One was Republican Rep. Stephen Urquhart's education reform bill, a combination of disparate proposals. HB181 melds a grade four-six math initiative backed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. with a bonus-pay experiment backed by conservative legislators.
It also makes it easier to fire "the absolute worst teachers" and provides vouchers payable to public schools or private learning centers to help students pass high school exit exams. Fashionably late, ambitious and debated in a hurry, the bill struck a familiar chord with some who remember the 2003 omnibus education reform bill SB154, also championed by Urquhart.
That bill came late to the party, too. And although a tuition tax-credit provision of the bill did not survive, SB154 initiated Utah's competency-based testing system, changed teacher hiring practices and altered policies for choosing state school board members.
Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk feels an unpleasant sense of deja-vu.
"We're disappointed to see three major proposals with a total fiscal note of $20 million all lumped together in one bill, especially coming out this late in the session" Rusk said. "If the proposals are worthwhile, each should stand on its own merit in a separate bill."
The Utah Board of Education will consider its position on HB181 Friday, but board chairman Kim Burningham and Patti Harrington, state superintendent of public instruction, communicated with Urquhart during the bill's latest draft, and support it. Harrington said neither the math initiative nor Urquhart's bonus-pay proposal could have survived independently; the compromise was worthwhile.
The bill directs $12.5 million in school funds to a one-year experiment in improving mathematics achievement in grades four through six. Options include district pilot programs focusing on teacher development, bonus pay for test-score improvement, or combinations of both. Schools teaching disadvantaged students would receive funding priority.
UEA lobbyist Vik Arnold said teacher-dismissal language in the bill is superfluous - teachers can be dismissed for severe misconduct without remediation already.
Harrington, though, approves strengthening recourse for "the very small percentage" of teachers who commit egregious offenses. Perhaps the hottest potato in HB181 is the bill's emphasis on streaming tax money to private providers such as Sylvan Learning Center for remediation of students who fail Utah's high school exit exam.
Urquhart proposes spending $7.5 million in state general funds next year on stipends for students who have not passed the test by spring of their junior year.
The stipends would be paid upon the student's successful passage of the test, and would vary in amount - between $500 and $1,500 - according to the amount by which the score improved. Because there are three sub-test areas on the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, a single student could generate $4,500 in pay-outs to a school.
With that much money at stake, Arnold fears the bill might create incentive against passing the test. "I hate to think of it, but unethical teachers, private providers or parents could game the system," he said.
Efforts to privatize public school functions have long caused controversy in Utah, another reason Urquhart's Omnibus should generate lively debate on the House floor.
"Some will say we are inching toward school vouchers with this," Harrington said, "but we see it as a method to get money to help kids succeed."
Urquhart's bill wasn't the only one with a bonus-pay focus to go forward from Wednesday's committee. A bill providing $21 million for the state school board to adopt a formula for enhancing beginning teacher pay and mentoring new teachers passed 11-4. Rep. James Gowans, D-Tooele, is the sponsor.
HB181 was not the only bill move forward quickly and without much discussion. A substitute version of a bill meant to loosen local land use provisions that have hampered the building of charter schools got a hasty recommendation; a cluster of private citizens opposed to the bill were not permitted to voice concerns. Rep. James Ferrin, R-Orem, sponsor of the bill, said the Utah League of Cities and Towns concurs with his latest version of the bill. In private life, Ferrin is a financier of charter schools. construction.
What HB181 would do
Provide $12.5 million for a one-year experiment in improving mathematics achievement in grades 4 through 6. Options include district pilot programs focusing on teacher development and bonus pay for test-score improvement.
Make it easier to fire bad teachers.
Spend $7.5 million in state general funds on vouchers payable to public schools or private learning centers to help students pass the state's high school exit exam.
