Bad News for Utahs K12 Kids Were Worst in the Nation Again for Funding Them

Kindergartners attend class at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Common salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Utah's public schools missed out on a fantastic opportunity this yr.

Equally a parent, I was excited this past session for HB193, sponsored by Republican leaders Rep. Steve Waldrip and Sen. Ann Milner, that would have expanded admission to optional full-day kindergarten for all Utah families. The nib requested funding to be rolled out over three years — $23 million in year ane and $12 meg more than in years two and iii — to requite local education authorities time to abound their programs.

Support for HB193 was strong and bipartisan. With enthusiasm all around, the bill passed hands through the Business firm of Representatives. I listened as every commenter — parents, district superintendents and land superintendent Sydnee Dickson — spoke in favor. HB193 was well-positioned to laissez passer the Senate, too.

Then all of a sudden, it brutal apart. The Executive Appropriations Committee slashed the funding to a mere $12.2 million. A new version of the bill emerged that barely resembled the original, providing only limited funding, with no promise of future expansion. Only a few local instruction authorities would be able to expand their full-day programs to serve more Utah children.

My kids' school planned to offer full-mean solar day kindergarten next twelvemonth if HB193 passed. Nosotros were to be part of the first phase of expansion in Alpine School Commune. When our primary notified our PTA well-nigh this possible change, parents in the room were excited and relieved.  Kindergarten teachers talked most how they could teach not only math and literacy more fully, but too spend more time on the fun stuff, including social studies, science and playtime. More full-day kindergarten would be a solution to then many problems.

Due to the dramatic scaling down of HB193, our schoolhouse will non be able to offering full-day kindergarten — forth with hundreds of other simple schools beyond Utah. The disappointment is profound. This is a lost opportunity for tens of thousands of kindergartners and their families.

My main'due south words reflect educators' ongoing commitment to provide the best instruction no thing what: "Our teachers and staff will, of course, piece of work diligently to assure the success of students. But time is something that cannot exist replicated despite their most valiant efforts. My greatest hope and wish is yet that the gift of time will exist awarded for our children."

Full-day kindergarten is a time-tested, proven educational approach. I attended full-day kindergarten 40 years ago in North Carolina. Today, more than lxxx% of children in the United states attend full-day kindergarten; only 30% of Utah children are able to.

I realize that many Utah families love half-day kindergarten. In fact, my family has been one of them. I was able to offer my six kids back up, activities and academics outside of their half-solar day kindergarten hours. But that is non the reality for near students at our school, and at many others. I live in a function of Orem with many at-hazard children in high-need families. Full-solar day kindergarten gives support to those families and kids.

Utah has the ability to fund full-twenty-four hour period kindergarten. Consider that another bill proposed a voucher plan — something Utah voters take shown they don't support — that would take toll $36 million annually. (It didn't pass.) Additionally, this twelvemonth's much-touted income tax cut (which saves the boilerplate Utahn $8 per calendar month) toll $180 million, taken directly from Utah'due south instruction fund.

I strongly believe that if we truly value something, we volition prioritize it and find means to pay for information technology. Utahns consistently say they prioritize pedagogy, family unit and the well-existence of children. We demand to lucifer our legislation and funding with our priorities.

It's fourth dimension for Utah residents and legislators to provide admission to full-24-hour interval kindergarten for all the families that want it. Let 2023 exist the year that Utah proves it values instruction and children.

Cissy Rasmussen lives in Orem and is the female parent of six children. She volunteers with PTA, School Community Councils and Utah Parents Involved in Teaching.

marshallwituarmay92.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2022/4/5/23011598/utah-legislature-full-day-kindergarten-funding-cut-hurts-at-risk-low-income-families-and-children

Share this post