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Show But editorials, letters to the editor, though effective, ire not enough. Protests from local school boards and their representatives are powerful, and needed. But the key in this issue, as with any legislation, is the people. You, your neighbor, your cousin, your aunt, your mother, your grandmother, and all who are concerned that your child, or his child, should not be deprived of his right to an education educa-tion in Milford, or Mlnersville, or Beaver, and not be transported trans-ported from one end of the county to the other - or worse, to another county. . Only you can make sure that our county schools are controlled by a school board elected within Beaver County. To do this you must write to your legislators and state school board members and tell them you support the local school board in opposition to any consolidation of schools or school districts not Initiated on a local level. The people to write are; Sen. Dixie Leavltt, Rep. Dwaine Washburn, Reuben Law, and Stephen Garrett. Theiddress -es have been published in the News within the last month, but 11 you don't have them, we'll be glad to give them to you. Your friends and relatives from other areas s"uld their own representatives. EUIUUL CONSOLIDATION AN ISSUE When the Utah State Legislature convenes January 13, school consolidation will be an issue; of that there is no question. The Issue Is not new -since there have been some 25 measures Introduced on school consolidation In the last 20 years. However, there Is a new approach, namely consolidation of school districts. The State Board of Education hired Dr. Boren to study the situation. His recommendation advocated not only the consolidation of school districts within county lines, such as Park City, North and South Summit, and North and Soutli Sanpete, but he also advocated consolidation across county lines. This latter recommendation in its original form - still viable - but rarely spelled out anymore, would consolidate the Millard, Beaver, Garfield, and Iron County Districts, into one large district. In recent months, since Dr. Boren's report first became public, the latter - encompassing numerous proposed multi-county multi-county districts, has been down -played, and reported only as permitting consolidation across county lines. This was brought about largely because of the opposition of your local school board members, and others affected around the state mostly from the rural districts. For Instance, Dr. Boren's report, destined for aunani-mous aunani-mous recommendation from the State Board of Education i (including our own District 7 Stephen L Garrett, Cedar City j and Reuben Law, Provo) received a watered-down 6-5 split j decision, to send It to the Legislature. . Noting the recent elections, and the way politicians tend to react, plus the recent recommendation of the U.E.A. (Utah Education Ass'n.) and Its Executive Director Darryl McCarty, who urged the passage of this consolidation bill, we expect the state legislators to take this as a mandate for this legislation. It Is our belief that the rural people of Utah oppose this legislation, as most certainly does this newspaper. In fact, like the Land Use Act, we believe consolidation of any kind will find support only from legislatures and teachers. |