Utah schools given hope, faced challenges in 2011

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SALT LAKE CITY -- The year in education started with a message of hope. Governor Gary Herbert urged lawmakers to make it a "number one priority."

Weeks later, he showed the state he meant it. For the first time in three years, lawmakers allocated millions of dollars to cover thousands of students entering Utah schools. But changes throughout the school year posed challenges to the legislation on all fronts.

The most contentious issue -- performance pay -- sparked teacher protests in Ogden. Performance pay ruled that teachers could make more or less money based on student performance. With the threat of losing their jobs, all but one teacher signed new merit-based contracts.

"We know times are tight, but lawmakers should be looking for solutions, not scapegoats," said Greg Johnson of the National Education Association. "Teachers are the solution not the problem."

Throwing the system through another loop was the language immersion program gaining ground across the state. Utah is one of the fastest growing in the country accepting the program, and thousands of kids are learning to speak French, read in Spanish and understand Chinese in schools.

"You can actually see that those (in the program) are performing above their peers that aren't in the immersion program," said Principal McKay Robinson at Lone Peak Elementary in Provo, where children are partially taught in French.

While the programs have support, their implementation has caused division in several neighborhoods.

Another landmark event in education was the doing away with the controversial No Child Left Behind program by President Barack Obama.

"We're going to let states, schools and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for jobs in the future," President Obama said.

For Granite elementary schools, the year-round schedule was changed to a traditional schedule, saving the district needed money. The district also moved behind Alpine as the largest school district in the state. Alpine is king with more than 68,000 students attending its schools.

On the other side of the education debate, students faced hardship in the form of tuition increases. At some Utah colleges and universities, tuition has been bumped up 12 percent.

"No longer can students afford to sit on the sidelines and show up and punch the clock at school every day," said David Smith of Education First.

Nearly 33,000 Utah college students have petitioned lawmakers to make education top priority in state spending.

KSL has worked hard to contribute with the Read Today Literacy initiative in 2011. Throughout the year, we distributed more than 50,000 books, visited thousands of readers and helped partner 2700 Utah students with one-on- one reading tutors.

Email:dwimmer@ksl.com