the point that they’re keeping a fair number of students. Anyway those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing yours.
We have some good feedback today. Thanks for the comments so far.
Ralph, I understand your perspective and what you are saying are arguments that I had as well until I actually started learning more about the Referendum and hearing both sides. After hearing both sides, even if I had no idea what the Referendum was about but just seeing how both sides are pursuing it I would have to vote FOR it. All the publicity AGAINST the referendum sounds so defensive and selfish, while the publicity FOR it sounds helpful and focused on helping our children.
Watch this video and tell me if that does not make good sense as to why we should support vouchers: Voucher Cookies
This Referendum is not intended to be a cure. It is, I think, intended to be one step toward making our educational systems better. Sure, the system is doing fairly well, comparatively speaking, but it really could be doing much better.
I would say that the issue at hand is not about money, it it about our kids getting the education we want them to have.
While it is true that people with vouchers COULD use that for a private school, I think the power of vouchers is in the fact that parents would have the power to tell the school boards, “Look, I do not approve of your educational techniques and I want something better for my kids. Let us work to fix it or I will use my voucher and go elsewhere.”
The voucher is a bargaining chip to help parents help their children get the education they want. If you watched and understood the “Voucher Cookies” video, then you will know that the more people use vouchers, the more money public schools will have and the class sizes will be smaller. How is this a bad thing?
This really is not about money at all. It is about helping our education system get better so that our children can have the best education possible, no matter what our financial status.
Am I making any sense? Do I have my facts straight?
I find it interesting that Ralph said:
“The vast majority of teachers in the public schools teach because they want to make a positive impact in these kids lives.”
And then Velda said:
“Many are only teaching because they’ve tried something else and didn’t enjoy it. Or started into graduate school and backed out.”
Are both correct? Perhaps it depends on the schools and teachers they have come in contact with.
A few disclaimers:
1) I am all for Parental rights, when it comes to our kids’ schooling. I have no problem with the spirit of what this law is trying to accomplish. I really do think it’s a good thing.
2) I don’t buy the anti-ref 1 claims either, that it’s bad for Utah, because the Private schools have teachers that aren’t accredited, and may not have degrees. I think that’s a bunch of baloney. As you all have mentioned, and is mentioned in that cookie video, the Private schools do just fine, thank you.
3) I am not anti-private schools, as the anti-ref 1 people seem to be. I am also not against competition, IF it helps ‘raise the bar’ of education here in Utah.
4) If this legislation can accomplish what those who are for Referendum 1 claim it will do – keep more money in the schools, and lower class sizes. If it can accomplish this, then it would be a good thing indeed.
UNFORUTNATELY, I’m STILL not convinced (even after watching the video) that this is the way to do it.
Maybe my mistrust of this legislation is that I mistrust the politicians who have control of the money. I know, Jonathan, that you think that it’s not about the money. I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree here. The fact that we have the lowest ‘per pupil’ spending in the nation, coupled with the fact that every year, we loose good teachers to other states that pay better, or they decide to leave the profession for a more lucrative career (which, incidently, is exactly what happened to me. I used to be a teacher). We simply don’t pay teachers enough to keep the good ones. As a result, we get all the green ones, who don’t have a lot of experience teaching. Or, you have the ones that Velda was talking about, who use teaching as a ‘fall-back’ profession, to pay the bills until something better comes along.
So, my original point about not trusting the politicians who control the money. If I could be sure that money would NEVER, EVER be taken from the public schools, then I could probably support this. But, my thought is that after five years, when it comes time to revisit the budget, the politicians are going to see a surplus in the education budget, and decide to allocate it somewhere else. This would absolutely be unacceptable to me.
So, it is my opinion (right, or wrong, or however unpopular it may be) that the legislation ought to be putting more money into the public schools, so ALL students can benefit, and teachers aren’t short changed. And this is why, on November 6, I will be voting against Referendum 1.
Thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts, however rambling it may be.
Ralph,
Very well said. Your points are very well taken. I too am wary of politicians. I am also wary of the citizens of Utah. We get all riled up about this issue because it is an emotionally charged one. Then if it gets passed, a vast majority will probably forget about it. Which means that if there are problems up ahead we may not fix them before the legislators mess it all up.
One of the main reasons I was initially against this Referendum is because I do not think it is a complete answer to what we consider to be problems in the education system. Personally, I think we need to take this and many other things away from government. We have given far too much control to our government. We have become too lazy and apathetic. We want someone else to solve our problems for us. Then people who want power and money get into our governmental positions and they cause problems for us and their solutions include giving them more power, under the guise of “doing more for us”.
WE are the ones that run our government, whether actively or apathetically by allowing things to happen with our without our approval. The state of our government at any given time is a direct result of our collective action or inaction and is a direct reflection of our own righteousness.
But I digress. (As usual
I think we need to pass Referendum 1, if for nothing else, than to shake things up. You are concerned about what will happen 5 years down the road. I think that if we take 5 years to take the next step it will already be too late.
This Referendum is only a first step, not an end step. If it is not followed up quickly by other measures, we could be right back where we started. Vouchers themselves will create quite a stir, but there needs to more.
Check out my sister-in-law’s blog on this topic:
Referendum 1 Q&A
Heya all, been awhile.
I have to weigh in a bit if you don’t mind. One of the earliest comments was darn near on the mark referring to the ‘empire’ , and the shake up comments are right on. There is no point in getting rilled up either direction, as those wanting to stay in public schools will get to with over ten percent raises for teachers this last year alone, those wanting to go private will get a little help, but its on a graduated scale so the wealthy will only get 500$ in voucher money. What this really amounts to is an experiment in education while also being a union buster. The Utah UEA union is a political monster and thinks they can command and it shall be so. In passing the voucher bill the legislators were showing the UEA the finger. While also greatly increasing spending on education AND giving the parents who wanted to try a voucher system a chance. I just see winners here. Likely the voucher system will fail, likely it will not be renewed when it expires, but some people really like relearning all the lessons learned by public education over decades for themselves. There is no reason to stop them. There will still be public schools, I have no intention of ever taking my kids out of public school. And hey, lets be honest, kids with attentive and involved parents will excel no matter what school they are in.
More good comments. Thank you for that, Tyler. I agree.
Hi Tyler! (And sorry Jonathan for another big blab in your blog!)
I’ve got to agree with you on just about everything, except that last sentence. There are teachers who can’t stand kids who excel because they think it’ll make their job harder. Or those who don’t want parents getting involved for fear the parents will find out how the class runs and complain. And a few of those teachers are so petty they’ll treat the kids badly for it. We had that last year, and by the time I was out of patience with the situation, we were stuck where we were for the rest of the year.
My blog has too many rants about last year’s experience already, so I’ll refrain from posting all that here. But suffice it to say, I’m as involved this year as I was last year, this time at a charter school, and the difference is night and day. They could have gotten lucky and ended up with better teachers this year at their regular public school, but the fact is, getting a good teacher (or even just avoiding a bad one) shouldn’t be a matter of luck. We need better options and the power to choose between them.
If nothing else comes of ref-1, at least it’ll deliver a loud and clear message that we want choice in education. And having that choice will make all the difference.
Here’s another Q&A on my blog. Another coming soon.
Referendum 1 Q&A #2
So it just occurred to me why this issue is getting such vehement opposition from the NEA. Alpine school district already gets less per student than any other district in the US, but its students do remarkably well. The NEA knows this but hasn’t said or done much about it.
If this bill passes, I am sure some high quality, low-cost private schools are going to start up. If students in those schools do even better than they’ve done in public schools, on HALF of what was already a low budget, how’s it going to make the NEA look, and how will it potentially affect their bottom line? Plus, I’ll bet the public schools will do better too – proving that a little healthy competition never hurt anyone. Except unions.
Nice, just another reason why unions are EVIL.
Here’s another Q&A from me:
http://magicallymama.blogspot.com/2007/11/referendum-1-q-3.html
This time it’s numbers — how much schools cost vs. voucher amount and how to make up the difference, etc.