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Show TTdD IEdliittcDip Dear Editor: The "story of public education" has not yet been told in full. A recent letter to the editor depicted education in Utah as a floundering institution whose problems are due to the Utah Education Association and the National Education Association. Associa-tion. These attitudes and the tax issues facing Utah deeply concern me. The letter to which I referred cried for better student performance perform-ance while casting blame in the direction of the most powerful teacher's union in Utah, the UEA. So where should the blame really fall? Ultimately is it not the responsibility of all citizens to i ensure a good education for its youth? Mary Ann Murphy of the Tax Limitation Coalition has ? pointed the finger at the UEA, saying that the association re- fuses to accept educational reform. Actually, the UEA would h welcome changes that would improve Utah's educational sys-T sys-T tern if there is a reasonable guarantee that the reform will indeed H work. (How many trends in education have come and gone in the last 30 years because no one knew what the outcome really would be?) Before the UEA supports the implementation of a r- new reform plan, they would like to feel confident that it will " yield positive results. Many scream for improvements in education, but viable solutions solu-tions are never found easily and they require money. The career ladder program attests to the truth of this statement. This reform measure is being blasted because it has not accomplished all that some would hope for. The purpose of the career ladder is to upgrade the profession of educators by rewarding 'good' educators. educa-tors. Unfortunately, the process of sorting the good from the bad is difficult, if not impossible, due to the human element of evaluation. However, to say that this reform has been a complete com-plete failure is a huge underestimation of the improvement teachers have made as a result of this program. Let's review the facts about Utah before deciding who is at fault in the education issue. Many in Utah are disgruntled at the large percentage of taxes that are used in education; at least SO percent of state revenues are used for schooling. That sounds like education must be prospering in our state. However, other statistics will dispel this myth. Utah spends less than any other state per pupil and teachers in Utah have the largest class loads in the U.S., and yet Utah's students consistently achieve scores J that are at or above the national average on standardized tests. What more can the educational system of Utah do? The above facts indicate that Utahns are getting a great deal! The children of Utah are being taught for less money than in any other state while the product of education is still satisfactory. Groups that advocate "cutting the fat out" need to examine this. If Utah is not a model of efficiency (as far as producing a product for less), I don't know what is. The truth is, there is little or no fat to be cut out. Utah's educational system is doing as well as can be expected under very poor conditions. Education in Utah will not be improved without financial support, and it will get worse if the tax rollbacks go through. You cannot get something for nothing. The education of Utah's youth is the responsibility of the citizens of Utah. Yes, we do pay a lot of taxes in Utah, but we I have a lot of children to educate ! We cannot allow the future of -Utah to be threatened by failing to support education in order to have a few extra dollars now. The blame does not lie with the UEA or the NEA. The blame lies with those who refuse to pay taxes that would allow educational reform to .take place. Kristin J. Mac Donald Educator Layton Dear Editor: Does anybody know Kim Madsen or is that a fictitious name? A research of the Bell Telephone information system reveals that they have no record of such a name of a Kim Madsen living in Centerville, Utah. Postal information also reveals no information. infor-mation. If there is such a person by the above name living in Centerville, Centervil-le, I would like to talk to him concerning why they should be interested in any city councilman seeking an office in Bountiful City. I live in Centerville and I have known Dee Tingey for 32 years, and I have known him to be perfectly honest in all of business dealings. He is a man of integrity, and concerned about honesty in his community and Bountiful City government in particular. People who malign the character of any person had better have some concrete evidence of what they say, established by the Rules of Evidence in a court of law. Robert J. McClain Centerville Dear Editor: Mrs. Mary Ann Murphy, the organizational chair of the Tax Limitation Coalition, is correct when she points out that many people living in Utah believe public education is over-funded and student development is below par. Are Mrs. Murphy and many of the people living in Utah realistic? I think not. As an automotive instructor in this state, I see many things differently than do some of the regular classroom educators. , For many years the automotive shops were the dumping grounds for the academically disadvantaged students, ones who could not make it in the regular academic fields. To the astonishment astonish-ment of many, large numbers of these students became successfully success-fully employed, heads of fine families. In this age of high technology, however, the situation has changed. Vehicles now are very complex, harder to understand and work on. The automotive educational system has had to change, not only to keep up with vehicular changes, but also to keep up with the much better level of students now taking the automotive classes. Maybe this change is why Johnny is still below par; he cannot even make it in a shop class anymore. Cartoons, and the people who follow them, make light of this problem; but it is not a joking matter. We must all work together, including you, Mrs. Murphy, to provide a better educational edu-cational program for our young people. Taking money from the educational system is not going to help. It will shift Utah into reverse and back us into the 1960's, and then will require many times the cost to remedy the situation to keep Utah making history, not re-living history. As the mechanic says, "You may pay me now, or you will pay me later." Education needs accountability for student achievement, but removing funding will not and cannot provide accountability. It compounds the problem. If you fail to put enough gas in the tank, the car will not go. The Utah educational system, poor as it may be and always with room for improvement, is developing students with better than average achievement for the lowest cost per student of any state in the United States. It's as if the vehicle is exceeding the manufacturer's predictable mileage, so let's change the fuel and give it less. Tax limitation would require removal of kindergartens; class loads of 60 or more students; no liberal arts classes; no supplies to speak of; perhaps you even want the automotive classes dropped. Do not take funding from the students change the system by helping from within the system. Ask questions and help in the development of answers. These questions may be hard to answer, but answers must be sought by c" ' deluding you, Mrs. Murphy. The educational system is hard v.jough to run with the small amount of money now provided, with prospects pros-pects for even less. I have a 1969 pickup with 268,000 miles of trouble-free operation. This vehicle needs and receives regular maintenance. Stop the service on the vehicle and it will stop the service to me. Total human knowledge is doubling every four years; we cannot retreat to the past. Cut educational funding and see what happens to Utah. Anyone like the name and address of a good moving company? John J. Cline Layton High School Automotive Department Dear Editor: Asa member of the Bountiful Area Chamber of Commerce ,1 was recently sent a letter from the Davis Education Association which stated, "...schools are one of the key factors businesses use in determining the sites for their operations." I agree. Included with the article was a copy of an article written by William Montague in "Education Week," on which the Davis Education Association underlined several paragraphs. The article arti-cle ends with John Crothers, director of High Tech Development Develop-ment for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Commun-ity Development, reported as stating: "Although often overlooked, private schools can influence I the corporate planning process, he added. Many business lead- ' ers, he notes, come from a private-school background them- I selves and want to be sure that their own children can find a good school close by. "A state's willingness to try new techniques, such as merit pay for teachers, that seek to improve productivity and encour- ' age excellence can also play a role in attracting businesses," Mr. Crothers adds. "They like to see those kinds of ideas because that's how they try to do business themselves," he said. "It lets them know we have a philosophy that strives for excellence." I wonder if the Davis Education Association underlined these paragraphs and sent copies to the Association's Membership, tion's Membership. Timothy A. Tate Bountiful To the Editor: I feel I must respond to the comments in a letter to several area newspapers during the week of Oct. 8. This letter, written by Mrs. Murphy from Ogden, makes some sweeping charges against my profession. This is my 22nd year as a teacher in the Davis School District. I have worked in my classroom with as many as 180 junior high students each year. I think 1 know that 1 have done a darn good job, and I've watched the great majority of my dedicated colleagues doing the same. I resent Mrs. Murphy's statements that the "system hasn't done a good job in 25 years" and that Career Ladders "has not helped a single student learn more!" Absurd! Considering that Utah's classloads have been consistently con-sistently far above the national average currently we have the largest classes, again and we are dead last in the nation in expenditures per pupil, I think it's amazing that our test scores remain basically above average. Somebody must be doing something right in the face of some pretty difficult obstacles! And with regard to Career Ladders, the extra days for teacher preparation alone have positively affected every student in this state for the better. More and better prepared lesson plans and materials are providing teachers with more quality teaching time and time for working directly with students. During my entire teaching career, I have been an involved, active member of the Davis Education Association, the UEA and the NEA. As a union activist and leader I would be more than happy to provide Mrs. Murphy with some facts regarding NEA's positions on reforms, such as "Operation Rescue," a member-funded nationwide project to help prevent drop-outs. I emphasize "facts" because I have been, and continue to be, involved in helping to develop many reform programs in both NEA and UEA. Finally, I feel it is unfortunate that Mrs. Murphy and all too many others have fallen for Education Secretary Bennett's rhetoric. It might be of interest for those folks to know that he has never attended public schools or a public university. Is it possible that this lack of experience is responsible for his lack of understanding and his near-opposition to public education, and to those of us who are attempting to make it better? Mary Ellen Leatham Sunset It's Easy To Just Sit Idly by and Complain or do nothing at all! If you have something on vour mind. Write a letter to the editor! Dear Editor: The intemperate accusations made by Davis County Clerk Mike Allphin, regarding the late return of voter registration forms, are a malevolent attempt to denigrate the tax limitation movement. It is unfortunate that some people were turned away from the primary voting polls, and they had every right to complain. But, irrespective of what or who may have been at fault in the belated filing of the forms, it should be clear to everyone that there was no intent whatsoever to deprive anyone of his or her constitutional constitu-tional right to vote. I believe that the incident could be subjected to punitive measures only if the delayed filing was deliberately intentional. ........ Obviously, Mr. Allphin is of a different mind. He blasted the tax limitation group, now joined by thousands of unhappy taxpayers, tax-payers, with the charge of "trampling on someone else's constitutional consti-tutional rights," and sought the advice of three authorities for the possibility of applying sanctions. The FBI told him that federal sanctions did not cover local elections; the Office of Legislative Research determined that there were no sanctions for failure to turn in the registrations; and there is no word yet from the County Attorney as to what his investigation disclosed. dis-closed. Furthermore, Mr. Allphin charges the tax protestors as being reluctant to work with the county to cut costs. One wonders won-ders what costs he is talking about, when the same newspaper article states that the tax protestor group purchased 600 mail-in registration forms from a local printing establishment Mr. Allphin can search for applicable sanctions all he wants to; but the decision as to whether or not someone's constitutional constitution-al rights were trampled upon, should be made by a law court, and not by a county clerk. Walter Marceli I, - Dear Editor. Who is Kim Madsen? Why would a citizen of Centerville write a letter to the editor regarding candidates in a Bountiful election? The letter by Kim Madsen is so vitriolic and so lacking lack-ing in fact that clearly it is an attempt at character assassination. assassina-tion. If Kim Madsen is for real and not the figment of someone's some-one's imagination, I would like to meet Kim in order to provide enlightenment about the truth of this matter. Dee Tingey is a fine person who is only interested in what is fair and best for Bountiful and the citizens of Bountiful. He has invested his assets and life's work in Bountiful. He is honest in his business dealings and is committed to serving and helping others. Dee Tingey and his two companion candidates were the underdogs in the primary, so why all the false innuendos? These three candidates give Bountiful citizens a clear cut choice to regain control of their city government, to stop runaway taxation and to phase out RDA. It is going to take all three. DeMonte Washburn. (Note: Mr. Washburn wrote this tetter last Friday, one day before he was killed in an automobile accident It is used by permission of his family.) I i |