Recently, I was surprised by a tone-deaf endorsement of Teuscher from Jim Moss @epsomjrm, Chair of the Utah Board of Education @utboardofed. Jordan is no friend to teachers or to public schools. Why Jim endorsed a legislator who attacks public employee interests, defunds public schools, and hasn’t bothered to be present at any of the public schools in his district during his entire tenure in the House is the poorest and most partisan thing he could do as a board member of USBE.
“Jordan’s dedication to supporting students and teachers, and encouraging parent engagement has made a significant impact.” – Jim Moss, who clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about
Teuscher is no friend to teachers
Jordan has repeatedly attacked public employee associations, including teachers associations like the Utah Education Association (UEA). During general session this year, Teuscher wrote HB285 to make it more difficult for public employees to organize and collectively bargain for safe working conditions, decent wages and benefits, and legal protections. In 2023, he wrote HB241, an anti-union bill designed to starve public unions of money and kill their ability to operate at all in the organizations they serve. Both bills failed to pass due to overwhelming opposition.
- ‘You better be ready for a fight’: Labor union warns Legislature not to target workers’ rights in Utah (sltrib.com)
- Utah lawmaker drops contentious measure with 30,000 signatures on teacher petition against it (sltrib.com)
- Opinion: Is attacking Utah workers really the Utah Way? (utahpolicy.com)
It’s worth noting that I have endorsements from the Utah Education Association (UEA), Jordan Education Association, Utah Parents for Teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Teuscher wants to defund (not defend) public education
- Jordan supports the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program which takes funding from public education and gives it to private programs that have no certification, no accountability, and no performance measures. For extensive links and references, see https://utah44.com/supporting-public-schools/
- Jordan talks about using vouchers to push people with disabilities and learning issues out of public schools
- Worth a listen: hear what the Brigham Young Money podcast has to say on HB241 and HB215
This is what Jordan Teuscher said when talking about the 2023 HB215 Utah Fits All Scholarship voucher program:
“as these students come out of public schools, a lot of time, and I’ve heard this from teachers, a lot of times they’ll have to spend, you know, 80% of their time on 20% of the students because it’s just not the right fit. You know, maybe they have a disability or, you know, a learning challenge or something, they don’t learn the same way. And so if we can get those students into schools that focus on that need, and then the teachers can spend all their time dealing with the other 80% of the teachers [sic] it’s a total win-win for everyone. And that’s what I intend, that’s what I hope to see as it moves forward.“ – Jordan Teuscher
Teuscher writes poor legislation that gets tied up in courts
- Teuscher wrote HB464 to allow parents to sue social media companies, and SB194 (i.e. the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act) that successfully passed but was immediately challenged in courts and subsequently blocked for violating first amendment rights. In the court’s response they stated “The court recognizes the State’s earnest desire to protect young people from the novel challenges associated with social media use,” … “But owing to the First Amendment’s paramount place in our democratic system, even well-intentioned legislation that regulates speech based on content must satisfy a tremendously high level of constitutional scrutiny.”
Although it’s good to protect our children from online harms, we need competent authors for legislation who aren’t simply showboating for votes, then leaving us with costly court fees.
Teuscher wants guns and religion to replace diversity and free expression in schools
- Teuscher supports book bans. HB029
- Teuscher supports muzzling teachers first amendment rights (HB303 and HB477)
- Teuscher voted against diversity training (HB111) and against DEI initiatives (HB261)
- Teuscher voted for guns in schools (HB119)
- Teuscher voted for the anti-trans bathroom bill (HB257)
- Teuscher voted for indoctrination in public schools (HB269 and HB514)
The bottom line: Teuscher doesn’t care about public employees, including teachers. He doesn’t care about our system of public education and is willing to undermine its funding and supports. How a USBE Board member could endorse him as a candidate is antithetical to the interests of public education, and disrespectful of the community of educators who represent and defend public education in Utah.