‘Get out of the way and let me teach’: Utah politicians, educators square off
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) South Ogden Junior High School english teacher Kim Irvine asks Gov. Gary Herbert a question as they attend the Hot Topics and Hot Dogs discussion at the Annual Utah Education Association Convention & Education Exposition at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Thursday, October 15, 2015.
Utah Education Association President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh said she would not "sugarcoat" her comments during a panel discussion at the association's annual convention on Thursday.
That led to an often heated back-and-forth between the outgoing UEA president and Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, who was frequently cast during the discussion as a proxy for the Utah Legislature and its perceived micromanagement of public schools.
During a segment on Utah's controversial practice of awarding schools a letter grade based on test scores, Hughes criticized Gallagher-Fishbaugh for her cynicism, while she rebuked lawmakers for disrespect toward teachers, parents and children.
"This is a bad policy," Gallagher-Fishbaugh said. "It has not made a difference. Parents do not know what a D means or an F means, and neither do those students."
Hughes responded that any student can succeed, even those living in low-income neighborhoods, and it's wrong to assume that a school's grade will correspond with its ZIPv code.
"I was so zen-like when I got here," he said. "Now I'm all riled up."
After Hughes said school grading had prompted him to visit a low-performing school, National Education Association Vice President Becky Pringle commented that she hates when people who have only visited schools are the ones making education policy decisions.
She said the word "accountability" had taken on a new meaning, in that test scores are now the only measure of success and teachers carry the sole responsibility for failure.
"We have decided we're going to scapegoat teachers," Pringle said. "That's what is wrong with education policy — the people who know and understand teaching and learning aren't making the decisions."
And Salt Lake City Democratic Sen. Jim Dabakis said that most Utah lawmakers live in an "alternate universe." The Legislature awards grades to schools and requires more testing of students, he said, but care little about Utah's ranking as the least-funded public education system in the nation on a per-student basis.
"The Legislature ought to butt out of classrooms," Dabakis said. "The Legislature ought to keep its mouth shut except for figuring out how to get another billion dollars in K through 12."
He criticized past changes to the tax code enacted by lawmakers that set a flat income tax rate and divided revenue between public and higher education.
Those changes, he said, cost Utah's public education system to the tune of roughly $700 million.
"It went out of our classrooms and into the pockets of the Romneys and the Huntsmans and our richest people," he said. "It was a direct check."
Hughes was critical of the ongoing requests for new funding by educators. He said each year lawmakers direct more funding to 'Get out of the way and let me teach': Utah politicians, educators square off | The Salt Lake Tribune: