The State of Utah Education

I have heard it, time and time again, the argument that Utah is "last in education". Only, that is only part of the truth. Utah is LAST in Education FUNDING, but the education people receive in Utah is actually very good. At least "above the national average" and at most "some of the top scores in the nation".
The problem is, every time we get into a tight budget situation, the first thing to get cut is education.
Budget deal includes $10 million cut for public education

During good times, our government taxes, gives tax breaks and grows. We don't put priority on things that need priority. Then in the lean times, our government doesn't want to shrink back to previous levels. It is a "can of worms" that once opened, you can never get them all back in. One of the most frustrating things I have ever seen. There are some solutions, however, that can help fix the problem, but there aren't even a consideration for the Utah Legislature. I like to ask "why?". You would think that the Legislature has a stake in helping the next generation of Utah Politician receive their education; the best education we can afford.

The good news is, Utah is doing well in education, but could do better with education funding:

2009 Average ACT Scores by State

National Average Composit Score = 21.1
Utah Average Composit Score = 21.8

(Hint, this means Utah Scores are Above Average)

Utah's graduation rates among best in U.S.

"according to reports released Tuesday by Education Week and by the National Center on Education Statistics."

Even with the differences in calculation, we are showing between a 70% and 80% graduation rate, this is very good!

Data show progress in Utah graduation rates

Educational Attainment for Persons 25 and Over (2007)

National Average:
High school graduate or more = 84.5
Bachelor's degree or more = 27.5
Advanced degree or more = 10.1
Utah State Average:
High school graduate or more = 90.2
Bachelor's degree or more = 28.7
Advanced degree or more = 9.1

(Hint, this means Utah is Better than Average in 2 of the 3 categories)

Center for Applied Economic Research, Montana State University
Quality Rankings of Education in the Fifty States

Teacher Quality
Utah = 21 out of 50

Education Input
Utah = 15 out of 50

Education Output
Utah = 12 out of 50

Education Social Impact
Utah = 19 out of 50

Education Efficiency
Utah = 1 out of 50

(This wasn't a Utah Study)

Best and Worst States
Does Spending More on Education Work? State Rankings of Education Spending.

"The highest spending state, Vermont, is rated 30th in SAT scores nationwide. The lowest spending state, Utah, gets higher SAT scores from their students and is ranked 20th, above Vermont. Far less money, higher score. The Best State (highest) SAT score comes from Iowa yet their spending of $9,977 per student is right in the middle at 25th and right at the national average of spending. The Worst State Sat score comes from Maine yet it spends the 5th most money in the nation."

(more money != better education)

Norway and Australia both have 11th and 12th grades as kind of an "academic high school", or "vocational high school".
Where the USA Ranks in Education

The Educational rankings of the United States, when compared to the rest of the world's "industrialized countries", ranks either 7th or 13th, depending on which rank you choose to look at, while Norway and Australia rank 1st and 2nd respectively, or 2nd and 3rd respectively (again, depending on your choice of chart). And a third ranking puts the United States at 15th, 19th, and 14th, behnid Norway (13th, 17th, and 13th) and Australia (4th, 5th, and 7th).

(more money != better education (on any level))

And here is the kicker, Norway and Australia both spend LESS on education than the United States with Australia spending less than Norway. So there is no direct correleation between "spending" and "quality of education". Even Korea, rated top for science, spends LESS on Education than the United States.

Utah consistently (according to AP, SAT, ACT, and other tests) achieve *better than average* scores.

The problem is, if we don't find a solution to cutting education, we will not only be last in funding, but we will lose all our good teachers, we will lose out good education rankings, we will fail our next generation.

Some solutions that I have proposed are:
Make education a COMMUNITY or at most a STATE issue. Get the Feds out of Education. It isn't a "basic human right" but a "privilege" and should be treated that way. Doing education funding within the state should balance the state's education dollars between the "haves" and the "have nots". We can also make sure people pay their fair share. Thos families without kids in the system pay less than people with kids in the system, and families with more kids in the system pay more than families with fewer kids in the system.
Because of the reduction in federal taxes paid (removing our support of the federal education system) we have more to put toward education in our state.

We can also add extra money, not to the schools but to the students:
Should Kids Be Bribed To Do Well In School?

"Harvard economist Roland Fryer Jr. did something education researchers almost never do: he ran a randomized experiment in hundreds of classrooms in Chicago, Dallas, Washington, and New York to help answer a controversial question: Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School? He used mostly private money to pay 18,000 kids a total of $6.3 million and brought in a team of researchers to help him analyze the effects. He got death threats, but he carried on. His findings? If incentives are designed wisely, it appears, payments can indeed boost kids' performance as much as or more than many other reforms you've heard about before — and for a fraction of the cost."

(maybe direct spending would be the better solution?)

We can also broaden Butters suggestion of removing the 12th grade and take a look at how Australia and Sweeden do their "Vocational" and "Academic" high school ideas for those grades (like adding a "pre-college" set of years), but allow those from 10th grade on to CHOOSE if they want to continue or not.

I encourage you all to get involved in your Child's education. It is, after all, a parent's responsibility to make sure their child is being educated. The School System is only a tool to use for this purpose. Take responsibility, don't let others dictate to you what you should or shouldn't do. It isn't "their" responsibility.
Contact your legislators with your ideas on how to improve the system, and what you think we can do to fix the problems. This is the only way that we will see changes; if people stand up and say "do something" and not just that, but "do something we want you to do -- something useful".