Comments on: I support Referendum 1 in Utah

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:55:07 +0000

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.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:24:13 +0000

Nice, just another reason why unions are EVIL.

By: velda

velda — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:49:12 +0000

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.

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:42:51 +0000

Here's another Q&A on my blog. Another coming soon. Referendum 1 Q&A #2

By: velda

velda — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 18:51:07 +0000

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.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:41:29 +0000

More good comments. Thank you for that, Tyler. I agree.

By: Tyler Layton

Tyler Layton — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 00:29:28 +0000

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.