Issues

Parents have the fundamental right to direct their children’s education.  I support the right of parents to choose the best learning environment and form of schooling for their children, and to avoid intrusion on their moral authority or their children’s privacy.  I have supported parents’ right to choose on the State Charter School Board.

Our school evaluation systems should provide accurate and meaningful feedback that enables parents to support their children’s schools and hold them accountable for performance.  I support the continued use of School Community Councils to enhance collaboration between schools and parents, and I believe we can do a better job of highlighting and learning from Councils that have found innovative ways to improve performance.  I have greatly enjoyed working with parents and teachers in Wasatch County during my time on the Wasatch High School Community Council.

Utah must continue to attract and retain excellent teachers, in the face of declining teacher graduation rates and increasing retirement rates.  Teachers and principals should be trained, respected and paid as the professionals that they are. 

We must also empower teachers to use their judgment and creativity, and resist micromanaging and over-testing at the federal or state level. Teacher evaluation should use fair and comprehensive measures, and should be directed toward providing appropriate support and mentoring for struggling teachers, while enabling principals to take action when students are not being effectively taught.

I believe the State Board should support the expanded use of Teacher Leader positions, as determined by local districts and schools, in order to share our best teachers’ expertise with new and struggling teachers. I also believe we should support evidence-based, in-school professional learning, and help schools continue to develop Professional Learning Communities in which teachers collaborate and use formative assessments to focus on the needs of each student.

Having worked in the Attorney General’s Office, for state and local judges, and with the State Charter School Board and my local Community Council, I have learned that government functions best when it is closest to the people and is held accountable to them.

I believe Utah should push back strongly against federal encroachment in our education system, and assert Utah’s right to make decisions about what is best for our children.  Utah has been recognized for providing the best educational “bang for the buck”; we should play a leadership role among the states rather than following Washington, while learning from innovators everywhere and constantly working to improve our own results.

The State should also allow districts to make their own choices about spending and effective teaching whenever possible, while ensuring that they are held accountable for results.  Public charter schools now educate more than 10% of Utah’s students, and are consistently found among the top schools in Utah. I believe we can do a better job of learning from successful charter schools (and successful district schools). My experience on the Utah State Charter School https://www.utahscsb.org/ and in developing Utah Leading through Effective, Actionable, Dynamic Education (ULEAD) https://www.schools.utah.gov/ulead has prepared me to work toward empowering local principals and teachers in driving Utah’s education system.

I believe the ultimate form of local control is informed parental control, which requires determining how well our students are learning in relation to other students.  I believe Utah should customize its own standards, with ongoing input from parents and teachers, while providing flexibility to local districts and charters.

Student assessment should be scientifically accurate and age-appropriate; be as non-intrusive as possible for students and teachers; protect student data; and empower principals, teachers and parents to measure and improve student learning.

A thorough, well-rounded education includes much more than job training, but I believe our education system must help students understand the challenges and opportunities in today’s globalized economic climate, so they do not find themselves surprised and frustrated when they enter the workplace. 

Each student in Utah’s schools should be empowered to pursue their own post-secondary education and career objectives, whether in a four-year university, a community college or in Utah’s excellent Technical colleges.  We should introduce students to a broad array of choices, including STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), the arts and humanities, vocational training and other options; and help them set and achieve high educational goals regardless of their socioeconomic background.  We should continue to expand stackable credentials, allowing students to add seamlessly to their career qualifications.

Utah’s economy consistently leads the nation, but Utah businesses, especially in our thriving tech sector, cannot hire enough Utah employees.  We should expand the availability of internships and apprenticeships to help high school students become more aware of the amazing opportunities available in Utah’s outstanding business environment.  I have enjoyed working on the Utah County Chamber of Commerce Education Committee to promote collaboration between the business and education communities.    

Utah continues to provide lower levels of per-pupil funding than most states, but the Legislature and various districts have worked hard to improve funding while being fiscally conservative. Our current pandemic shows the wisdom of fiscal prudence.  I believe the Board can be an effective advocate for increased funding as it fulfills its oversight role, by accounting in detail for the use of taxpayers’ money and encouraging productive and innovative use of funding by districts and schools. 

The Board can also help to ensure that schools’ and districts’ concerns are shared with Utah’s legislators, and work closely with the legislature to shape education policy.  I have enjoyed the opportunity to engage with numerous legislators on behalf of the Utah State Charter School Board over the last few years as we crafted legislation addressing charter school issues and responded to citizen concerns, and also while working on the creation of ULEAD.

I believe the answers to our education challenges can be found among Utah’s schools and teachers, which is why we created ULEAD to study and share local education success stories.  I believe State Board members should communicate regularly with districts and individual schools. 

While respecting local autonomy, the Board and State Office can play a vital role in setting a clear and challenging vision, identifying and supporting innovation, and sharing the best practices of successful schools and teachers among both district and charter schools. Where structural or bureaucratic barriers prevent adoption of successful innovation, the Board should work to remove those barriers and enable all schools at the local level to pursue the best interests of their students.