Public education is one of the most valuable assets of our community, and our teachers deserve recognition and support for their work. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs at school are integral to teaching empathy and connection. Curriculums should provide age-appropriate instruction that is not filtered by religion or revisionist thinking. Our children need to develop broader understandings of the world, and develop critical thinking and social skills to be successful.
I stand with teachers for pay raises and for collective bargaining. It’s frustrating to see that passing teacher pay raises is only negotiated in order to pass negative legislation (i.e. school vouchers), or for publicity moves by the super-majority in Utah’s legislature (i.e. the 2024 election year proposal to do away with the income tax that is a primary funding source for education, but “hey, let’s throw a bone and give teachers raises”) . We need a priority bill for teacher funding. We need to fight against the initiative to cancel the so-called “CRT praxis” of the conservative right.
- Protect Church-State separation. School is for education, not indoctrination.
- I am against private school vouchers. Public money should stay in public schools. See https://networkforpubliceducation.org/voucher-scandals/.
- I am for funding teacher salaries and growing incentives to attract and retain educators in our state.
- I support the unions and associations that public employees belong to.
- I will promote Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in school districts, as well as support investment in inclusive programs like Special Olympics Utah and Best Buddies Utah. I want to partner with Utah First Lady Abby Cox’s Show Up Utah initiative to help grow Special Olympics Unified Sports programs. You may recall that the Utah PTA hosted the Utah PTA Advocacy Conference in 2020, where Tim Shriver was a keynote speaker and delivered a presentation on “Building Bridges of Understanding through Social and Emotional Learning”. Our Utah state Governor Herbert at that time spoke of the importance of the social/emotional learning movement. There is a solid history of bipartisan support for SEL in Utah.
- Support concepts of the IDEA act in schools that include free appropriate public education (FAPE), least restrictive environment (LRE), local school access, early intervention, mainstreaming, individualized education programs (IEP), and individual transition plans (ITP).
- I am against legislation like H.B. 427 – Individual Freedom in Public Education that prohibits discussions on systemic racism or unconscious bias. See my comments above under DEI.