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The good, the bad, and the ugly on HB215-3rd Sub: Teacher Raises, School Choice and the “Utah Fits All” scholarship
I strongly support our public schools. I believe high-quality public schools benefit everyone in the community. I was happy that the bill included the largest ever pay increase of $6,000 per teacher (~$4200 salary, $1800 benefits) that goes directly to teachers, not to administrative overhead. I supported this $200 million investment regardless of whether it was tied to a school choice bill or not.
I also believe that our public school system may not work for all kids, and parents need some alternatives. I had some conditions for supporting the School Choice (vouchers) part of the bill:
- Clear accountability for the money used: In my mind, the “HSA model” of withdrawals for qualified expenses met that requirement.
- Measurement of results on kids' learning: The original bill did require student assessments (testing) or learning accountability. Through our negotiations, the 3rd substitute included provisions that all scholarship recipients must take an annual standardized assessment or submit a portfolio of work. I would have preferred a stronger measure of academic accountability, but was willing to agree to the compromise.
- Allow kids who “stay in the system” to benefit: Through our negotiations, the 3rd substitute allowed kids in public schools part-time to qualify for scholarships for some outside help.
- Limited and focused program: The program is funded for only ~5,000 students out of the 670,000 students statewide, that will prioritize low income students. This will impact less than 1% of all students; on average ~4 students in each school. Additionally, we were able to limit the fiscal growth of the program in future years to a standard education inflation index.
Initially, I was a no on the original bill, but after negotiating in good faith, I felt I could support the amended version, it as benefits teachers, students, and parents. I feel the scholarships are a good, relatively small way to give parents some additional choices.
I encourage you to read the attached summary, which has more details on the $200M increase for public school teachers and the $42M for school choice.
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