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The State School Board of Utah meets tomorrow and will discuss SB 235 (bad bill) and HB 360 (great bill).  They apparently want the good one vetoed.  Too much liberty for teachers; too much distance between Utah and Common Core.  It’s an open meeting; come and see.

The board doesn’t like this freedom-saving bill.  But the Utah legislature did like it; HB 360 passed both houses and should be signed into law by the governor next week.    Unless he vetoes, swayed by the school board…

Please email them:  Board@schools.utah.gov

 

Dear State School Board,

I want to give input on two bills that you will be recommending for veto or signing to our governor.

• HB 360 is a good bill for teachers’ autonomy, parental input and local control.  Please do not ask for a veto.  This is a good, constitutional bill.  Parents and teachers want autonomy and this bill creates space for it.  I see no reason to veto this bill.  If this board does recommend a veto, I would like to know why each board member voted as he/she did on the issue.

• SB 235, on the other hand, is a terrible bill that punishes schools with unvalid labels of “failing” based on the controversial SAGE tests and on an unfair bell curve, so that some are forced to failregardless; it punishes schools with high parental opt-out rates and falsely labels them “failing” and then it forces these “failing” schools to take an “expert” to create “turnaround” that will likely be based on the Obama/Gates Turnaround Model.

For detailed, annotated research on SB 235, see two articles:

1.  https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/utah-legislature-adopts-obamas-model-for-turnaround-schools/

2.  http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/sb235-effectively-federalized-utahs-education-system-and-federalization-is-anti-family/

Please consider these important bills very, very carefully before you make recommendations to our Governor.

Christel Swasey

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Here’s the link for Governor Herbert’s electronic messages to ask for that SB 235 veto:    http://www.utah.gov/governor/contact/

Here are the Utah Representatives.  Ask them to contact the Governor too:  (write more than just your own rep.)

District	Representative	Party	Counties Represented	Contact Info
1	Sandall, Scott D.	R	Box Elder, Cache	ssandall@le.utah.gov 435-279-7551
2	Lifferth, David E.	R	Utah	dlifferth@le.utah.gov 801-358-9124
3	Draxler, Jack R.	R	Cache	jdraxler@le.utah.gov 435-752-1488
4	Redd, Edward H.	R	Cache	eredd@le.utah.gov 435-760-3177
5	Webb, R. Curt	R	Cache	curtwebb@le.utah.gov 435-753-0215
6	Anderegg, Jacob L.	R	Utah	janderegg@le.utah.gov 801-901-3580
7	Fawson, Justin L.	R	Weber	justinfawson@le.utah.gov 801-781-0016
8	Froerer, Gage	R	Weber	gfroerer@le.utah.gov 801-391-4233
9	Peterson, Jeremy A.	R	Weber	jeremyapeterson@le.utah.gov 801-390-1480
10	Pitcher, Dixon M.	R	Weber	dpitcher@le.utah.gov 801-710-9150
11	Dee, Brad L.	R	Davis, Weber	bdee@le.utah.gov 801-479-5495
12	Schultz, Mike	R	Davis, Weber	mikeschultz@le.utah.gov 801-859-7713
13	Ray, Paul	R	Davis	pray@le.utah.gov 801-725-2719
14	Oda, Curtis	R	Davis	coda@le.utah.gov 801-725-0277
15	Wilson, Brad R.	R	Davis	bradwilson@le.utah.gov 801-425-1028
16	Handy, Stephen G.	R	Davis	stevehandy@le.utah.gov 801-979-8711
17	Barlow, Stewart	R	Davis	sbarlow@le.utah.gov 801-289-6699
18	Hawkes, Timothy D.	R	Davis	thawkes@le.utah.gov 801-294-4494
19	Ward, Raymond P.	R	Davis	rayward@le.utah.gov 801-440-8765
20	Edwards, Rebecca P.	R	Davis	beckyedwards@le.utah.gov 801-554-1968
21	Sagers, Douglas V.	R	Tooele	dougsagers@le.utah.gov 435-830-3485
22	Duckworth, Susan	D	Salt Lake	sduckworth@le.utah.gov 801-250-0728
23	Hollins, Sandra	D	Salt Lake	shollins@le.utah.gov 801-363-4257
24	Chavez-Houck, Rebecca	D	Salt Lake	rchouck@le.utah.gov 801-891-9292
25	Briscoe, Joel K.	D	Salt Lake	jbriscoe@le.utah.gov 801-946-9791
26	Romero, Angela	D	Salt Lake	angelaromero@le.utah.gov 801-722-4972
27	Kennedy, Michael S.	R	Utah	mikekennedy@le.utah.gov 801-358-2362
28	King, Brian S.	D	Salt Lake, Summit	briansking@le.utah.gov 801-560-0769
29	Perry, Lee B.	R	Box Elder, Weber	leeperry@le.utah.gov 435-225-0430
30	Cox, Fred C.	R	Salt Lake	fredcox@le.utah.gov 801-966-2636
31	DiCaro, Sophia M.	R	Salt Lake	sdicaro@le.utah.gov
32	Christensen, LaVar	R	Salt Lake	lavarchristensen@le.utah.gov 801-808-5105
33	Hall, Craig	R	Salt Lake	chall@le.utah.gov 801-573-1774
34	Anderson, Johnny	R	Salt Lake	janderson34@le.utah.gov 801-898-1168
35	Wheatley, Mark A.	D	Salt Lake	markwheatley@le.utah.gov 801-556-4862
36	Arent, Patrice M.	D	Salt Lake	parent@le.utah.gov 801-889-7849
37	Moss, Carol Spackman	D	Salt Lake	csmoss@le.utah.gov 801-647-8764
38	Hutchings, Eric K.	R	Salt Lake	ehutchings@le.utah.gov 801-963-2639
39	Dunnigan, James A.	R	Salt Lake	jdunnigan@le.utah.gov 801-840-1800
40	Miller, Justin J.	D	Salt Lake	jjmiller@le.utah.gov 801-573-8810
41	McCay, Daniel	R	Salt Lake	dmccay@le.utah.gov 801-810-4110
42	Coleman, Kim	R	Salt Lake	kimcoleman@le.utah.gov 801-865-8970
43	Tanner, Earl D.	R	Salt Lake	earltanner@le.utah.gov 801-792-2156
44	Cutler, Bruce R.	R	Salt Lake	brucecutler@le.utah.gov 801-556-4600
45	Eliason, Steve	R	Salt Lake	seliason@le.utah.gov 801-673-4748
46	Poulson, Marie H.	D	Salt Lake	mariepoulson@le.utah.gov 801-942-5390
47	Ivory, Ken	R	Salt Lake	kivory@le.utah.gov 801-694-8380
48	Stratton, Keven J.	R	Utah	kstratton@le.utah.gov 801-836-6010
49	Spendlove, Robert M.	R	Salt Lake	rspendlove@le.utah.gov 801-560-5394
50	Cunningham, Rich	R	Salt Lake	rcunningham@le.utah.gov 801-722-4942
51	Hughes, Gregory H.	R	Salt Lake	greghughes@le.utah.gov 801-432-0362
52	Knotwell, John	R	Salt Lake	jknotwell@le.utah.gov 801-449-1834
53	Brown, Melvin R.	R	Daggett, Duchesne, Morgan, Rich, Summit	melbrown@le.utah.gov 435-647-6512
54	Powell, Kraig	R	Summit, Wasatch	kraigpowell@le.utah.gov 435-654-0501
55	Chew, Scott H.	R	Duchesne, Uintah	scottchew@le.utah.gov
56	Christofferson, Kay J.	R	Utah	kchristofferson@le.utah.gov 801-592-5709
57	Greene, Brian M.	R	Utah	bgreene@le.utah.gov 801-889-5693
58	Cox, Jon	R	Juab, Sanpete	jcox@le.utah.gov 435-851-4457
59	Peterson, Val L.	R	Utah	vpeterson@le.utah.gov 801-224-4473
60	Daw, Brad M.	R	Utah	bdaw@le.utah.gov 801-850-3608
61	Grover, Keith	R	Utah	keithgrover@le.utah.gov 801-319-0170
62	Stanard, Jon E.	R	Washington	jstanard@le.utah.gov 435-414-4631
63	Sanpei, Dean	R	Utah	dsanpei@le.utah.gov 801-979-5711
64	Thurston, Norman K	R	Utah	normthurston@le.utah.gov 385-399-9658
65	Gibson, Francis D.	R	Utah	fgibson@le.utah.gov 801-491-3763
66	McKell, Mike K.	R	Utah	mmckell@le.utah.gov 801-210-1495
67	Roberts, Marc K.	R	Utah	mroberts@le.utah.gov 801-210-0155
68	Nelson, Merrill F.	R	Beaver, Juab, Millard, Tooele, Utah	mnelson@le.utah.gov 801-971-2172
69	King, Brad	D	Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Grand	bradking@le.utah.gov 435-637-7955
70	McIff, Kay L.	R	Emery, Grand, Sanpete, Sevier	kaymciff@le.utah.gov 801-608-4331
71	Last, Bradley G.	R	Iron, Washington	blast@le.utah.gov 435-635-7334
72	Westwood, John R.	R	Iron	jwestwood@le.utah.gov 435-586-6961
73	Noel, Michael E.	R	Beaver, Garfield, Kane, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Wayne	mnoel@kanab.net 435-616-5603
74	Snow, V. Lowry	R	Washington	vlsnow@le.utah.gov 435-703-3688
75	Ipson, Don L.	R	Washington	dipson@le.utah.gov 435-817-5281

 

Here are the Utah Senators (write more than just your own senator):

 

District	Name	Email	County(ies)
1	Escamilla, Luz (D)	lescamilla@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
2	Dabakis, Jim (D)	jdabakis@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
3	Davis, Gene (D)	gdavis@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
4	Iwamoto, Jani (D)	jiwamoto@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
5	Mayne, Karen (D)	kmayne@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
6	Harper, Wayne A. (R)	wharper@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
7	Henderson, Deidre M. (R)	dhenderson@le.utah.gov	Utah
8	Shiozawa, Brian E. (R)	bshiozawa@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
9	Niederhauser, Wayne L. (R)	wniederhauser@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
10	Osmond, Aaron (R)	aosmond@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake
11	Stephenson, Howard A. (R)	hstephenson@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake, Utah
12	Thatcher, Daniel W. (R)	dthatcher@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake, Tooele
13	Madsen, Mark B. (R)	mmadsen@le.utah.gov	Salt Lake, Utah
14	Jackson, Alvin B. (R)	abjackson@le.utah.gov	Utah
15	Dayton, Margaret (R)	mdayton@le.utah.gov	Utah
16	Bramble, Curtis S. (R)	curt@cbramble.com	Utah, Wasatch
17	Knudson, Peter C. (R)	pknudson@le.utah.gov	Box Elder, Cache, Tooele
18	Millner, Ann (R)	amillner@le.utah.gov	Davis, Morgan, Weber
19	Christensen, Allen M. (R)	achristensen@le.utah.gov	Morgan, Summit, Weber
20	Jenkins, Scott K. (R)	sjenkins@le.utah.gov	Davis, Weber
21	Stevenson, Jerry W. (R)	jwstevenson@le.utah.gov	Davis
22	Adams, J. Stuart (R)	jsadams@le.utah.gov	Davis
23	Weiler, Todd (R)	tweiler@le.utah.gov	Davis, Salt Lake
24	Okerlund, Ralph (R)	rokerlund@le.utah.gov	Beaver, Garfield, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, Utah, Wayne
25	Hillyard, Lyle W. (R)	lhillyard@le.utah.gov	Cache, Rich
26	Van Tassell, Kevin T. (R)	kvantassell@le.utah.gov	Daggett, Duchesne, Summit, Uintah, Wasatch
27	Hinkins, David P. (R)	dhinkins@le.utah.gov	Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan, Utah, Wasatch
28	Vickers, Evan J. (R)	evickers@le.utah.gov	Beaver, Iron, Washington
29	Urquhart, Stephen H. (R)	surquhart@le.utah.gov	Washington

 

Please write or call!  This is still America and not every legislator is bought by lobby money.  Some actually do listen to constituents.We should act –even if we act alone.  If we each act on conscience, rather than failing to act, for fear of failure, we might be winning many more battles.

A war over children’s lives and schooling and privacy rights is being waged, far under the radar of most people’s daily lives– but even those who know it’s going on, often fail to act.  Keep acting, even if it appears there is no hope.  Please join me if you can.

–And by the way, there is real hope!

• The powerful Utah Educators’ Association (UEA) was also opposed to SB 235.  So were key Utah Democrats.  Some of the conservatives who actually voted for SB 235 now regret it.

Many people have written to the governor on this issue, pleading for a veto.

• HB 360 already successfully PASSED both legislative houses, so it has the support of our elected reps.  There’s no reason anyone would want it vetoed, that I can see, except if they are being paid (in money or in power) by “the machine”.

 

 

 

I sometimes think that we would be better off if we had an obvious wolf for a Governor.

If we had an obvious wolf, people would be paying very close attention to what he was doing.  But Governor Herbert uses conservative language while he passes rascally progressive bills and initiatives and blocks conservative ones.

Most of Utah pays no real attention.  Many assume that the conservative-sounding speech they heard him make on the campaign trail matches his actions today.

But this is not the case.  He’s a key member of the Common Core creation team at NGA/CCSSO and he’s a proud promoter of Prosperity 2020, the cradle-to-workforce program that puts the economy first (not children) and puts businesses, not moms, dads and teachers, in positions of power over schools.  He is not about to fight his own machine.  The only thing he might fear is losing re-election.  This is why I have a little bit of  faith that letters asking him to veto SB 235 and asking him to pass HB 360,  might, in great numbers, have influence on him –only for his re-election hopes.  If he does just the opposite of what we are asking, and passes SB 235 and vetoes HB 360, let’s at least not let him do it too quietly and without pushback.  We still have about a week until it’s too late to veto or to pass these bills into law.