Daily Herald, August 25, 2010
Ken Stiles

Our state legislators are engaged in political posturing while our schools are in trouble. Exhibit A is Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem. Not known for choosing her words carefully, she has once again uttered a statement that is unreasonable and bizarre. In response to the State Board of Education's decision to endorse the Common Core Standards, she is charging the board members with surrendering to the federal government. Our school boards may as well be "clerks," she is quoted as saying in the Daily Herald.

I'm all in favor of local control as the starting point for good policy -- as in the case of Provo zoning laws -- but to say that all educational goals developed outside of the state of Utah are a threat to our sovereignty is extremist, and distracts us from the real problems of Utah's schools. The Common Core Standards are not a federal program, for starters, nor are they mandatory. They are not even tied to any funding. They are merely the aspirations of several state governors. It was one thing to oppose No Child Left Behind -- an unfunded federal mandate, which deserved to be challenged in court. Opposing the "Race to the Top" was a bit odder since it's mostly just another funding opportunity made available by Washington -- much like the various specialized study grants offered by the Department of Education that BYU's Kennedy Center recently won. But to oppose the Common Core Standards means to me that Dayton has left logic behind.

It is this type of emphasis on ideology above all that has paralyzed and disserved education policy in Utah. Consider the Alpine School District board that has wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars debating whether we live in a democracy or a republic while student dropout rates and bullying continue to climb. Consider Dayton's odd fixation on cutting funding to the international baccalaureate (a program endorsed by George W. Bush himself) while helping to make sure that Utah remains in a distant last place in the country in per pupil funding and, sadly, solidly in first place in the number of students per teacher. Teacher salaries start at roughly $27,000 -- 45th in the country -- thanks to the budgets approved by Dayton.

While Dayton may not want our local school boards to become clerks, her actions and those of the state legislature have reduced them to beggars. Were it not for the impressive resourcefulness and activity of parents and teachers, the situation would be catastrophic.

I believe it is time to set aside unthinking ideology and begin to tackle the real problems in our state's schools. They are in a crisis. This is not a time for political posturing.

Ken Stiles is a resident of Orem.