For Their Cause
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Tuesday, October 30, 2007
By Beth Young
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
Politics take spotlight at teacher convention
SALT LAKE CITY -- Hundreds of teachers stood outside the Salt Palace on Monday at the Utah Education Association convention, waving signs protesting vouchers.
Normally, the conference is a way for teachers to brush up on their teaching skills.
However, this year, part of the conference focused on politics.
"As long as politicians are going to be involved with education, educators need to be involved in politics," said Susan Firmage, president of the Davis Education Association.
Many members of the education community spoke out against Referendum 1 to a room full of Utah teachers, many wearing anti-voucher T-shirts.
Voters will decide Nov. 6 on the state's voucher program, which would provide parents with $500 to $3,000, depending on income, to be used to pay a child's tuition at a private school.
Backers of the plan say parents deserve the opportunity to choose the academic setting that works best for their child, that vouchers will decrease class size and increase overall per-pupil funding.
The UEA doesn't agree.
"I would say that a good 90 percent of (teachers) think it's just a foolish idea," said Jesse DeHay, counselor at Fairfield Junior High and UEA and National Education Association board member.
Those in attendance were asked to vote against Referendum 1.
"We are only days away from the most important election in our lifetime," said Kim Campbell, UEA president.
Campbell called vouchers morally wrong, and said that Utah's children are "not for sale," which was met with cheers from the audience.
"We are the voice of public education," said Earl Gardner, a fourth-grade teacher at Bonneville Elementary School in Ogden. "We are the ones that know what is going on. Talk to the teachers -- they are the ones that will tell you how badly this law will affect them."
Gardner said he feels bad that the voucher issue has to take up time that would be used for teacher training, but it's important for teachers to stand up for what they believe.
"My salary is a political decision. What I teach in my classroom is a political decision, and so we have to be political," Gardner said.
As the educators walked around the Salt Palace holding their signs high, many who drove past honked, in what Viewmont High teacher Weston Clark believed was support.
"The point of the rally is definitely to get people's attention and remind people how important it is to get out and vote," he said. "The majority of Utahns are obviously against vouchers, but it's a matter of voicing those opinions at the polls."
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