This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The story of an old man saving stranded starfish on a beach, one by one, got a retelling recently by Sen. Howard Stephenson.

The Draper Republican's version of the tale — made into a parable on Utah education — focuses less on each starfish tossed to safety in the ocean and more on the countless more left dying on the sand.

"I'm asking you to discard that warm feeling when you consider the tens of thousands that didn't get saved," Stephenson told members of the House Democratic Caucus. "There are millions of kids tonight who will be crying over 30 algebra problems they don't know how to work."

Stephenson visited his Democratic colleagues to stress the need for an education system personalized to the needs of every child. That conversation included his concerns about classroom technology and a new grant program aimed at helping schools modernize education.

He has made similar presentations to various groups in recent weeks, accusing school districts, charter schools and the state school board of failing to meet the requirements of state law and preparing technology plans that fall short of expectations.

On Thursday, he suggested that funding for the grant program should be restricted unless participating schools are able to meet a list of 53 criteria that he believes lead to effective use of classroom technology.

"If that means only a few districts qualify, so be it," he said. "If we're not going to do it right, we shouldn't do it at all."

Stephenson's criticisms and efforts to delay funding have frustrated school administrators, who say they complied with the grant program's requirements. The debate has also renewed questions of Stephenson's motivations in relation to private companies that stand to profit from greater use of classroom technology.

In 2015, the Digital Learning Alliance invited companies to join their organization by implying that Utah lawmakers, and Stephenson in particular, would steer public funding toward Alliance members.

And during his time as the Senate's education budget chairman, school board staff felt pressured to accommodate Stephenson's preferred companies or else risk reprisal, according to emails obtained by The Tribune.

Stephenson has denied involvement with the Digital Learning Alliance and also rejected suggestions he's pushed legislation that benefits individual providers. But he is a longstanding advocate of school technology and his criticisms of the new grant program include a contention that schools are not planning to purchase learning devices.

"There were no RFPs [bid requests] for products at all," Stephenson said.

Tami Pyfer, Gov. Gary Herbert's education adviser, said the governor's office remains concerned about so-called "vendor bills" — legislation to purchase products with public money that don't necessarily align with a public need.

The governor supports digital innovations, Pyfer said, but prefers giving unrestricted funding to local administrators to make technology decisions, rather than having products chosen for them at the state level.

"We should focus on student needs," she said, "not technology vendor profits."

Terry Shoemaker, executive director of the Utah School Superintendents Association, said many districts have already begun technology initiatives.

The grants, he said, are designed to enhance and extend those efforts.

"It's important that it is understood there are many districts who are well along the way of doing what they think is significant," Shoemaker said.

Deputy state superintendent Rich Nye said the Digital Teaching and Learning program avoids a "one-size-fits-all" approach by inviting school administrators to develop their own technology plans. Those plans were evaluated, Nye said, based on the 53 criteria Stephenson supports.

"Over the course of three months, districts and charters received critical feedback and adjusted their applications accordingly," Nye said.

During its most recent meeting, the Utah Board of Education approved $12.6 million in grants for 39 school districts, 28 charter schools and the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

The funding is available as a reimbursement, Digital Teaching and Learning coordinator Sarah Young said, with that process scheduled to begin shortly.

Shoemaker said the application process was extensive, requiring significant effort by school administrators. The schools' original grant requests were determined to be insufficient, Shoemaker said, but administrators responded with the necessary information.

"We'd like to have the funding released as soon as possible because we've already made plans on how to expend those funds," Shoemaker said. "The districts have met what they understood the process to be."

Stephenson said that all 68 applications continue to fall short of one or more requirements. And math and reading software programs purchased by the state continue to be underutilized in Utah schools, he said.

"The fidelity of the current math licenses and the early reading intervention licenses combined are very, very poor," Stephenson said.

But Shoemaker said a company's guidelines for software use — like a certain number of minutes per week per child — don't always match the practical realities of a classroom.

Some students may not respond to a particular program, Shoemaker said, and teachers need to be given the flexibility of working with that student another way.

"If you talk to a technology vendor, they believe things should be done in a certain way at a certain time," Shoemaker said.

"It's also important that teachers have discretion if they think something is more successful."

Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, said underutilization of school technology is not a failure of teachers, but an example of the state of Utah investing in the wrong areas of education.

"The Legislature should first demonstrate fidelity to funding education before we invest in technologies that take away from the support of our teachers," he said. "Technology should be in a teacher's toolbelt, but it cannot be their replacement."

Stephenson also dinged the Utah Board of Education for failing to hire an independent evaluator over the grant program.

Nye said that decision will be made shortly, as there was little to evaluate before the technology grants were approved by the school board.

"An outside evaluator will measure the impact of the funds relative to the student learning outcome goals established by each district and charter," he said.

Twitter: @bjaminwood