Lawmakers have said this legislative session that in order to do more with less, they must "think outside the box."
The Legislature thought outside the box a couple of years ago, and now the state is out $3.5 million with little to show for it.
The Legislature had designated $5 million to hire a company that could employ an integrated software program designed to compare student progress from school to school and teacher to teacher. A second service requested in the appropriation was for a streamlined system for transferring transcripts to higher education institutions.
But members of the purchasing committee said their work was interrupted by pressure from legislators, most notably Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who reportedly favored Digital Bridge of Orem.
In fact, when Digital Bridge was knocked out of the contract for transcript transfers, education officials got heat from the Legislature. So the request was rewritten to combine both parts into one contract, which eventually was awarded to Digital Bridge.
Now, officials say, Digital Bridge appears heading into bankruptcy without fulfilling its responsibilities.
Office of Education officials confirmed Thursday that the company hasn't provided the intended service since November and the state has now severed the relationship. While 70 percent of the money was paid to the company up-front, per conditions of the contract, officials say only about 20 percent of the agreed-upon work has been completed. And the office now is scrambling to develop another integrated system for getting high school transcripts to colleges and universities.
Stephenson said Thursday he wasn't pressuring the office to favor Digital Bridge, but was adamant that a detailed system be put in place that could allow parents to compare how their students were doing with students in other schools and even other classes.
Digital Bridge provided that service in the Iron County School District, Stephenson said, and the district superintendent had glowing reports. Stephenson said he was impressed with Digital Bridge's demonstration.
"This is heart-breaking," Stephenson said of the news that the contract has apparently failed. That means more delays in getting a detailed system he says is desperately needed.
Doing the tap dance : When K-TALK's Red Meat Radio program hosted by two conservative lawmakers had Republican congressional candidate Morgan Philpot on the air as a guest Saturday, they got into their weekly rant about the evils of the proposed ethics reform initiative.
One caller pointed to Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which says "the United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government..."
That, the caller said, meant that all initiatives, referendums and propositions were unconstitutional on their face because the constitution specifically requires elected representatives make the laws.
Philpot said that caller was "spot on," and he completely agreed that citizens initiatives and propositions violate the U.S. Constitution.
A subsequent caller asked, "So what about Proposition 8?"
"It's apples and oranges," Philpot said, because Proposition 8 was the result of citizens tired of being controlled by the federal government.
So less than five minutes after agreeing that all initiatives and referendums are unconstitutional, the congressional hopeful made an exception for the ones conservatives like.
