• Rather than first pursuing reform through mandates, policymakers ought to consider the value of creating rewards – which can act as incentives – for efforts the state prioritizes.

• Policymakers have the potential to be an important partner and resource in education to lift the load schools are given.

• Public policy considerations ought to include determining whether reforms can be accomplished through mandates or rewards and finding ways to facilitate constructive parent engagement throughout all education policies.

​In a recent newspaper editorial board meeting, local school board members expressed concern that public schools are being asked to do more with less.

The Utah Legislature has notably increased its public education funding in recent years, yet according to some on the ground, schools are still struggling with “inflation, unfunded or underfunded mandates, mounting student behavioral issues and hunger.”

Certainly, a key piece to success in public education is adequate funding, but what is considered adequate is an ongoing question.

Therefore, we are left with a decades-old question: How can policy support public schools when schools feel like there is not enough money to do everything they’ve been asked?

Two key public policy principles to accompany funding concerns are discussed below.

Reduce mandates, consider rewards

Utah’s Legislature has drawn criticism due to the sheer number of new education-related bills introduced and passed in recent years. Many also balk at new mandates that come with little funding to accomplish what they’ve set out to do – as is the case with a new law requiring armed guards at every school on a volunteer basis. And educators are always concerned about laws that micromanage or add new duties on top of teaching.

Rather than first pursuing reform through mandates, policymakers ought to consider the value of creating rewards – which can act as incentives – for efforts the state prioritizes.

For example, a recently published Sutherland Institute report on parent access to curriculum recommends creating a grant program that rewards teachers who offer a robust level of openness of their curriculum to parents. Rather than requiring every Utah educator to provide a syllabus of their curriculum for the year, offering a reward for those being proactively transparent could benefit those putting in the effort and could potentially move others to do more. Additionally, such an approach could reduce the stress of unfunded requirements and honor the autonomy of those impacted by the workload.

Obviously, not all policy reforms match this approach, but it’s worth considering which reforms need to be mandates and which could be incentives, and to then make policy based on those determinations. This may be one way to relieve the sense that schools are being mandated to more with less.

Bolster parent engagement through all education policies

Parents have the right and responsibility to be involved in their child’s education. As such, they have the potential to be an important partner and resource in education to lift the load schools are given. This is especially true in areas where the buck stops with parents, like helping with attendance and student behavior, something national data has shown teachers feel parents don’t help enough with.

Yet, it can be difficult to consistently generate the kind of parent engagement that helps schools day-to-day. Parents are often busy and overwhelmed outside of school commitments. Recent polling data conducted by Y2 Analytics shows that many Utah parents want to be more involved, but barriers to doing so include lack of time and lack of information.

Public policy is limited in its capacity to create parent engagement. On one hand, it can provide clear opportunities, like school community councils, or require parent involvement in curriculum approval processes. But it could be more pervasive than that. Policymakers should look at any education policy through the lens of whether it encourages parent engagement or makes it more cumbersome or confusing.

To address the barriers parents face, policy could be constructed with simple additions like increasing communication efforts to parents (multiple forms of outreach or information in multiple languages) or providing more easy-to-use information to facilitate parents being able to spend limited time efficiently (ensure webpages are working and intuitive). Any policy that makes parent engagement easier could be worth it if more parents get involved and help with the load that schools are trying to lift.

Conclusion

Helping public schools be successful is a crucial policy objective, especially since most Utah kids are enrolled in public schools. Notwithstanding more funding and the possibility of increasing it in the future, schools are still struggling to undertake a massive endeavor with less than they feel is necessary.

Funding is an ever-present and important issue for schools that are struggling, but solutions necessitate a broad approach.

Part of the broad approach could include making public policy that considers whether reforms can be accomplished through mandates or rewards and finding ways to facilitate constructive parent engagement throughout all education policies.