“A picture is worth a thousand words” so here’s about 27,000 words, plus just a few I need to add.
The rally was great. The Capitol Rotunda was packed and there were people lined up two deep all along the second floor, and most of the third, and people were still showing up as the rest of us started to leave. The energy was amazing. Now, on to the pictures including a bunch of the better hand-made posters.
Now, we get to see if it did any good.
(Ok, I didn’t but…)
When Judge Shelby struck down Utah’s Amendment 3, banning same sex marriages, our legislature screamed “unfair”, this is going against the will of the people. After all, in 2004 the people voted 2:1 in favor of the amendment, and no activist judge has the right to usurp the will of the people.
Yeah, activist judges, who are employed to interpret the U.S. Constitution, don’t, but seems that elected legislators do have the right to ignore what the people want.
Senate Bill 54 passed an initial vote in the senate with a 13:1 ratio in favor of it.
SB54 gives our caucus system of nominating candidates a slight facelift, but most importantly it directly voids any conclusion to the Count My Vote initiative that would completely eliminate state caucuses in favor of open primaries.
It boils down to this, like Rod Decker of Channel 2 news put it: if SB54 goes into law and the people vote to keep the caucus system, we get the caucus system. If the people vote in favor of open primaries, we get the caucus system.
Thanks Utah State Legislature, way to do the people’s work!
For years, decades, the Utah State Legislature has been denying the “starve the beast” attitude towards public education in this state. “Top Priority”, but can’t find the money, gotta keep the rainy-day fund for rainy days and don’t want to foist a tax increase upon the unwilling taxpayers have been their mantras.
In yesterday’s Tribune, House Speaker Becky Lockhart let the cat out of the bag.
In an article about putting iPads (or something technologically similar) in the hands of every student in the state and it’s $300M-$750M price tag, she was quoted as saying:
“Let’s not try to be so focused on the money. If this is the vision we want to have for education, if this is where we know we are headed … then we’ll find the money.”
So, since we can in fact find the money for our vision for public education, then that means that our vision for over 20 years has been “lowest funding in the nation, largest class sizes and lowest pay.” Nice vision.
I am a driver, so the lower a gallon of gas costs, the happier I am. I still think the bill I just heard about on my favorite local news station is absurd.
Consider these: our roads suck and the pollution in our valley during inversions is the worst in the nation.
So, in year citizens want to improve the air and the roads, why are our legislators introducing legislation that will encourage more driving?
Their idea: cut the sales tax on a gallon of gas in half, and raise the sales tax (including on food) by another 2%. Gleefully they announce that this is not a tax increase, in the short run there will be no increase in taxes collected.
So, why do it? Well, in the long run sales tax revenue increases, whereas gasoline tax revenue tends to stay the same, or even decrease.
Let’s not consider that:
Well, it hasn’t passed and even though I’d love to pay 12 cents less a gallon for my gas, I’m hoping the bill dies.
The State Legislature loves giving educators more and more to do. Every time they meet we sigh a collective sigh and contemplate what new thing they are going to dump on us. 90% of the time without relieving us of something we are already doing so that we have the time for the new stuff.
More often than not, these mandates come without any funding to pay for them, we’re supposed to squeeze it out of our 51st-in-the-nation per pupil funding.
This year there are a couple things that I actually support, except for their being unfunded.
The first one will require school districts to hold yearly seminars for parents on bullying, substance abuse, mental health and internet safety. If it weren’t for the fact that funding for these seminars will be coming out of my classroom, I’d be all for it.
They are also voting on a bill to put caps on K-3 classrooms. It would mandate that kindergarten classes could be no bigger than 20 students, 1st & 2nd grade at 22 and 3rd grade classes would stop at 24. Wonderful idea, one I have been argued is the #1 issue in education for years. The problem is that the bill includes no extra money. Zip. Zero. Nada. Ziltch. Niente.
This means class sizes in the upper grades are going to have to get bigger. Having 34 kids in an Algebra class will be a thing of the past. 42, which I’ve had before, will be the new norm. An article on KSL.com reports Logan High School already having 50+ students in their English classes.
You up on the hill: The rubber band is already stretched to the max, the camel’s back is cracking and the balloon is pushing it’s outer limits. Something’s gonna blow, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.
But hey, we got $500 million to move the Utah State Prison so some developers (aka: friends & legislators) can make a bundle building houses at the Point of the Mountain.
The 2013 session of the Utah State Legislature starts tomorrow (Monday), and for the next 6½ weeks we’re guaranteed an emotional roller coaster ride.
This annual clown-fest never fails to entertain, amuse, frustrate, amaze, annoy, disgust and dismay.
Already on the agenda we have, under the following categories:
EDUCATION:
GUNS
And that’s just what the Salt Lake Tribune published. We’re bound to see even more bizarre bills pop up out of nowhere just like the last several years, and I have no way of even guessing what they will contain.
Wheeeeee, let the ride begin.