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Show Amendments 1 & 2 Important To You The forthcoming election is one of great importance to Utah-ns. Utah-ns. In addition to making our choice for representation in the Congress of the United States, we are being asked to decide a matter which will greatly influence in-fluence the future of public education ed-ucation in the state. Constitutional Amendment 1, on your ballot next November 7, if passed, will provide that the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be the administrative officer of the State Board of Education, and that he shall be appointed by the Board. The second constitutional constitu-tional amendment would act to delete the name of the Superintendent Super-intendent of Public Instruction from the list of the state's elecc-tive elecc-tive officers, and thus make appointment ap-pointment of the chief state school officer legally possible. Why should you and I vote for Amendments 1 and 2? Perhaps Per-haps one of the major reasons is that partisanship has no rightful right-ful place in education of our boys and girls. The State Superintendent Super-intendent .is the educational leader of the state, presiding over bur school systems from kindergarten through junior colleges col-leges and adult education programs. pro-grams. He should be the finest educational edu-cational statesman obtainable. The present political method does not guarantee professional qualification and fitness for the position. Often top professional people will not run the political gamut to get the position of chief state school officer. Students of the problem, including in-cluding education committee members of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the Council of State Governments, believe that an elected non-partisan board can best choose a school administrator by considering1 all candidates calmly and on the basis of their professional qualifications. qual-ifications. Where the board of education is elected by the people, peo-ple, this method'' protects the public interest without sacrificing sacrific-ing public control. The special National Education Educa-tion Association committee, which recently studied the organization or-ganization and administration of Utah's state education agency, reported that sound administration administra-tion in the state's department of education can be effectively accomplished ac-complished only where the State Board of Education, without restrictions, re-strictions, selects the chief state school officer who serves at the pleasure of the .Board. Under this method the Board is free to choose the most competent com-petent person it can find without with-out regard to party affiliation, thus making possible the re-, moval of the office from partisan par-tisan politics. These factors tend . to attract candidates of high caliber and make possible continuity con-tinuity and long-term planning for a more efficient educational program, they reported. Passage of Amendments 1 and 2 will complete a strong school organization in our state and clarify the relationship of the Superintendent and the Board by placing the responsibility for policy-making on the elected Board. As its administrator, the Superintendent would be responsible re-sponsible for carrying out the Board's policies. This would pro; vide for the same organization-setup organization-setup on a state level that functions func-tions so successfully in each of the 40 school districts of our state. Both of Utah's political parties par-ties favor the proposed method of selecting our State Superintendent. Superin-tendent. In their 1950 platforms, both Republican and Democratic Democra-tic parties went - on record as favoring the proposed constitutional constitu-tional amendments for appointment appoint-ment of. the State Superintendent Superinten-dent of Public Instruction by an elected, non-political board. Utah will not be the first state to consider this change. Eleven others, Arkansas, Colorado, Colo-rado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Massachu-setts, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Minne-sota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, and Texas, now provide pro-vide for appointment of their superintendent by an elected board. Reports from industrial, civic, and educational leaders of these states show the system is working successfully in these states. |
