Webb: This is an exciting year for public education in Utah — in more ways than one. On the funding side, the Legislature is poised to dish out the largest public ed increase, by far, in Utah history, by any measure. The governor has recommended $320 million in new money. The House is talking about $300 million and the Senate an almost unbelievable $400 million or more. That's an eye-popping amount to boost teacher salaries, reduce class sizes and fund special programs. And all of it is needed and deserved. Good teachers who want to make teaching a career ought to be able to support a family. However, funding isn't the only exciting public education story in the Legislature this year. Equally dramatic is the likelihood that, along with shelling out the big bucks, lawmakers are going to demand more accountability and impose significant reform on public education. And they are absolutely right to do so. Now is the time for education reform, including voucher scholarships, merit pay and higher pay for in-demand teachers. And that ought to just be the beginning. I have been a strong supporter of our public schools my entire life. I am a product of Utah's public schools and all my children have exclusively attended public schools. There is no more important mission than making our public schools better so they prepare our children and grandchildren for professions in a vastly different world than that of my generation. It's hard to overestimate the changes in the global economy, the incredible international competition, the need for our children to excel in math, science, languages, critical thinking and innovation. We have mostly terrific teachers and administrators doing the best job they can in a culture and system that is badly outdated and highly bureaucratized. It is unfortunately a culture that fights change and innovation, that wants to keep doing things the way they've been done for a century or more while the rest of society has long since undergone dramatic change. I am a big supporter of voucher scholarships because it is fundamental, structural reform that will leave more money in the public schools and foster a public school climate of improvement, competition and innovation, better preparing our children and grandchildren for the world they will enter. The free market does not tolerate mediocrity. It is incredibly unfortunate that the public education establishment is so averse to change and fresh thinking that they won't even engage in a modest pilot project featuring school choice. It is almost like a religion, and they are fanatics. So the Legislature is going to have to take some leadership. This is the year: big bucks and real reform.
