Making History: Governor, Lieutenant Governor Meet with UEA Board

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Lt. Gov. Greg Bell and Education Deputy Christine Kearl met with the UEA Board at the UEA office June 16. The Governor spent two hours sharing his positions and answering questions from the Board.

“My number one priority as Governor is economic development,” said Gov. Herbert, calling it the engine that drives state revenue. He noted the “significant link” between economic development and his number two priority, education. “Sustained economic development requires a robust education system,” he said.

The conversation covered a variety of topics including:

Taxes and education funding: “Education funding increased by $900 million over the Huntsman-Herbert years,” said the Governor. He added that Utah is in a “unique” position with only 21.2 percent of the state held privately, limiting the amount of land available to generate tax revenue.

Vouchers: While he was a vocal supporter of vouchers, Gov. Herbert recognized that there were flaws in the law ultimately passed by the Utah legislature. “(Vouchers) should have been means tested and there should have been income limits,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, the (voucher) issue is dead for at least the next decade.”

State school board elections: When asked, Gov. Herbert called the current system for electing state school board members “screwy.” He has asked staff to look at how other states seat their school boards.

“We should (meet) more often,” said Gov. Herbert. “I’m sure we will find that we have much more in common than we have differences. We have the same goals and aspirations for students.”

“It was an honor to have the Governor in the UEA Building and to have open, honest and frank discussions with the UEA Board,” said UEA President Kim Campbell.

The meeting was historic in that it may be the first time a sitting governor has attended a meeting of the UEA Board.

Don't Know Much About History

Controversial changes may be in store for your textbooks, courtesy of the Texas state school board.


by Tim Walker


History, Winston Churchill famously said, is written by the victors. Don McLeroy no doubt agrees.

McLeroy is a dentist from Bryan, Texas, a self-described Christian fundamentalist, and an outgoing member of state school board of education (SBOE). Over the past year, McLeroy and his allies formed a powerful bloc on the 15-member elected board and pushed through controversial revisions to the statewide social studies curriculum.

“Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have,” McLeroy recently boasted.

To many Texans, however, what’s more mind-boggling are some of the revisions. Critics charge that they promote Christian fundamentalism, boost conservative political figures, and force-feed American “exceptionalism,” while downplaying the historical contributions of minorities. (See slideshow below for examples of the changes.)

Rita Haecker, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, believes the year-long review process deteriorated into a political and divisive spectacle.

“The circus-like efforts of right-wing board members,” Haecker said, “to impose their own religious and political beliefs on the public school curriculum have been and still are a national embarrassment.”



Don McLeroy
The standards will guide textbook purchases and classroom instruction over the next decade – and maybe not just in Texas. National publishers usually cater to its demands because the school board is probably the most influential in the country. Texas buys 48 million textbooks every year. No other state, except California, wields that sort of market clout.

But Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers’ School Division, says fears of a Texas-style national social studies curriculum are overblown because publishers are more accustomed nowadays to producing customized textbooks for different states.

But California isn’t taking any chances. A bill recently introduced in the state legislature seeks to prevent Texas-approved changes from seeping into textbooks in the Golden State.

Even if their reach is limited to Texas, will the new standards capsize social studies classrooms across the Lone Star state? Probably not, says Kirk White, a middle school social studies teacher in Austin.

“Are there some things in there that don’t belong? Sure, but I hope teachers don’t buckle and interpret the language too narrowly,” White says. “If we have to talk more about our so-called 'Christian nation' in class, then let’s talk about it– the good and the bad. A good teacher will know how to take advantage of this situation.”