SALT LAKE CITY — As a teaching veteran of 25 years, I have found the fight about the Common Core both amusing and troubling.

It’s amusing because of the misplaced zealotry of both its proponents and detractors, and it’s troubling because it masks the most pressing issues concerning public education, particularly here in Utah.

With regards to the pro-Common Core set, they see this new curriculum as transformative and something long needed to get students “college and career ready” and more internationally competitive.

Those against the Common Core come from two sources, the loudest seeing the Common Core as transformative, but in the most awful ways, fearing that it will “brainwash” our students as states lose control of public education to the federal government. Others, including some educators, find the Common Core a bit confusing and are wary of the new standardized testing that comes with it.

The fight definitely has a lot of people revved up one way or the other. But for many of us in the public schools trenches, the war about the Common Core takes necessary attention away from urgent issues, which, if addressed, would really improve education for our public school students.

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The most pressing issues are funding and class size. It’s not uncommon for elementary teachers to have classes with 30 to 35 students, and for secondary school teachers to have classes well over 40 students. It should be noted that one shouldn’t trust the reported class sizes of a school or district. With counselors, administrators and librarians often counted in determining pupil-to-teacher ratios, a wise parent should expect his or her child to be in classes perhaps 10 to 15 students higher than the reported average (especially true in secondary schools in typical core classes).

Now, elementary and secondary teachers have different issues with regards to class size. The reality is that elementary teachers need to spend more one-on-one time with students, and perhaps managing 30 8-year-olds is more taxing than managing 30 high school-age students. But for secondary teachers, the sheer volume of students many of our Utah educators face is still a very daunting task. Take 40 students times six sections of classes, and a typical secondary teacher in a core subject might have just short of 250 students.

Large class sizes make it harder for teachers to manage students, differentiate the curriculum, assign more meaningful work, evaluate students, communicate effectively with parents, and — perhaps most importantly — develop those deeper relationships with students to ignite that spark to be life-long learners. When fortunate enough to have that class of 30 students instead of 40, I, for one, see a major difference in my effectiveness in all of those areas.

Further, teachers are increasingly becoming demoralized. Retaining teachers is becoming more difficult, and the constant turnover of teachers is not good for schools or their students. The reality is that the more veteran teachers, such as myself, will push on the best we can until retirement, but the younger teachers will soon leave the profession. With the prospect of paltry raises and reduced benefits, combined with the ever-increasing demands made on them from everywhere, they decide teaching isn’t worth the trouble. Sadly, many of these departing teachers have incredible talent and potential.

I will concede that the funding issues in Utah are difficult. The demographics of Utah make it challenging. While Utah is dead last in per-pupil spending, the Beehive State is in the top 10 in regards to what percentage of its budget goes to fund public education.

I still strongly assert that we need to do whatever it takes to address these issues. This might mean education needs a bigger chunk of the budget pie, but it also might mean making the actual pie bigger by looking at raising and restructuring taxes and coming up with other ideas to increase revenues. Our children deserve nothing less.

As the fight over the Common Core rages on, the real issues that plague Utah’s schools remain largely ignored. I would tell any proponent of the Common Core that while they may believe this new direction in curriculum is wonderful, it will probably fail to revolutionize education in our Utah schools until these pressing issues of reducing class size and improving teaching morale improve. I suppose this should give Common Core detractors some solace, but for all the wrong reasons.

Brian Preece has been an educator in Utah's public school system at the high school level for the past 25 years. In 2005-06, Preece was named as the National Wrestling Coach of the Year for Utah in wrestling.

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