Guv is nearing school-visit goal
The trip was the sequel to a similar one he made last year, called the Rural Utah Road Trip, when the governor visited areas of the state he otherwise wouldn't get to see much.
This year on the trip, the governor and several of his top staff, including Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, visited eight counties in three days, making stops in five of them: Juab, Sanpete, Sevier, Carbon and Grand.
The trip included visits with local newspapers and with business, education and government leaders in order to get a feel for local issues, especially ones that should be considered in the budget the governor's office is currently preparing. As Herbert said, it was "a listening and learning tour."
Huntsman used the tour to further a goal he made about a year and a half ago to visit all 40 of the state's school districts, something he said had never been done before even by the State Office of Education.
Juab and South Sanpete school districts were numbers 31 and 32, respectively, the governor having visited them the day before. He said he anticipated getting to the few remaining districts by the end of the year.
"I've got to get out and see you and listen to what you're up against," he said. "It's from these discussions that we're picking up bits and pieces that we're putting into a larger mosaic called the governor's budget. ... and budget is policy. We're trying to get education policy right."
One concern not directly connected to the budget, however, that the governor addressed at all three meetings was the amount of testing in Utah's schools.
"I hear everywhere I go there's too much of it," Huntsman said. "I think there's a certain level of outrage and concern about the time and effort spent in testing. I haven't had one meeting yet with a school district where this doesn't come up."
Huntsman floated the idea of creating a committee that could look into the issue and "make recommendations on the appropriate level of testing in the state."
The idea was met by general approval.
The governor said he planned to recommend the proposal to state educators during a statewide education summit in November.
But the governor's top education priority, he said, was to increase teacher pay.
"My goal as we move into the legislative session is pretty simple: I want more money for teachers," he said.
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