Raising Per-Pupil Investment Increasing Teacher Pay Learning Centered Classes

Introduction

There is no investment more lucrative than education. A robust and accessible public education system has been one of the strongest draws for young families to choose Utah as the place for people to raise their children. However, Utah lags in Per-Pupil Spending, legislation that focuses on learning, and incentivizing effective teachers to remain in the classroom.

Per-Pupil Spending is Investment in the Future

Utah spends less money than all other states - Washington DC included - on students enrolled in public schools. Just over $10,000 per-pupil each year. Whereas Washington DC and New York average around $30,000 per-pupil. This spending can be attributed to three categories: Instruction, Nutritional Services, and Support Services.

Access to high quality instruction, nutrition, and support lay the groundwork for effective learning environments. A hungry student is student that struggles to focus. A student that cannot get the support they need, I.E. access to a bus, functional facilities, effective administration, nurses, counselors, etc. is a student that sees that the system is set up for them to fail.

When we invest in our education system, the outcomes are high levels of RE-investment in our communities and our home.

Teacher Pay and Why it Doesn't Pay to be a Teacher.

The old cliche in movies and television shows is that teachers will be destitute and impoverished. But why? The government pays teachers. However, the government doesn't value their teachers. Each year they find excuses not to increase teacher pay. The Canyon's School District boasts high starting teacher pay and estimates the number of educators with master's degrees to be about half. That still only raises their salaries to about $70,000 a year. A business professional with an MBA is expected to have a median salary of $125,000 a year. That's a $55,000 dollar difference.

Now, the argument has been made that if teacher's don't like it, they can change careers. The same people making this argument are those who ask, "What happened to education? It was never like that when I was in school." Well, effective teachers have left the field. And why not? Pensions have been eliminated, Salaries have not kept up with inflation and the government holds a yearly, "Teacher appreciation week" instead of fixing the issues that burn out teachers.

We need to pay teachers more. We need to incentivize good teachers to stay and to get higher degrees. Education is not a bubble that will burst. Kids will always need to learn.

Learning Centered Classrooms

Social commentary is destroying the learning environment in Utah's schools.

And I'm not talking about teachers. I'm talking about politicians conjuring boogeymen up on capitol hill and on the news. They create arguments about what is culturally and socially acceptable and parents latch onto it. And why shouldn't they? They worry about their kids. They want them to be safe. But then we create banned book lists filled with books that most parents - and politicians for that matter - have not read. Good educators that are trying to teach students how to read, or think, or write, or do math, can have their whole career put into jeopardy because politicians have no media literacy. Or worse, believe that their constituents won't.

Let teachers teach. Most teachers do not have the time to "indoctrinate" a student. They are just trying to get them to turn to page 33.

What I'm Going to do About it

I'm going to prioritize education funding per-pupil. I'm going to push for teacher pay increases, not only starting wages but incremental steps as well. Every teacher deserves to live doing what they love. I'm going to sponsor legislation that makes it easier for teachers to actually teach. I'm going to work with Teacher Unions across the state to make sure they are all represented in a way that makes it so that all 26,000 teachers across the state know that they are appreciated. And not with a pizza party. But rather in ways that make it easier to live in this place they - and their students - call home.