2 WELCOME Message BY ROYCE VAN TASSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR We can all breathe a sigh of relief — the Legislature’s general session is over. No more unnecessary wrangling. No more ill-considered, if well-intentioned bills. And perhaps most hopefully, less strife, more striving together. As our legislative recap below notes, the Legislature treated public education very generously. We got a 6% increase in the WPU, a 7% increase in the LRF, and a total of $383 million in new spending on public education. We can and should be grateful. I know many teachers were up in arms during the session about this or that proposed bill. And the process worked. As proposals wended their way through committees and floor votes, the stupid got winnowed, like chaff from the wheat. Not everyone got what they wanted, but public education did very well. Legislators are now working their way through various re-election processes. Some of us may feel a desire to scold legislators who voted differently than we might have. Others of us may feel even more strongly. May I suggest that we look for constructive ways to help them understand how to improve our public education landscape. Scolding and scoffing may make us feel good, but it rarely yields the results we want. In that vein, let me encourage all of us to reach out to the candidates for the Legislature and the State Board of Education. Each of them has taken on an enormous burden. Every one of them wants to improve Utah’s public schools. They need our help to do that. They need to understand our day-to-day challenges, what is working well, and what can be improved. If you would like to hold a town hall, let us know. We’d love to help set that up for you. And then we can further strengthen the great relationships Utah charter schools have with our elected officials. Finally, our annual conference is coming up. I look forward to seeing so many of you again there. Make sure you and your colleagues register. Conference is a great time to learn from each other — see you soon!
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