Bad grades | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

What's all the fuss about grades for Utah's schools? The average grade was somewhere around a C-plus, not bad at all considering our Legislature continues to fund education at a grade way below an F. We are dead last in the nation in per-pupil spending, about 15 percent behind the next-lowest state.

This is despite the fact that about 70 percent of the public continues to tell our legislators that they would support tax increases if earmarked for public education.

The latest rankings list us at 27th, despite totally inadequate funding. We are actually getting great bang for the limited bucks allocated to public education in Utah.

So, if you are angry at the grades given to Utah schools, and your community school specifically, start by calling your legislator and demanding we move funding for education to at least the national average. Imagine the quality of education our dedicated teachers could produce if given competitive wages and sufficient resources. But don't hold your breath!

Our legislators are far more concerned with getting re-elected than they ever have been about the education of your children.

Dennis Edmonds

Sandy