If you think everything was fine at the legislature...

Last week, my Mother lost her job. Why should you, most likely a young reader, care? Well, don’t worry about me or my family; we’ll be fine. What you should worry about are your children. You see, after my mother retired from 20+ years of teaching kindergarten, she went to work as a mentor. She helps teachers who are in their first three years of the profession adapt to the difficulties of starting up. Davis County School District’s mentoring program was a model program; legislators cited it again and again as what the rest of the state should be doing.

In case you haven’t heard, Utah has a big problem with teachers. Some (Republican legislators) would try and tell you that it’s because they are lazy and overpaid. In reality, it’s because they’re overstressed with large class sizes, under-funded, and under-paid. Therefore, according to a 2006 Utah State Office of Education study, one-third new teachers left the profession in three years, and one half in five years. Well, some (Republican legislators) would tell you that just because all teachers are women and they like to have babies. There’s some truth in that; my mother took some time off teaching when me two sisters and I were born, not going back until I was five. But, if you’re like me, that sounds inherently sexist, and unfair to children too.

So what’s the solution? Well, some (Republican legislators) would try and tell you that we should just let anyone teach. It’s easy! No need to use proven mentoring programs, provide alternative routes to licensure, or maybe (just maybe) pay teachers a living wage, reduce class sizes, and simply build more schools.

No, no need to do that. It’s just our children.

Don’t worry about me, and my Mother doesn’t want you to worry about her either. She will keep working until the end of the school year. That’s when Davis County School District, and every school district across the state, loses their quality teaching funds. For some school districts, that just meant that they wouldn’t have to cut classroom days, though that still may happen. For Davis School District, the legislature’s cuts meant that the Mentoring Program is gone.

Unfortunately, my mother knows of some teachers who really needed her help, and were depending on it for the next two years. She knows that at least one may quit or move to a better paying, better funding state. That’s what makes my mother sad; it makes me angry.

So, next time you hear about how great this past legislative session was, how easy it was, how they actually adjourned before midnight, look deeper. I hope we hear more of about the problems that will come from a legislature and a governor who decided that a boom-and-bust economy is more important than one that sustained by an educated citizenry. But I guess that’s why they do it; couldn’t get re-elected if it were any other way.