Kate Rathfon

March 7, 2019

Policy Meeting

I attended the educator day on the hill meeting, this meeting was designed to help

teachers understand the different bills and policies that are being introduced to the House and

Senate. The discussion was very open and were all able to ask questions if we did not understand

a bill. Roger Donohoe and Sara Jones lead the discussion and answered our questions. The

outlined how a bill is passed which helped everyone understand the process. The first bill that we

discussed was House Bill 373 which is intended for student support. The goal of the bill is to

provide more schools with support staff and counselors. In the meeting Roger Donohoue

addressed the fact that 30 thousand dollars would be put toward getting schools the health

support they need. The next bill we talked about was House Bill 236, this bill has been a program

in Utah for 10 years, teachers in SPED were added to this as well as Math, Science and

Computer Science. The bill has passed out of the house now.

The bill that I found really important or frustrating that we talked about was House Bill

441. This bill is not an education bill but what it does will greatly affect the funding for schools

in Utah. It is a tax reform bill which will lower the tax base. If the bill is passed it will lower the

income tax rate by .2% from 5%. This means everyone paying taxes no matter their financial

standing pays 4.8% on their taxes. Roger Donohue discussed the fact that 10 years ago the top

percent of people payed 7%. We also discussed House Bill 120 which pertains to school safety.

The goal for this bill is to hire school resource officers, social workers and possibly have one

entrance to the school.Roger Donohoe said that the UEA was in support of the bill but has
comments to present to the representatives. The final bill that we talked about was House Bill

198 which will eliminate the single letter grade when evaluating schools.

Once we went over all these bills we then discussed the importance of going to the

capitol to speak to our representatives. They explained to us that when we do go on the hill we

will want to tell a story about our students and connect it to the bill our legislators are

sponsoring. One really important thing I learned was that if I do get in contact with my

representative then I can at least email, next text and then phone call and make sure I let them

know I am a constituent. The best option is to go on the hill and speak in person with them. Sara

Jones and Roger Donohoe also outlined how to ask legislators to to do something. The first thing

is to be specific with what you are asking them. Second make sure what you are asking is

tangible. Three is make it verifiable.

I think that by going to this meeting and discussing the bills that are in the house in senate

helps inform all the teachers that were their the importance of our voices and becoming more

educated on this topic. By getting more teachers out on the hill we can get our representatives to

listen to our view points and get more people who know what is going on in education involved

in the legislative process. I don’t really have any recommendations for the meeting, I thought it

was engaging and organized well. I learned a lot more about how bills are passed in the

legislature and how to talk with my representatives. As a future educator I want my students to

come first and I believe that in order to do this I have to be involved politically so that they get

the education they deserve. I don’t think my views have changed, if anything they have become

even stronger. After this meeting I learned that educational policy takes time and a persistence. I

honestly feel like this event has only strengthened my beliefs and helped me understand the steps

it takes to make change in education for everyone especially my students. As a educator I want to
work consistently with the UEA and other organizations to continue to better education in Utah

and all across the US.