Education

Parents are their child's first and most important teachers. While I support public education, I believe that parents should be the ones to choose how and were their children are educated, not a government bureaucrat. I believe that tuition tax credits or vouchers would end the current public school monopoly and provide the kind of competition in the education marketplace which will drive all schools toward better educating our children.

I sponsored of Utah's Charter School legislation, Utah's school accountability legislation, the funding bill which provides pay for performance, vouchers for remediation of students who fail the basic skills test (payable only when the student passes the test), and differential pay proposal which, for the first time establishes that a high school math teacher is paid more than, say, a P.E. teacher.

I also successfully sponsored this year's 12.8% increase in state funding for education. Interestingly, neither the media nor the education community have acknowledged that this funding increase is significant or appreciated except a small school district in southern Utah -- Kane School District -- which sent a letter of appreciation to legislators explaining the wonderful ways in which they have utilized the money to make a difference for their students and education professionals.

Is Money the Answer?

Originally aired on ABC's 20/20 earlier this year, John Stossel's "Stupid in America" demonstrates very clearly that money is not the answer to what ails America's schools. In fact, the more money spent per student, the worse schools perform.

Click here to watch the 20/20 segment "Stupid in America." If you don't see the screen or a hyperlink, cut and paste this website into your web browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA.

While money is not the answer to fixing our schools, I am committed to ensure the money is available to pay for our rapidly growing number of students entering the school system, that money is available to construct the modest buildings - not Taj Mahals - to house the students, and that money is available to ensure the hiring and retention of teachers who are highly qualified in their subject areas.