This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Since Jeb Bush visited Utah in August, lawmakers and education leaders here have been discussing Florida's education reforms and whether to implement them here. At least one of those reforms — grading schools — seems to be moving forward with lawmakers working on a bill about it and the state school board working on a rule.
And Utah isn't the only state considering adopting some of the Florida reforms. You can read more about the spread of Jeb Bush's influence on education reform nationwide in this Education Week article here. From the article:
"Utah Speaker of the House David Clark said he is impressed that Florida has made educational gains despite its broad diversity and the challenges of working with a high percentage of students with limited-English proficiency. He became more interested in Florida's approach after hearing Mr. Bush speak at a recent national conference of state lawmakers.
'I thought, if they can be successful in that head wind, we can do it in Utah,' recalled Mr. Clark."
To read more about the debate over grading schools in Utah, you can read this article, or this one from the Tribune over the last couple months.