SCHOOLS - The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah charter schools under new performance scrutiny

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:28:22 MDT

Utah charter schools under new performance scrutiny

By ray parker The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 17, 2013 07:28AM MDT

For the first time, the State Charter School Board has evaluated Utah’s 81 charter schools in three key areas — academics, finances and governance — creating a baseline for comparing the schools next year. Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Kim Frank of the Utah Charter Network, a nonprofit advocate for schools, said she appreciates the board setting high standards. “But I don’t appreciate more bureaucracy and more mandate requirements of charter schools than district schools,” Frank said t...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

National PTA head visits Utah, talks of boosting membership

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:07:48 MDT

National PTA head visits Utah, talks of boosting membership

By lisa schencker The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 16, 2013 11:07PM MDT

PROVO • The soon-to-behead of the National PTA told Utah members Thursday he believes it’s possible for the group to reverse a trend of declining membership in some states and misconceptions about its politics. National PTA President-Elect Otha Thornton emphasized that the PTA — which has 117,000 members in Utah — is a nonpartisan group that tells its members to vote, but not how to vote. And he said it is possible to re-build membership numbers in some parts of the country. He said the power ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Utah schools to get record amount of school land trust money

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:22:38 MDT

Utah schools to get record amount of school land trust money

By Lisa Schencker The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 15, 2013 11:22PM MDT

Utah schools can expect more than $30 million in School Land Trust Program money this summer — a record distribution, said Margaret Bird, director of the School Children’s Trust. Each year, all Utah public schools get part of the dividends and interest earned on the permanent State School Fund — a more than $1.3 billion pot of money generated from trust lands throughout the state. Individual schools typically get anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000 each, depending mostly ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Utah parents push for gun ‘sanity’

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:09:43 MDT

Utah parents push for gun ‘sanity’

By Derek P. Jensen The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 06:09AM MDT

Miriam Walkingshaw’s world of creating wedding flowers and handpicked serenity shattered last summer when a gunman dressed for war strode into a Colorado movie theater and slaughtered 12 people, including a 6-year-old girl, during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” “I had a 6-year-old at the time, and, of course, he loves Batman,” she says. “This is only one state away. It felt very close to home.” The mass shooting that also injured 58 prompted Walkingshaw to research Utah’s gun p...

Forced to pledge

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

Forced to pledge

Updated May 11, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Last year, the Utah Legislature required all high schools in addition to elementary schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. As a student at Bingham High, I have never talked to a fellow student who enjoys saying the pledge every single day. Most students don’t even pay attention to what they are saying or don’t even say it at all. If a student doesn’t want to stand and say the pledge, they need a note from their parents! Yeah, that makes sense. Doesn’t the pledge say “with libert...