A bill to create a pilot program for schools to blend online learning into year-round schedules got slapped down in the House on Wednesday, amid concerns that it didn’t get enough public discussion and that it would mainly fund a consultant.
Rep. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, said SB79 would help students learn and better prepare them for college and jobs. The bill would have allowed schools to apply for grants to blend online and classroom learning; extend the school year and teacher pay accordingly; use data to make decisions about instruction; and use competency-based education, in which students move to the next level by showing proficiency rather than just by putting in time.
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"The question is not, ‘Is this the way of the future?’" McCay said. "Everyone knows it is. The question is, ‘How do we implement this?’ … This is the first step in that bridge."
Other lawmakers, however, criticized the bill for bypassing the House Education Committee. Typically once an education bill sponsored by a senator passes the Senate it moves to the House Education Committee, where the public can weigh in, before it goes to the House floor. SB79, however, was one of a number of bills that never made it to that committee, instead going straight to the floor. It failed on the House floor Wednesday by 19-52.
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, said she would have liked to ask questions in that committee, but never got the chance, leaving many issues unanswered.
And Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Salt Lake City, said she was uncomfortable with the bill’s price tag of $75,000, which would mainly go toward paying a consultant to help implement the program. She said that’s much more than she ever made as a teacher.
"I’m always concerned when I see us just chipping away at the education fund for something the state [school] board has not requested that they could do without our supervision," Poulson said.
McCay responded that a consultant was needed to help with what could be a complex implementation process, and he said many within the education community had already met with the bill’s sponsor to talk about the program and give input.
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