Utah Education Issues

• Does this seem right? Couple steals $4.3 million from schools--Wife ends up with one felony conviction, husband gets one MISDEMEANOR

  The complexities of law are definitely not my area of expertise, but to me, a recent settlement seems to fall somewhat short of justice being served. John and Susan Ross, in a premeditated and devious scheme, purposely took advantage of their positions and lax safeguards on spending approvals, laundering approximately [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 11:44pm EDT
  

• Another technology integration issue: Howard Stephenson waxes wrathful and wastes tax payer dollars on “textbook reviews” that he doesn’t understand

  Robert Gehrke broke this story almost a year ago and I’ve been meaning to comment ever since. I posted a bunch of articles on the subject separately. I highly recommend you read them all, but especially the first one listed: the Nov. 29, 2008 article by Robert Gehrke titled [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 1:26am EDT
  

• Collection of articles about ProCert and Howard Stephenson's drive to favor them with state education contracts

  All underlining of sections of the articles was done by me.
  
  1. The initial article bringing the issue to light. Excellent interviews and historical context. Top notch reporting by Robert Gehrke.
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  Did Utah senator's advocacy go too far?
  Textbook case: Stephenson leaned on educators on behalf' [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 12:38am EDT
  

• Part 4 of Utah County ethics hearing: Q & A, contention, the discussions afterward, and some initial thoughts

  Guy whose name I didn’t catch – Prefaces comment saying either Karl Snow or John Valentine can answer the question. We have current per diem for legislative work. When did lobbyist gifts enter the picture and become allowed? (Neither Snow nor Valentine really answered the question which is actually kind [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 3:26am EDT
  

• Part 3 of Utah County ethics initiative hearing: mostly commentary on shouters out and some questions and answers

  I’ll start off giving a little bit more of Craig Dennis’ remarks. I was tired and probably didn’t do them justice. As usual, my inserted comments will be in parentheses.
  
  Craig Dennis: Washington and California are even worse at incumbent protection. California has some legislative districts almost as [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 7:11am EDT
  

• A collection of a few articles about the inadvertent gift ban pased by the legislature..."Accidental ethics reform is better than none"

  The newspaper sites keep articles up for various lengths of time. I didn't save the text on some and they are gone. But I have the original links. I have other articles I saved and will paste in here. All underlining was added by me.
  
  First - Articles discussing' [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 3:03am EDT
  

• Part 2 of Utah County ethics initiative hearing: a little Karl Snow, a lot of Janet Jensen, and a dash of Craig Dennis

  Back for more ethics reform rehash...
  
  First, I want to add a note to my last post. I am glad the rude woman passed out literature opposing the initiative. I had already been contemplating whether to ask the lady in front of me who already had a copy [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 2:30am EDT
  

• What a difference a day and one county further south make...Part One of a summary of the Utah County ethics initiative hearing

  Wow. As I expected, the Utah Valley hearing of the Utahns for Ethical Government Initiative was not the calm affair described in Salt Lake County.
  
  I was surprised as I approached the room at the Provo Library and grabbed a name tag from the table. [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 7:03am EDT
  

• Attend a public hearing on the proposed ethics initiative tonight or tomorrow

  Below is the schedule of public hearings as cut and paste from the Utahns for Ethical Government website.
  
  Salt Lake County had a hearing last night and I was surprised to see that only one person spoke against the initiative and only 3 House members showed up, [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 2:26am EDT
  

• The challenge of effectively integrating technology and education--A Utah district turns to expensive Play Stations with no teacher supervision?

  I posted recently about the desire of some to use technology resources as a replacement for classroom teaching or an excuse to raise class size. I use computer assessments and online resources in my own classroom that are extremely beneficial for the students. However, I think “technology” or its [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 6:36am EDT
  

• Your kid's Spanish class probably has 40 students and LaVarr Webb thinks that is too small

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  Hello. I’ll start with a quick update on my blogging or lack there of--I think about the issues daily and have a ton of posts [...]

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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 1:54am EDT
  

• The "I Pledge" video controversy and whether students will be brainwashed if they listen to President Obama speechify next Tuesday

  I’m really frustrated by the whole Obama speech controversy, but I’m going to spend most of this post on the one school “I Pledge” incident to explain my reasoning.
  
  First, the “I Pledge” video controversy was just a silly mistake by a PTA mom unsaavy in how easily [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 1:59am EDT
  

• Last day of the session: Howard Stephenson pushes a 75% reduction of corporate income tax late fees at the cost of 3 million education dollars a year

  Take a look at the legislative calendar for the last day of the session. If you click on the box labeled Senate Bills under the House menu, you will see the queue of Senate bills waiting to be considered by the Utah House of Representatives today. There are two [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2009, 12:41am EDT
  

• Legislature 3-2-09 on HB 312: "Of course diverting an ethics reform bill to an unrelated committee in order to kill it is ethical. Trust us."

  The Senate Education Committee is apparently the ideological right-guard of the Senate; a non-education bill is being re-routed inappropriately to this committee to die. Things like this just fill me with confidence that the Senate Education Committee is making well-reasoned, non-ideological decisions to improve education.
  
  After passing the [...]
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  Posted: March 02, 2009, 1:21am EST
  

• Boxcar filled on Feb. 23rd, Senator Mark Madsen channels Patrick Byrne, sponsors 65% rule

  To quote Joe Pyrah, "Boxcars are bills that are empty even though the lawmaker knows damn well what's going into it." His list missed SB 241, with the innocuous title, Instructional Expenses Requirements.
  
  The text magically appeared yesterday, and to those who follow Mark Madsen's education voting [...]
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  Posted: February 24, 2009, 6:58am EST
  

• LAST MINUTE call to contact your State Senator about HB 122, which abuses limitations on open record requests

  (I posted much of this in a comment on Utah Moms Care a couple of days ago.)
  Another bill that I find extremely worrying is HB 122, restricting the ability of citizens and media to access government documents through the GRAMA (Government Records Access and Management Act) law. [...]
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  Posted: February 24, 2009, 4:02am EST
  

• HB 150, restoring State School Board elections to a democratic process and eliminating the state nominating committee

  After the farce of a process for choosing candidates for our State School Board elections last fall, HB 150 was proposed to change the process to a non-partisan primary and election just like most city councils, eliminating the nomination committee entirely. It was passed by the [...]
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  Posted: February 24, 2009, 3:00am EST
  

• Did Carl Wimmer not report a Rick Koerber in kind contribution last November 1st?

  If someone sends out a political advocacy email on October 31 from a private list (though I don’t believe Koerber’s claims of “hundreds” of subscribers in Wimmer’s district nor the overall size of his mailing list he’s claimed at other times) promising to buy lunch for any volunteer and [...]
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  Posted: February 23, 2009, 6:51am EST
  

• Teacher opinions on the budget cuts

  I’m alive and intending to comment on many education related things in the legislature, but I’ve made that promise before. So I’ll shoot for being tentatively optimistic about the probability of posting regularly. My first post in a long while will just be lost in a Buttars blogstorm today anyway, [...]
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  Posted: February 20, 2009, 1:35am EST
  

• Results in State School Board District 13 and double-disenfranchisement shenanigans?

  First, I was wrong in my prediction that vote totals for State School Board District 13 would be significantly lower than the 2004 election. The unofficial results (pg. 3, lefthand column) show just a few hundred fewer votes than the race in 2004. Kyle Bateman defeated C. Mark [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2008, 12:55am EST
  

• Tribune Article: Kyle Bateman "discovers" he lives out of area and declines State School Board 13 position

  .
  
  I underlined a couple of important passages of the article.
  
  Key Questions that might be answerable: When did Kyle Bateman know of his residency problems? It appears to be a situation where he knew about this for some time. Did C. Mark Openshaw or others know [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2008, 12:18am EST
  

• Vouchers absolutely are a voting issue... Selective memory and posturing aside

  .
  
  The relevant summary:
  
  

  Congressional or legislative incumbents generally tout their experience and “stand by their record,” trying to impress voters with the issues they supported and bills they sponsored. This is common and important. We judge whether the legislator represented us adequately and honestly and decide whether [...]

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  Posted: November 03, 2008, 1:53am EST
  

• September Tribune article detailing some of PCE's donations to candidates in '08 legislative races

  .
  
  All of the underlined passages, italic text, and the extra comment in brackets were added by me:
  
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  
  Voucher battle carries into this year's elections By Robert Gehrke
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 09/10/2008 10:10:45 PM MDT
  Posted: 9:40 PM-' [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2008, 10:54pm EST
  

• As you research the State School Board candidates, find out how and by whom they were chosen. Talk to your legislator about reform.

  Many of the hits on this blog recently are from people searching for information on candidates for the State School Board. I am going to link you to excellent resources for finding more out about your candidates (If you are in State School District 13, you can read on this [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2008, 12:55am EDT
  

• A. Legrand Richards in State School Board Distict 13...Could the rules be broken if the others don't even show up to play? Sign search...

  OK. Tom Gregory, the current State School Board member from District 13 let me know about some technicalities, and I found the stats from 2004 when he won his seat.
  
  In 2004, Mr. Gregory won his seat on the state board with a total of 16,865 votes, while [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2008, 8:29pm EDT
  

• Political Crap

  Crazed demonization of enemies is bad.
  
  I am a pretty big sports fan. I love college football and the NBA, and keep a general eye on most other things that run in the sports page. However, one of my least favorite weeks of the year is the week preceding [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2008, 3:41pm EDT
  

• A biology teacher with an alternate certification opines on the philosophy and practicality of SB 35

  A friend of mine teaches high school biology. He graduated in Biology and went into science before going back to school to get his teacher certification. We have not known each other long, but I greatly respect his intellect and insight. We sometimes get in trouble with our wives for [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2008, 3:59pm EDT
  

• More omnibus fun: SB 35 -- High quality smoke and mirrors brought to you by Howard Stephenson and Greg Hughes

  I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. Howard Stephenson still surprises me with his relentless drive to attack public education so that his secret big business clients (Click on About Us and read the history and the 5th bullet under Association Purpose and Objectives) who bankroll the Utah Taxpayers [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2008, 2:56am EDT
  

• A numbers mistake about the cost of the Waterford program in SB 2—It’s worse than I thought…and further illustrates why the omnibus bill is misleading

  I made a mistake and stated that $1,000,000 was being allocated towards Waterford software and computers in the portion of SB 2 that was formerly HB 200. The actual impact is at least 3 ½ times worse just this year 6 times worse over the next 3 years. The [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2008, 7:47pm EDT
  

• WRITE IN...A.Legrande Richards...for STATE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 13

  That’s it. This post is now the unofficial headquarters for the write-in campaign for A. LeGrande Richards for State School Board District 13.
  
  See my frustration with the two candidates. Kyle Bateman is a voucher proponent with little to no relevant experience; C. Mark Openshaw most likely [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2008, 7:42am EDT
  

• Maybe the worst bill in the education omnibus, HB 200—$3400 software plus laptops for preschoolers

  An omnibus bill is a rotten, non-transparent method to pass legislation even if all of the bills contained are good. Not that I believe there commonly are 100% clean omnibus bills. Many of us have been frustrated when omnibus bills are used on the federal level and pork is stuck [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2008, 3:32am EDT
  

• State School Board District 13 Candidates are MIA; A great validation of the selection process

  HEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?! C. Mark Openshaw? C. Mark? C. Mark run...away from all contact with possible constituents. (Bad pun made worse by the fact you're probably reading this on a Monday morning.)
  
  I know the State School Board is unappreciated, unheralded, and probably less than 1% of the population could name' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2008, 2:35am EDT
  

• Short, slight Tribune profiles of the two candidates for State School Board District 13 with no contact information

  [www.sltrib.com]
  Kyle Bateman, District 13
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 10/24/2008 07:17:25 PM MDT
  
  Qualifications: "School board member, Provo Freedom Academy; commissioner, Utah County Planning Commission; 23 years active in business administration; service on numerous nonprofit and for-profit boards."
  
  Q: What is [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2008, 2:33am EDT
  

• Education is a voting issue in local 2008 races!

  I generally agree with the idea that our state is generally well-run fiscally. I am very happy that we have a Rainy Day Fund earning interest and that $100 million in education money was set aside last session. I was fully supportive of the special session and saving the money [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2008, 2:14am EDT
  

• A few tidbits from the Bramble/Hatfield debate on Oct. 23rd

  John and Sue Curtis kindly hosted a debate for both their State House and State Senate districts last night. I don’t live in those districts, but was able to attend for much of the evening.
  
  I estimate that there were close to 100 people at the Curtis’ home [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2008, 1:15am EDT
  

• A short opinion about the Hughes Lawrence bribery charge

  As a few others have said, I think the other 5 charges besides the bribe allegation against Hughes are extremely important and that they’re getting undercovered. I think the bribery charge will probably be dismissed by the Ethics Committee. Not because the huge amounts of out-of-state voucher funding pouring into [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2008, 7:56am EDT
  

• October Admission--Representative Frank talks out of the other side of his mouth in a national forum as Senator Stephenson's little sidekick

  I want to take us back to two bills that became laws and one that failed. They all dealt with forced privatization of public services and were sponsored and co-sponsored by Senator Howard Stephenson and Representative Craig Frank. HB 75 and SB 45 passed; HB 76 did [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2008, 12:23am EDT
  

• Good news on the people's right to use the initative and referendum process--emergency order for the Sevier power plant referendum--SB 53 under review

  Good news yesterday. The Utah Supreme Court issued an emergency order putting the referendum in Sevier County back on the ballot. The referendum could overturn the zoning decision by the county commission allowing a coal-fired power plant to be built where many residents feel it will affect their homes. [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2008, 6:11am EDT
  

• Update on budget-cutting special session--USOE being cut too

  I just read an update this morning on the budget session. (I was disappointed that I was too busy to listen to the legislature's apologetic show this morning. I still have something to post about from last week though.)
  
  The Utah State Office of Education is also part [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2008, 12:22pm EDT
  

• The estimated $200 million budget shortfall and legislative special session--holding education harmless this year

  It was announced that Utah's revenues will be as much as 200 million dollars less than the previously projected budget. The state is suffering from the difficult economic conditions just like everywhere else. Governor Huntsman will call a special legislative session to deal with the shortfall. The governor wants [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2008, 11:22pm EDT
  

• Constitution Day and the John Birch Society's kind offer

  A couple weeks ago, someone from the John Birch Society left a letter and CD in the mailbox of the social studies teachers at my school. It reminded them that Constitution Day is Wednesday, September 17th, explained that they were legally obligated to teach about the constitution on that [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2008, 12:00am EDT
  

• School Board District 1 candidate oddities and redux on the fraudulent USU tuition tax study commissioned by the legislature to cook the voucher #'s

  When reviewing a Paul Rolly article column this weekend for my discussion of District 8, I saw another little detail I had forgotten. He said that one of the authors of the USU tuition tax study from 2004 was running for state school board in District 1. Checking the [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2008, 7:31am EDT
  

• State School Board District 8 didn't get vetted by the biased committee and Trent Kaufman is an interesting study

  The first purpose of this post is to clarify a blank spot in my understanding. I hadn't realized until a few days ago that there was a State School Board race with only two candidates to begin with. Trent Kaufman is challenging incumbent Janet Cannon in State Senate District 8. [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2008, 8:26am EDT
  

• The Paul Rolly column and Lisa Schenker article containing information about State School Board District 8

  These are the two articles Trent Kaufman referenced in his radio interview last week. I am underlining the bit in Rolly's column about State School Board District 8, and inserting a bracket in bold halfway through Schenker's article where the information about Kaufman begins.
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  Rolly: Pro-voucher [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2008, 8:12am EDT
  

• Public Referendum in Sevier County disallowed because of SB 53 which took effect AFTER the signatures were submitted

  The Tribune details the reasoning for the power plant referendum being taken off the ballot. (Why is the Tribune the only one covering referendums in Utah? I can't find anything in the Deseret News about the disputes about Sevier County, Beaver County, or Box Elder County.) How does this [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2008, 1:27am EDT
  

• Red Meat Radio—Who do you trust more? Politicians or the media?

  I first saw the announcement in my UPD update: the legislative Republicans (and they claim Democrats) are going to host their own radio show every Saturday morning from 8-10 to “set the record straight” “for those tired of getting their news filtered by the liberal local media.” Then I [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2008, 2:13am EDT
  

• Obama and McCain on education--empty promises and vouchers?

  I didn't listen to a lot of either convention, but I made a point to sit down for the speeches of the two candidates. Education was a minor point in both speeches, but McCain elaborated his vision slightly more.
  
  Obama's promises for "an army of new teachers" with [...]
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  Posted: September 05, 2008, 7:35am EDT
  

• Articles about the Box Elder County referendum where a 2-1 vote of a 3-member county commission authorized the sale of the county landfill

  This KSL article has an explanation of the initial positions, pictures, and some horrible arguments for disallowing referendums:
  
  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3046883
  
  The 2nd article down describes the court decision allowing the referendum--very applicable to the importance of referendums overall.
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  Box Elder residents want more say in [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 4:36am EDT
  

• Bob Bernick is not trustworthy…but Urquhart, Killpack, and co. are not telling the whole story about referendums either. A look at SB 53 and SB 54.

  Bob Bernick is biased and unreliable and is correctly being called on it by Rep. Urquhart, BUT…our state legislators are also using his dishonesty to dance around the important issue of citizen redress because they ALREADY made major changes in referendums and initiatives this past session, making [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 4:20am EDT
  

• Articles about Sevier County power plant referendum and SB 53--power company tries to switch zoning acronyms to avoid referendum

  A few lines underlined by me.
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  Sevier County plant will be on ballot
  Residents will vote on the coal-fired power facility in November
  By Patty Henetz
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 07/08/2008 12:21:40 AM MDT
  
  A referendum that would allow Sevier County residents to [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 4:06am EDT
  

• Collection of articles on the Beaver County referendum fight and the Attorney General's office gives the opinion that SB53 is unconstitutional

  Do you believe Governor Huntsman actually read SB53 before signing it? What about legislators? What about Senator Goodfellow? Was it just cut and pasted from an email from Steve Barth? And this is the shorter of the two referendum change bills...
  
  I am posting these articles with a few [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 3:46am EDT
  

• Sad, but true--I don't think teachers are very politically minded or generally mobilized to fight for important issues

  This is a follow up to a previous post discussing whether education issues actually affect how people vote.
  
  My two broad points:
  
  1. Teachers generally do not follow the legislative session closely, do not contact their legislators about issues, and do not feel extremely comfortable arguing [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 3:32am EDT
  

• The Tribune's excellent editorial on Legislative Lawyer Legerdermain

  This worries me. Did any of the legislature's lawyers voice concerns about the constitutionality of SB2 before it ran? Could they be called to testify under oath and reveal what discussions they had while drafting the bill? Not if they are safely under the shield as part of the defense's [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 3:23am EDT
  

• Search terms

  I saw Bob post something months ago about the search terms that led to his blog.
  
  Last week, someone found me with the query "How long has Utah been a country?"
  
  We'll skip the snarking over whether this person was educated in private or public school and [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2008, 3:20am EDT
  

• Educational Research and Research in General

  Now this may be obvious to some, but I gained a new perspective on research, studies, and "proof" this summer. Saying that I’m cynical about research wouldn’t be accurate, but I definitely feel that I see research in a larger context now. Major issues of reliability and validity are prevalent, [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2008, 12:38am EDT
  

• Grad school, chance encounters with Bob Aagard, and researcher/practitioner tension

  I started grad school a couple of weeks ago and it is kicking my butt. I’m learning a lot about research and education, and it’s a lot of reading. The other aspects of my life have been extremely busy as well, so I haven’t commented on various important educational topics [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2008, 12:57am EDT
  

• Good election night for education--two moderates beat out ultra-conservatives and Doogie Howser C.P.A. loses

  Way to go Weber and Davis counties! We couldn't quite get the moderate Republican candidates over the hump at the county convention here to even hold primary elections, but two challengers from the northern Wasatch Front beat out two of the same ol' pack of far-right, voucher/omnibus/stadium, power-abusing crowd in [...]
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  Posted: June 25, 2008, 12:05am EDT
  

• I'm back and a dead guy's campaign sign

  I'm back after visiting some family and some heavy encouragement to relax a little from so much reading/blogging. I'll be busy now, but have a lot of things I would like to write about. We'll see.
  
  An annoying, but darkly amusing incident: A gentleman down the street died a [...]
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  Posted: June 23, 2008, 12:41am EDT
  

• A list of the bills contained in SB2, the omnibus education bill, that shows the majority would have passed easily on their own

  This is my last omnibus post for awhile…probably. I compiled this list of the separate bills that were wrapped up into SB2, the education omnibus bill, that shows the dates of important actions taken by the House or Senate on these bills prior to their being reconstituted as part of [...]
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  Posted: June 06, 2008, 2:30am EDT
  

• Goverenor Huntsman openly stated that he views most of the omnibus bill as "statutory"...which is clearly prohibited by the Utah State Constitution

  From the Utah State Constitution, Article VI, Section 22:
  

  Except general appropriation bills and bills for the codification and general revision of laws, no bill shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.

  "Appropriation" and "codification" bills can have more [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2008, 1:44pm EDT
  

• With friends like those?The Daily Herald sets a new?low?standard with June 1st editorial on the omnibus lawsuit

  I generally like the Herald’s editorial page. They usually are well-reasoned and don’t usually seem to have an ax to grind, tweaking both conservatives and liberals at times. The exception is education. On that score, Jim Tynen, the editorial page editor, has some serious rightwing opinions, logic or evidence be [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2008, 10:04pm EDT
  

• A couple other interesting articles about the omnibus lawsuit with relevant quotes highlighted

  I am adding these articles, and putting relevant text in bold underline as Curtis and Stephenson's stories change.
  
  [www.sltrib.com]
  House speaker defends bundled education bill
  Curtis calls threatened lawsuit an attack on legislative power
  By Sheena McFarland
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 04/16/2008 09:04:38 PM MDT [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2008, 3:26pm EDT
  

• Various editorials on the omnibus bill lawsuit

  1 editorial in defense of the omnibus:
  Daily Herald -- June 1st
  http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/268497/57/
  
  And 4 pointing out its unconstitutionality as well as dishonesty:
  Standard Examiner -- June 1st
  [www.standard.net]
  
  Salt Lake Tribune -- May 30th (Text below)
  [www.sltrib.com]
  
  Deseret News -- April 19th
  [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2008, 3:05pm EDT
  

• The Accountability blog outlines the coordinated politicization of the school board selection process and big PCE money poured into races

  The Accountability blog posts about the voucher referendum last year inspired me to start blogging and try and make a difference too.
  
  Now the blog has gone back and written an easy-to-understand timeline of how the State School board selction process has changed since 1992, and since 2002 [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2008, 3:22am EDT
  

• But do Utah voters actually care about education funding?

  Or ethics reform? Why do we tolerate what we do? I just don’t get it.
  
  I know the public in general cares about education funding. This comes from personal discussion and many, many polls like this one which show that the public, even Republicans by a 15% margin, [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2008, 3:04am EDT
  

• Does the legislature deserve a gold star for education funding?

  An article a couple of days ago about the upcoming primary in House District 20 between Rep. Paul Neuenschwander and the challenger, Becky Edwards, contained a comment that has become a common theme of many incumbent legislators this year:
  

  "I voted for over $930 million of new money [...]

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  Posted: May 31, 2008, 3:49pm EDT
  

• The critics of the Utah County GOP incumbent protection policies were right, plus Houskeeper stirs the pot in District 60 caucus

  Linda Houskeeper ran her campaign almost exclusively on changing the insider policies that keep power concentrated in the hands of a few individuals within the Utah County GOP. The automatic delegates were her main focus in cottage meetings and in her speech Saturday at the House District 60 Caucus. Houskeeper [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2008, 2:01am EDT
  

• Deseret News, Daily Herald, and Tribune article about the Utah County GOP Convention, including Rolly's denunciation

  I am just posting links to the articles in the Deseret News and Herald. I will copy the whole text of the Trib articles since they restrict access after a week or two. Both the D-News and the Tribune cover the Tilton loss well and they both focus on the [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2008, 1:43am EDT
  

• My first political convention and a few first-person tidbits of interest

  “Wow!” was the first thought I had as I approached Orem High on foot after parking a block away. I wish that I had brought my camera. There were hundreds of signs covering every available inch of lawn and fence space. David Leavitt made an extra special effort to completely [...]
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  Posted: April 27, 2008, 2:16am EDT
  

• All the Utah County Republican incumbent protection stuff�blah!

  OK, I stayed out of political parties for a long time because I wanted to stay out of all of the inter-party silliness. I was more interested in statewide ethics reform such as prohibiting politicians from using campaign donations for personal use, a gift ban or at least full disclosure, [...]
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  Posted: April 12, 2008, 8:04am EDT
  

• True Class Sizes and Utah�s Writing Scores

  The article earlier today on Utah’s continued status as the state spending the least per student used a common statistic. This is a statistic that every citizen, educator, and legislator with any experience in our schools knows to be false, but is still frequently cited both by education and [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2008, 12:59am EDT
  

• Apr. 7, 2008 Tribune editorial on Utah 8th grade writing scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress writing test

  http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_8832163
  
  Reason for concern: Writing test scores in Utah are worrisome
  Tribune Editorial
  Article Last Updated: 04/07/2008 12:56:38 AM MDT
  
  
  There has been much public back-slapping among Utah education
  officials over the scores achieved by the state's eighth-graders on
  the National Assessment of Educational Progress writing test [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2008, 12:43am EDT
  

• Special education, the "right" kind of education, and innovation in public schools

  First, my bracket is shot. I joined most of the country as a Memphis non-believer and am now impressed. I was also impressed by Kansas stomping North Carolina. I had NC vs. Texas in my final. (I started this before the game, but Kansas just pulled out an overtime win.)
  [...]
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  Posted: April 07, 2008, 9:50pm EDT
  

• Are vouchers the litmus test for �good� Republicans? Are teachers liberal? Is Craig Frank trying to eliminate teachers from precinct positions?

  I didn’t get to pasting in the comments from a fellow teacher that I discussed in my last post. Here they are and it looks like I made a minor error in my previous summarization. Dan Early interrupted the delegate nominee who was responding to a question from the teacher, [...]
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  Posted: March 28, 2008, 1:12pm EDT
  

• I�m not kidding about those teachers�plus an anti-climactic and slightly disappointing caucus experience

  Crucial preliminary notes before talking about the caucus: computers hate me, night classes are exhausting, and my bracket is not looking so good. I went a little upset crazy this year and only predicted 9 of the Sweet 16. (I did pick both the Davidson and Villanova first round upsets.) [...]
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  Posted: March 27, 2008, 1:55am EDT
  

• As you head to the caucus meeting tonight, remember that teachers are anti-family Communists who must be stopped!!

  I'm heading to my first caucus meeting tonight. I'm a teacher. I have cast many votes for both Republicans and Democrats. I have a family and children whom I love.
  
  I believe our legislators should not give extra time to lobbyists rather than constituents, not accept gifts (Senator [...]
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  Posted: March 25, 2008, 5:51pm EDT
  

• What do you think of registering as a Republican just for the caucus?

  While waiting for an hour to vote in the primary, just about everyone around me was filling out the Republican registration form in order to vote for Mitt Romney. The people we talked to mostly intended to vote and then remove their name from Republican rolls in the following weeks. [...]
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  Posted: March 18, 2008, 12:58am EDT
  

• Those whiny teachers�Does legitimate criticism depend purely on the eye of the beholder?

  I was angry after watching that omnibus bill go through the non-process last week and had (well, still have) more pointed things to say about Speaker Curtis, Senator Stephenson, and others. I decided to let it go for a few days and get other things done. In the last week, [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2008, 3:51am EDT
  

• What else can I say? Brief comments on the omnibus fiasco, positive developments, and some live-blogging of the final 1:15 of the Senate floor debate

  As I said last post, I'm just sad. I was talking to some people earlier when I was mad, but I just don't have the energy to express my anger adequately right now after 12 hours of teaching and attending my own class. So I'm copying two comments I made [...]
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  Posted: March 06, 2008, 10:46pm EST
  

• Deseret News and Tribune articles on legislative gifts and misuse of campaign funds

  [www.deseretnews.com]
  
  [www.deseretnews.com]
  
  [deseretnews.com]
  
  [deseretnews.com]
  
  [deseretnews.com]
  
  http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8089857
  
  
  Little desire found among Utah lawmakers to strengthen conflict-of-interest law
  By Robert Gehrke
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 01/26/2008 10:36:29 PM MST
  
  Posted: 10:21 PM- When Utah's 104 [...]
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  Posted: March 05, 2008, 12:02am EST
  

• The Education Omnibus Bill is even worse than I thought. Basically, the legislative leadership thinks you are an idiot.

  I'm sad, mad, and feeling kind of powerless at the moment. The Republican leadership is again blatantly pursuing their own agenda for education during the last two days of the legislative session after claiming to want to work with educators. And they apparently really think everyone will believe that an [...]
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  Posted: March 05, 2008, 11:25pm EST
  

• Clearing up "potential misconceptions" and one bald-faced lie about the education omnibus bill

  Over the last week and a half, every member of the family has taken repeated turns being extremely sick. (I don't know if JM Bell and Jeremy were contagious through the internet or what....) So I haven't posted in nine or ten days and the session ends in two days. [...]
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  Posted: March 04, 2008, 10:20pm EST
  

• If the legislators are going to pay themselves for all of the extra meetings and taskforces, why not pay them to participate in "working" meetings?

  I posted yesterday about the Senate Education Committee's rejection of HB266, a bill allocating state funds to help pay for the International Baccalaureate program already in place at seven Utah high schools. I have also included the text of both the original article and today's follow-up.
  
  (In an [...]
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  Posted: February 23, 2008, 2:16am EST
  

• The text of the Tribune article on International Baccalaureate programs

  Original Article
  
  Utah lawmakers, fearing UN conspiracy, kill funds for International Baccalaureate program
  
  By Lisa Schencker
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 02/21/2008 08:25:06 PM MST
  
  Lawmakers decided against helping Utah schools pay for International Baccalaureate (IB) programs after one legislator called IB's philosophy [...]
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  Posted: February 22, 2008, 1:36am EST
  

• Plus, ridiculous paranoia about the UN infiltrating Bountiful and Provo

  Next, hat tip to The Third Avenue where Oldenburg caught a Tribune article I had missed about state funding to support schools offering the International Baccalaureate degree. (Though, I disagree with his jab at public ed. quality in Utah.) Now, I am not a huge International Baccalaureate program [...]
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  Posted: February 22, 2008, 1:29am EST
  

• Do you believe Senator Madsen, or...Who does Senator Madsen believe? Plus, ridiculous paranoia about the UN infiltrating Bountiful and Provo

  Senator Mark Madsen of Lehi claimed 25% of funds on District Administration were spent on district administration when it's really less than half of 1%. He believes Utah as a whole spent 35% on administration. I already explained how that was false and was backed up by the district [...]
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  Posted: February 22, 2008, 11:13pm EST
  

• What do Utah state legislators say to themselves before they go to bed at night? Or legislative mixed messages�

  State legislators, to put it mildly, seem to be sending some mixed messages these days. I?m not asking how do they sleep at night, just what they say to themselves. I wonder, from their perspective, what does the world look like? I seriously wonder what goes on inside of their [...]
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  Posted: February 18, 2008, 2:14am EST
  

• Jan. 27 Tribune Article on Legislators Profiting on Charter Schools...referenced in my post above

  [www.sltrib.com]
  
  Charter schools in Utah: Building schools, at what price?
  Some schools pay more than market value to buy buildings
  
  By Julia Lyon
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  Article Last Updated: 01/27/2008 07:29:47 AM MST
  
  When Larissa Powell first dreamed of starting a new public charter [...]
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  Posted: February 18, 2008, 2:12am EST
  

• Speaking of Merit Pay, How About a �Teacher Test� Delivered Under False Pretenses by Voucher Supporters?

  The next few posts will be fairly critical of some legislators and their philosophies of education. My last post talked about the Merit Pay Task Force and my hopes and fears for what it will accomplish. Merit pay proposals may indeed bring some sort of positive effect, but there [...]
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  Posted: February 10, 2008, 3:28am EST
  

• Merit Pay Task Force�Torn Between Hope and�Realism�Cynicism�Despair?

  My hopeful side likes that pro-voucher Rep. Last is looking to consult with teachers and school boards before ?radically changing the way Utah teachers are paid.? From KCPW:
  
  

  UEA Supports Merit-Pay Task Force
  Feb 08, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler
  
  (KCPW News) A merit-pay task force has won [...]

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  Posted: February 09, 2008, 2:57pm EST
  

• Long election lines--I sort of feel bad for the Utah County Clerk, even if his name is "mud"

  I spent a lot of time waiting today.
  
  First, I stayed home from school to get finger surgery. Nothing major, but I still had to wear the stupid hospital gown and the whole bit. The surgeries before mine got delayed and I ended up lying in a hospital bed [...]
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  Posted: February 06, 2008, 11:33pm EST
  

• New district money for the stadium and do I actually agree with the Utah Taxpayer's Association?

  The RSL stadium fiasco was another example of the state legislators and Governor Huntsman utterly ignoring the very clear desires of the majority of their constituents and a hypocritical removal of the local government's authority. Sandy City politicians were right there along with them, and at first wanted to take [...]
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  Posted: February 05, 2008, 11:21pm EST
  

• Why Good Teachers Can Disagree About the Direct $2500 Pay Raise

  Teachers are for the most part hardworking, caring people who want to serve their students while still providing for their families. However, they are nowhere near the monolithic, reflexive voting block the UEA haters decry. They unite against obvious attacks on public education like vouchers, but otherwise represent diverse philosophies [...]
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  Posted: February 04, 2008, 2:35am EST
  

• Administration costs, the class size reduction audit, and denial of reality

  I have seen a lot of comments floating around lately about the �black hole� of school district administrations and how they can�t account for the money the legislature so generously �gives� them. I even saw a comment claiming that district administration soaks up 25% of the education budget. I can�t [...]
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  Posted: January 21, 2008, 3:22am EST
  

• Tribune article texts for my posts of 1-15 and 1-21

  The Tribune only leaves the text of its articles online for a couple weeks, so this is the text of four articles I've referenced recently. You can still click on the links and see the comments posted, even when the article is gone.
  
  From the 1-21 post--
  This is [...]
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  Posted: January 21, 2008, 3:04am EST
  

• Public meeting with Senators Bramble and Dayton and Representative Grover--I was there and took 4 pages of notes

  However, this will be the very short version for now. I need to go to bed.
  
  Embarrassing gaffe alert: Due to writing this after midnight and two busy days, I completely messed up a name in my original post. Has there ever even been a Representative Morley? Where [...]
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  Posted: January 16, 2008, 12:17am EST
  

• The UEA: The Legislature's All-Purpose Excuse

  OK, I know I don�t have tons of people reading and commenting on this, but I don�t see a reasonable basis for all the hatred. The UEA advocates for many educational improvements such as smaller class sizes, along with higher teacher salaries, and most Utahns support that cause. Jesse [...]
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  Posted: January 15, 2008, 1:57am EST
  

• Why the irrational hatred of the UEA? Seriously...input please.

  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Work and then play have kept me away from the blog for too long. Just watched Spiderman 3. I liked some parts and hated others. Won�t be hurrying to see it again. Anyway, I have a few things to bring up in the next [...]
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  Posted: December 30, 2007, 1:06am EST
  

• Free Markets and Public Education�The Forgotten Underbelly

  First off, vouchers will not and CANNOT by design benefit public schools financially. All of the arguments about vouchers literally increasing funding per student were demonstrable untruths. See my Nut and Bolts postings from the last few weeks if you still need documented proof of that statement. Unfortunately, many Utahns [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2007, 3:20am EST
  

• False FUD Factusations

  First, random related musing�I attended the BYU-TCU game tonight. As I enjoyed the game and the atmosphere, I thought about Utah County�s very close split between Referendum 1 supporters and those against the voucher bill, and all of those heated advocates sitting here screaming together at some horned frogs rather [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2007, 4:09am EST