We have a chance to make 2022 the year that Utah showed its determination, for the sake of students, to rise above the current political temptation to polarize every issue – and instead renew the parent-teacher partnership.

Lawmakers should be commended for bringing forward proposals to support the parent-teacher partnership through increased curriculum transparency.

Presented before the Education Interim Committee by Stan Rasmussen, Sutherland Institute vice president of government affairs: We appreciate Senator Lincoln Fillmore’s and the committee’s efforts to address this important matter of curriculum transparency. … The proposed legislation admirably strengthens the parent-teacher partnership.

The reaction to Virginia’s recent gubernatorial election is an example of the tendency to oversimplify the interpretation of an election into a basic political narrative. Such oversimplification could hinder curriculum transparency.

Just as every college course gives students a syllabus – an outline of topics that will be discussed and the resources that will be used – our K-12 public schools should proactively inform students and parents of the topics and resources they will encounter in a given school year.

Sutherland Institute supports and will continue to advocate for enhanced curriculum transparency for grades K-12.

Sutherland research makes clear that most parents in Utah still trust most teachers. And most teachers in Utah hold sacred their duty to teach. This parent-teacher partnership is key to the long-term solution. Complete transparency will strengthen this partnership.

Under the guise of penitent cultural self-examination, critics of American values and institutions have argued that the faults of America’s past unavoidably undermine all that is good in America now. Such a view is perilously deceptive because it tricks us into believing that the American story – and therefore America’s identity – is fundamentally flawed.

In a Q&A with Sutherland’s Derek Monson, Bill Mattox of the James Madison Institute explains his Celebrate Freedom curriculum, which has reached over a million Florida high school students.

Thinking beyond race – do our worries about things like the health of our democracy stem solely from the arguments, beliefs or tactics of our political opponents, or are they driven by elements of our own personal political perspectives?