Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want. Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having.

Ronald Reagan

 

Reagan’s words ring true today more than ever before. One of the reasons some Americans are struggling is that we’ve ceased to care about making our education system the best in the world. We have made our education system a “one size fits all” top down system. Our Federal and State Governments are sending down their dictates, rather than allowing our local professional teachers and concerned parents to make the decisions on what is best for each individual student.

We need to get government bureaucrats out of the classroom and support teachers in being the professionals that they were trained to be. Our Utah teachers are some of the best in the nation evidenced by our low per student spending yet high scholastic performance.

We need to once again attract the best and brightest by allowing more freedom to address the needs of students.

My views on education are summarized well by the Utah State Republican Party Platform

  •  I believe that all children should have access to quality education.  Parents have the primary right and responsibility to educate their children, and I support their right to choose public, private, or home education.
  • I support charter schools and vouchers or tax credits for private school tuition costs.
  • I support incentives to promote competitive excellence.
  • I encourage cooperative initiatives to help all Utahans become literate in English.
  • I support the prudent and profitable use of school trust lands.
  • I support all interest and dividends from the permanent State School Fund being distributed to each public and charter school to improve student academic performance.