Many Utahans pay
little attention to issues of their state school board. After all, there are
only 15 members of the board. They only come up for election every 4 years.
They cannot directly levy taxes. And
besides that, it’s hard to know how they vote and what the issues are, because
the press hardly covers their meetings. And yet nearly everyone in Utah
believes that education of our children is the most important issue state
government has to deal with.
Why would we as
citizens be so uninformed and uninterested about electing those who directly
control the issue we see as most important?
We are not simply apathetic citizens. We pay considerable attention to
the election of our governor, state representatives and state senators. The
press actively reports issues, bills and political maneuvering when the Utah
legislature is in session.
Is it possible
that our method of electing state school board members is so different from the
way we elect governors and our state legislators that we don’t get the same
degree of accountability?
Here is the difference
between the two current methods of election:
State school
board candidates currently submit an application to a committee appointed by
the governor. That committee then chooses and recommends to the governor three
candidates for each district which is due for election. The governor then
chooses two of those three candidates to appear on the general election ballot.
Candidates seeking
the office of governor and legislator file their candidacy for nomination by
their party or as an independent candidate.
The big difference is the involvement of the governor or neighborhood
delegates in choosing their candidates for each office.
Benefits of Political
Parties in a Republic
By nature political
parties strive to win the support of citizens for their positions by informing
them of the party’s principles and positions on issues and organizing to help
their preferred candidates win election. So, parties provide valuable
information to voters as well as an organization to help citizens be involved
in the political process.
In Utah, delegates
selected by their neighbors also provide the very valuable service of
evaluating candidates and selecting the best in their party conventions to move
forward to the general election. This evaluation service is performed by
citizens elected by their neighbors in biannual neighborhood caucus meetings
throughout the state. These elected citizens are known as delegates and are the
best known and most trusted members of their communities. It is because of
their excellent vetting that Utah has such outstanding elected officials and is
known as one of the best managed states in the Union.
Responsibility for
Education: Divided between Legislature and Board of Education
Our Utah State
Constitution forms three departments of state government: Executive,
legislative, and judicial. It divides responsibility for our public schools between
the legislative department, which establishes and maintains the public
education system, and a state board of education, which is not assigned to one
of the three departments and controls and supervises the system.
Because legislators are elected in a very different manner
than state board of education members, our system experiences a fundamental conflict
in values and priorities between the two bodies. My personal experience over years attending
legislative sessions and state school board meetings has confirmed stark
philosophical differences between the two bodies. This conflict has significantly
hindered the implementation of a unified vision for the education of Utah’s
children.
The Solution
I am convinced that if we elected our state school board members
by the same method as other state officials, we would see a much more effective
education system. We citizens will also
become better informed because our political parties and media will more actively
inform us about education issues.
Fortunately in this 2014 state legislative session
Representative Brian Greene (R-Pleasant Grove) is sponsoring House Bill 228 (HB228)
to require candidates for state board of education to be elected by the same
mechanism as the governor and legislature. His bill would also require them to
meet the same campaign finance reporting requirements.
HB228 will align the process for electing those who have a
role in public education, make the selection process for state school board
members more open and transparent and raise the profile of members of the state
board of education.
Please contact your state senator and member of the House of
Representatives to encourage them to support the passage of HB228 this year.
