A new study released last month by Education Week provided some disturbing news for Utah.  Over a ten year period, the nation's high school graduation rate rose by 3.1 percent.  That's good news.  Across the country, more of our children are staying in high school to graduate.

However, during that same period, Utah's high school graduation rate dropped by nearly two percent.  Fewer Utah children are getting the basic diploma they need to survive in our economy.  That's bad news for all of us.

Here's another disturbing statistic from the Utah Foundation.  In 1980, Utah was 8th in the nation in the percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree.  By 2008, the state had fallen to 18th.

Then, there's the number we're all familiar with.  Utah spends the least of any state in per pupil spending.  But most people may not realize that Utah has fallen further behind the other states and is now more than $1,000 below the next lowest state.  

Why is this happening?

Utah's legislature has continually allocated less and less of the state's resources for educating our citizens. We were one of the top states in the nation in terms of the percentage of our tax dollars that were spent on education.  Now we are the 22nd.  The Republican legislature has been starving public education.

But it gets even worse.  Recent budget cuts by the state legislature promise that these statistics will only get worse.  Utah's public schools and higher education institutions face massive budget cuts that assure that more students will be packed into Utah's classrooms, teacher pay will stagnate, teaching in Utah will become less attractive to new teachers, and more of our children will be turned away from our colleges and universities.

The Republicans have dominated the governorship and the state legislature for the past 30 years.  It is appropriate to ask what has happened to our education system during their stewardship.  And, as these statistics show, the picture is not pretty.

The Republican leadership have presided over significant declines in high school graduation rates and in the percentage of our citizens who have graduated from college.  And while this has happened they've devoted fewer resources to education.

Is this what Utah citizens want?  I don't think so.  It is time for a change in direction and that requires a change in leadership in our state.  

We need state legislators who will value education instead of continually disparaging our schools and teachers.  

We need state legislators who will recognize we're not devoting enough resources to our education system rather than trying to divert public money to private schools.

Utah County Democrats are offering just such a slate of candidates this year.  These are people who don't have their heads in the sand about education as their Republican incumbent opponents do.  Several of our candidates are familiar with what goes on in our state's classrooms as parent volunteers,   teachers, or administrators.  They have the experience to solve these problems we currently face.

Please tell your family, friends, and neighbors what is happening to our education system and that the Republican stewardship of our state has caused it.  Then, tell them it doesn't have to be that way.  There are alternatives to the the education opponents who constitute our current Utah County legislators.

Let's get them elected and help our kids get the education they all deserve.