Keepers: Schools or Teachers?

Utah Schools: Quality or Quantity?

By Amy Seigel, 11-17-05

Last week the Granite Board of Education voted to spare the three district schools slated for closure---Granite High, Wasatch Junior High (destroyed by a fire in July), and Hill View Elementary. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the School Board was considering closing these “under-enrolled� schools in order to save approximately $3.4 million a year in operating costs. Now, due largely to a rather vocal group of parents and students, it appears that the schools will not only remain open, but will be renovated and rebuilt to the tune of approximately $25 million. Baring any sudden increases in funding from the State Legislature, where will the money come from?

Of course, the answer is clear. The Granite School District must increase enrollment and decrease spending. In other words, pack in more students and spend less on teachers. While nobody knows for sure how the District plans to pay for keeping these schools open, teacher salaries and benefits and special programs have always been easy targets for spending reductions. And with more students being bussed in from distant zip codes to fill these newly saved schools to capacity, the likelihood of anyone hiring more teachers to keep class sizes manageable and keep special programs afloat seems slim.

Look, I understand that no one wants to be the bad guy that votes to close down a school. But the fact of the matter is that sometimes these closures are necessary to keep the quality of life for teachers, and the quality of education for students, at an acceptable level. Teachers have despicably low salaries and poor benefits as is---we should be looking for ways to get them more money, not less. Class sizes are already unmanageable in most school districts around the country---we should be looking for ways to make them smaller, not bigger.

And while the Granite Board of Education has one last chance to reevaluate their decisions during a final meeting on November 29th, the two-thirds majority vote needed to reopen voting on any school makes it unlikely that any major reversals will be forthcoming. I have to wonder whether the same parents that lobbied so vocally for these schools to be saved will remember the old adage when it comes time to consider some necessary cutbacks: be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

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