No Child Left Behind

Utah is bristling over inflexible requirements in the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, as are many other states. A good overview of the issue was presented on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer last Thursday.

Though the Act's intentions are good, Utah's complaint with NCLB is that it is not realistic. NCLB requires that each school make annual yearly progress (AYP), so that ALL STUDENTS will be "proficient" by 2014. Okay. Sounds lofty and wonderful. What does it mean?

It means that each group of children who can't speak English, each group of children with learning disabilities, each low-income group, and dozens of other groups have to march toward "proficiency" by 2014. A better way, according to Utah, is to individually measure the annual progress of each student (the "growth model approach"). Rather than expect second-language learners to master English within 6 months or expect children with learning disabilities to miraculously shed those disabilities within a few months, we want to make sure that those individual students make at least a year's progress each year.

To this idea, we get the statement of Ross Weiner of the Education Trust: "If you're a student who either comes to school behind or falls behind, that proposal would mean you would never catch up to your peers in terms of learning." Mr. Weiner, come to West Elementary School someday. I'll arrange for you to spend a few minutes with kids whose parents are in jail, others who can speak a handful of words in English, others who have tremendous learning disabilities. You can explain to their parents (in some cases, through the visitation room glass) how achieving a year's progress every year simply won't cut it for them; they should be branded failures -- and their whole school, too -- if they don't catch right up to grade level.

Better yet, I'll let you sit down with my wife and explain to her how her youngest daughter, who started behind because of a disability, is a failure if she only progresses one year at a time. Oh, man, would I love to watch that! You'd be gagging on your "Ultimately what Utah is asking for is to not have to take responsibility for educating their students" all the way back to D.C.

What is the reality here? My youngest daughter (who has the same parents and teachers as her older siblings who are doing very well) will not test "proficient" for some time. Her teachers and administrators love her dearly. But what happens down the road, as she and other students with unique challenges drag down their school's aggregate test results, no matter what efforts the school makes? People are responsive to rewards and punishments. Will administrators later discourage her and those other students from attending school? Will other parents resent that she and those other students jeopardize funding?

The Lehrer report talks about Amelia Earhart Elementary. It is a tremendous school, with proud and driven parents. How will those parents respond to the fact that the special education students dragged the whole school into the failing category? That's a harsh way to speak about special education students; but that's the dollars-and-cents perspective of NCLB -- those students failed and, because of that, their school failed. Will this situation increase the understanding and support those students and their parents need. Or will they feel they should apologize when they show up to school as members of "that" subgroup? What if Hispanic kids fail to meet AYP; how will they be greeted? What if members of the "low-income subgroup" fail to meet AYP; how will those kids be greeted?

Utah is at the forefront of this issue, and I'm sure the other states will be quick to follow. NCLB presents an interesting issue for the Bush Administration, which highlights NCLB as one of its major accomplishments, and for federal legislators who voted for the act (intending to show support for education) and now face constituents increasingly curious why their legislators turned so much control of local schools over to the federal government. Though I don't think a middle ground would be too difficult to find on this issue, it has been elusive so far. I would bet that nervous Congressmen and Senators who voted for NCLB will desperately seek solutions before the next election-cycle.

Special Session

A special legislative session starts this Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. and ends when the legislature determines it is done with business. (Last year, in a veto override session, the Senate did its business, adjourned and went home, before the House had the chance to act on some other items representatives wanted considered. The House could have voted to override the issues, but the bills would have gone over to an empty Senate chamber. The Senate’s point was valid; the votes weren’t there; so, why bother? But there were a few House members a bit out of sorts.)

There is an interesting dynamic that comes into play in a special session. The governor issues the call and places items on the call; the legislature can’t add to the list. However, the governor can’t control how the legislature conducts its business during the session. Therefore, if the governor decided to force the legislature into session to deal with something it didn’t want to deal with, the legislature could meet, go through the formalities of opening the session and, then, promptly adjourn. So there is some give-and-take about what goes on a call. Governor Huntsman has been wonderful in working with the legislature in deciding which items to place on the call. Though I think there are too many items on the call, I know good and well why the so many issues are on the call; legislators successfully lobbied to get them there.

I will briefly describe the issues to be considered in the upcoming special session of the legislature.

No Child Left Behind – The bill prioritizes State education requirements ahead of federal requirements (essential replacing NCLB with the State’s U-PASS system, which we think deal more effectively with students as individuals, not groups). I’ll vote for it.

Veteran’s Nursing Home – In order to gain $8.5 million in federal funds for the building of the Ogden nursing home, the State needs to pass a $4.5 million dollar bond. I’ll vote for it.

Drug Offender Reform Act – The bill would authorize a $1.4 million pilot program intended to decrease prison recidivism through drug treatment. I’ll vote for it.

Health Care Provider Amendments – This bill clarifies when providers in HMOs and PPOs can bring an action for payment and addresses panel composition and payment.

Transportation Funding Bill – This would create and fund the Transportation Investment Fund (TIF). I’ll vote for it.

Convention Facilities – During the General Session, we passed a bill to allow Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to tap increased hotel taxes to pay for the $82 million expansion of the Salt Place and South Towne Expo center. Salt Lake City officials are looking for the State to contribute $4 million to the project. Undecided.

Executive Compensation – This bill would give certain members of the executive branch a 4.5% pay raise. Undecided.

Municipal Boundary Adjustments – The bill would allow municipalities with common boundaries to make adjustments to the boundary by using the County Board of Adjustments as a third-party arbitrator. Undecided, but leaning toward voting for it.

Legislative Task Forces – The bill would adjust the percentage of Republicans and Democrats on task forces to more accurately reflect the actual membership ratio in the House. I'll vote for this bill.

Jail Expansion – This resolution would support expansion of jails in Beaver, Millard and Sanpete counties. I’ll vote for this bill.

Tourism – This bill corrects 3 words that did not correspond in the bills passed by the House and Senate. I'll vote for this bill.

Nonprofit Legal Assistance – This bill legislatively authorizes expenditure of funds already appropriated for nonprofit legal help. I'll vote for this bill.

Voting Machines – This bill requires paper records for voting machines (after passage, an incorrect copy of the bill was forwarded to Governor). I'll vote for this bill.

Fire Districts – This bill would modify notice and hearing requirements for property tax increases relating to interlocal cooperation entities. I'll vote for this bill.

Special Service Districts – This bill would increase the amount of property tax fire, ambulance, and emergency service districts could charge in counties of first and second class. Undecided.

How Are We Doing?

While Utah points fingers at the federal government over the inflexible mandates of No Child Left Behind, I received the following e-mail yesterday from a native-Vietnamese girl now here in the 11th grade, regarding the assessment/performance requirements in the Utah system we argue is better. Because of her limited English skills, she is concerned about her fate as she contemplates the must-pass Utah Basic Skills Compentency Test (UBSCT).

She writes (very well, I might add),

The UBSCT test is not a fair test because for any student who speaks a different language, the test is very hard. The test makes students feel dumb, and some will give up on school because they get discouraged. For example, I have a friend and he is very smart, but he didn't pass the test. He told me if he doesn't pass it, he will drop out of school and go work in a market or somewhere else.

The test made my parents worry because they don't know what I will do if I don't pass before graduation. Every time my parents see me go around they just tell me to go study. Sometimes I feel like I don't have any time for myself. At least I need a little time to play a game with friends or go to a movie.

I believe the test doesn't show what I can do. Some of my teachers tell me, "Students of ESL need at least 5 years study to English and then they can talk and write well." I think this test is easier for American kids because it is in their native language. The test will make a lot of students not graduate from high school, and they can't study any more, even good students. Some of my friends love to go to school, and they have some dreams. They want to be a doctor, teacher, musician and many things. The test makes everything vanish and students just feel like they are stupid. They don't want go to school anymore, even me.

I think I have tried to study hard in school and do homework every day. I also do many things to help my grades go up. My grades just go up but I still don't pass the test.

I believe the test only shows that I don't read and write well in English. I need more time to learn English. I want to have a chance to go to college. The UBSCT may keep me and other students from doing that. Please help us.

I'll discuss this with Dr. Harrington when I meet with her Monday. In a broad sense, this illustrates the beauty of federalism; if Utah needs to improve its system, as in this case to deal with language difficulties, it can and will. What do we do, though, if Utah determines the federal education program needs improvement? Change becomes exponentially more difficult. In the narrower sense, though, referring to this young woman's concern, I wonder if we don't need to make some additional adjustments in UBSCT to account for special circumstances (e.g., language familiarity or natural cognitive deficits).

Education

Hooray! My oldest daughter just won her school's spelling bee. (I'm nervous about spelling errors on this entry, so as not to reveal from which parent she gets her ability.) I look at her and her siblings, their friends, and the good people who make up the community around me, and I would be hard pressed to adequately express my gratitude for our education system. We live in a blessed time in a blessed part of the world.

Could our system do better? Should it have more choice for kids who struggle in the public system and would benefit from alternatives? Should it be subject to reform, including rigorous accountability requirements? Yes, yes, and yes. I don't mean to marry complacency to praise, but we are doing some things right, and my hat is off to the dedicated people who contribute to the system.

This morning I met with leaders of the state AARP and encouraged them to work with me in developing an effective volunteer program for K-5. As I wrote in my entry of March 25, 2005, and as the Tooele School District is proving, if we have good readers by the fifth grade, we are that much further down the road to success. Because of our State's unique demographics -- huge birth rate and miniscule amount of property tax (76% of the land does not contribute to the property tax system, because of government ownership) -- coupled with our extremely high taxes, we need to look hard for innovative ways to improve our schools. I look at the schools in my corner of the state, and the ones whose results significantly defy their demographics are the ones that have effective volunteer programs (reliable and coordinated).

If we were to train volunteers (effectiveness and reliability) and teachers (delegation and coordination) within the framework of an organized volunteer system, including some dads who might just want to kick a red rubber ball a mile in the air during recess to relieve a teacher, we would make a dent in reducing the learner to instructor ratio -- at least at critical times during the day or week.

Yesterday, my daughter's third-grade teacher asked my wife to take aside a group of 5 students struggling with math and help them conquer a specific concept. With the small ratio of 1:5, they got it. Meanwhile, the teacher successfully taught a different subject to the smaller-than-usual group she worked with.

This isn't anything new at all. This is simply broadening the positive impact of something that is working in a few schools. For good examples in Washington County, see Sunset Elementary and Washington Elementary.

No Child Left Behind

Regarding the upcoming special session on No Child Left Behind (I'm predicting it won't be on the call), Utah’s (part-time) Education Deputy Tim Bridgewater opines, “Representative Dayton's attacks are untimely and miss the point. Most of the people who heard the announcements last week feel a major breakthrough occurred."

In Jim Collins’s book Good to Great, he discusses the importance of “getting the right people on the bus,” in order to move an organization forward. It’s time to admit, Gov. Huntsman has the wrong person on the bus when it comes to education. As several administrators have expressed to me, Tim knows less about public education in Utah than the average guy walking down the street. His two claims to fame are that he got thumped twice in Republican Primaries and that he claims to be close to the Bush family. How that got spun on a resume to make him the guy to represent Utah’s position in an education dispute with the Bush Administration is a dandy question.

For the guy who’s supposedly representing Utah’s position on this issue to accuse one of my beloved, best and hardest-working colleagues of “attacking” Secretary Spellings, just because Rep. Dayton believes that the principle of states rights remains an issue even after elections and believes in the fact that Utah can better run its schools than can the federal government, shows – in addition to whatever his bona fides are on education – that Tim is politically clueless. If Gov. Huntsman wants to retain the good relationship he started with the legislature in his first few months in office, he needs to send Tim back to the temp service and bring on a full-time deputy who understands Utah’s education system and who is more interested in representing the clear position held by all education interests in the state than in shilling for a federal appointment.

There are good reasons why all education interests in the state support Rep. Dayton’s position and why the House will eagerly follow her on this issue. Rep. Dayton’s copy of NCLB is dog-eared and tattered. She has her facts. Though the broad-brush underpinnings of NCLB are noble and good (such as increased accountability), the specifics of the Act are not helping Utah. NCLB could be improved and should be improved. The State needs to push for substantive changes, rather than dopishly salute pre-negotiation maneuverings as “a major breakthrough.”

In discussions with the federal government, it is time for Utah to involve people who have a clue what they’re talking about. If Utah puts competent people in the room, the parties will agree on the fact that Utah wants the flexibility to pursue what NCLB intended to promote -- accountability and improvement. Though this is stunning to me, the extremely competent Representative Margaret Dayton (see my previous accolades here) and State Superintendent Patti Harrington (previous accolades here) have been left completely on the sidelines (and by that I mean 100%). My constituents are serious about this issue. My legislative colleagues are serious about this issue. My state also should be serious about this issue.

Rep. Dayton and Superintendent Harrington need a seat at the table. And I know just the guy who could give up his to make room.

UPDATE (1/14/05): NCLB is on the call. The Administration is saying that Dr. Harrington and Rep. Dayton have been "very involved in every step of the discussion." That just doesn't seem to be the case. We'll have to get people together, retrace what happened, and make necessary changes, so that the chances of a gaffe like this happening again are minimized. To the merits: we likely will pass HB 1001 without significant amendment, (in other words., the same bill as passed by the House in the General Session). I'll give a critique of the issue in the next few days.

So Cute!

The state appropriates some money to arts organizations in Utah. One such program is the Utah Festival Opera Company, which runs Opera By Children. This year, a second-grade class from Crestview Elementary in Holladay is using some of the money to write (and they will perform) their own opera. Here are unedited excerpts from letters the second-graders sent me.

Thank you for the opera money, I am 8+ How old are you? [40 this summer]

Our Opera is called The Snowy Ice Berg I want to be a polar bear. I am seven years old I have brown hair and Im a girl.

I like chess. Do you know how to play chess? [sounds like a hustle to me]

I am going to be a penguin and the tit tel is Snowy Iceberg and Hanna's Grandma is doing the piano and it is fun.

I'm eight years old. My favorite number is nine. [won't next year be grand!]

I can't wait till we get to do our opera!! I want to be a penguin. It goes like this, We are going to Florida. Then we get stuck in Antartica. Your friend, . . . [ah, brevity]

I have a pichter for you on the back. [a beautiful mountain, cloud, and sun].

This is one of my very favorite things about the legislature -- the letters from school children, the visits to their schools and their visits to the Capitol.

Smoking

Yesterday, I pointed out why I think we shouldn't ban smoking in bars. Ethan pointed out why he thinks we should. Foolishly, I then challenged a premise of his argument; after doing that, I ran through his blog, and now see that he's smarter, funnier, and hipper than I am. It's a great blog. Here's a sample:

Please, please, please let this be the last we hear of how Roger Ball, blah blah blah, only thirty minutes, blah blah blah, so unfair, blah blah blah. Now we have former state representative Beverly White showing up in both papers today to make the same points we've all memorized now, and let everyone know that as a former member of the blah blah blah (snore) committee, she personally demands an explanation. Good for her. For everyone's benefit and Ms. White, I'll provide the explanation. Roger Ball was fired because the Governor wanted someone else to do his job. Now, move on PLEASE!

and

Today's Deseret News reports a Provo police officer shot and killed two pit bulls. Good for him. Remember a couple of years ago when that little girl had her face torn off by someone's rottweiler in Liberty Park? If only that were an isolated case. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 18 of the 27 dog- bite related fatalities in the U.S. in 1996- 1997 were thanks to rottweilers and pitt bulls. The remaining 9 fatalities were spread out over all the other breeds and mixes. I wonder what the figures for injuries are. There is no right to own pit bulls and rottweilers. [actually, there is a right -- or at least no prohibition -- but it's still poor taste.]

Also, he and Charley Foster are providing good commentary on the situation in El Dorado.

UPDATE (4/10/05): The D-News has a story on the bar-hopping trip. It says,

Smoke-free bar owners and managers maintain they are doing better business by being smokeless and providing a healthier environment for their workers.

"A lot of people told us we would never make it if we were smoke-free, but it's done nothing but help us," Red Door owner Louise Hanning said.

Ditto, said Oyster Bar general manager Mark Robbins, whose businesses is booming since the bar went smoke-free in February.

Sounds to me like the market is taking care of the issue without government action.

Behind the Scenes

The attached article about bills on the special session (one so far), says, "Huntsman has until 48 hours before the session starts to decide if other bills will be considered." That 48-hours provision is the result of a constitutional amendment I ran (and the voters ratified) in 2002. Here's the story.

In 2001, we had a two-day special session. Gov. Leavitt kept adding items to the call, even after we convened the session on the first day. This meant we would have to research the issues that night, to be ready to act on the items the next day; I also had a specific piece of legislation I was bird-dogging and for which I would have to polish my presentation that night. Late in the first day of the session, I got the worst stomach virus ever known to man and spent the night . . . well . . . let's just say I spent the night unpleasantly. I called Rep. David Clark around 10 p.m. at his hotel: "Dave, [gasp, retch, grunt], get over here, man. I think I'm dying. Bring Pepto Bismal. [retch] And a gun."

Dave's not a bad nurse at all; but his bedside manners are lacking. It's a tough thing to be going through the throes of death only to have your medical help convulsing in fits of laughter.

Anyway. More detail than you needed. I decided around 3 or 4 a.m. that night that it would be a good thing to have some advance warning as to what would be on a special session call (not only for legislators but also, and especially, for the public who should have the right to provide input on the issues). Now, 48-hours advance notice is required for items to be placed on a special session call.

I'd like to see a civics teacher share that little insight into democratic process with the class. "Boys and girls, how do stomach viruses affect legislation?"

I dislike special sessions, because they effectively shut the public out of the process (because there typically aren't committee hearings and the items blow through so fast that the public really can't inform itself and take action to shape the outcome). No setting favors special interests or tied-in interests more than a special session. For these reasons, I'm working to keep items off the call that were not fully vetted during the recent general session. For example, because of the level of recent input on the issues, I think it would be entirely appropriate to consider No Child Left Behind (which, by the way, had another public hearing today at the direction of the bill's sponsor/Education Interim Committee co-chair Rep. Margaret Dayton), the Drug Offender Reform Act, and the Veteran's Nursing Home.

Bar Hopping

The D-News has an article on Sen. Waddoups and Rep. Ray touring smoke-free bars with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson to promote legislation barring smoking in private clubs.

I hate smoke as much as any other non-smoker and I understand the health risks of smoking and smoky places, but I can't get behind this legislation. If Gastronomy wants to make its restaurants smoke-free, more power to it; I'll be more likely to eat there. But, I don't see why other restaurants/clubs can't make a different choice and attract a different crowd; it's their property and their customers' choice.

The logic being used to push the legislation is that the workers and staff at the restaurants/clubs are not there by choice and that they suffer the effects. Correct me if you disagree, but my guess is that the establishments that would be involuntarily affected by the legislation allowed smoking when the workers signed on. In a full-employment economy like Utah is enjoying, and given the enormous number of smoke-free establishments that exist in the state, I don't think it's accurate to consider the workers as hostages to the environment. To me, this proposal cuts too deeply into property rights, lawful economic activity and people's ability to simply be left alone.

I adore Sen. Waddoups and Rep. Ray and their willingness to take on controversial issues. This is a debate worth having. But it's not legislation I would support.

St. George Triathlon

Six years ago, my brother-in-law, Jared Stanley ran in a triathlon. He thought it was sort of fun, but he figured it would really be a blast to put on a triathlon.

In a little over a month, my family will put on the 5th Annual St. George Triathlon. Check out the website here; to see footage of last year's race (and to verify that I live in the prettiest place on earth), click on the black arrow in the green box in the lower left.

I'm kind of proud of my wifey and her siblings.

Sandy Scissorhands

Get this. Former National Security Advisor Sandy "Scissorhands" Berger went to the National Archives to review sensitive documents being studied by the 9/11 commission regarding the Clinton administration's handling of terrorism. He stuffed documents down his pants, left the Archives, and then shredded the documents with scissors. When busted, he repeatedly lied about what happened. (Now, remember -- since prosecutors have seemingly forgotten -- these documents have relevance because of their relation to 9/11, one of the defining moments of American, and maybe world, history.)

For this, he will plead to a misdemeanor, pay a fine and get a 3-year suspension of his national security clearance.

If some kid went in a store and Bergered a Rolex, he'd do time for a felony. In my law practice, if I Bergered sensitive documents, I'd be disbarred and my client would get slapped. Unbelievable.