Utah school board members draft letter supporting Trump's aim to shutter Education Department

SALT LAKE CITY — An educator for almost three decades, state board of education member Cole Kelley said he regularly witnesses federal bureaucracy getting in the way of Utah's K-12 teachers doing their job of educating kids in the classroom.

The American Fork High School teacher is confident that Utah's teachers and students would benefit from education operating outside the purview of the federal government.

He's not alone.

Kelley is one of four state school board members co-sponsoring a "letter of intent" for the entire board to consider approving at its Thursday meeting.

The letter signals state school board support of President Donald Trump's effort "to move money back to the states" — while also echoing Gov. Spencer Cox's recent education op-ed on the divisive "states vs. feds" debate.

Kelley's co-sponsors of the letter are fellow board members Jennie Earl, Joseph Kerry and Rod Hall.

In matters of Utah's K-12 education, "we want to be independent of the federal government," Kelley told the Deseret News. "When Democrats are in (federal) office, we don't want Democrats telling us how to run our schools in Utah.

"When Republicans are in office, we don't want Republicans telling us how to run our schools," he said.

The letter of intent expected to be in front of Utah's state school board on Thursday comes a couple of weeks after Trump signed an executive order seeking elimination of the embattled Education Department.

The three-paragraph letter awaiting Utah's state school board review is addressed to Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Utah's U.S. Congressional delegation.

It begins by declaring that education is best served at the state level.

"In light of federal education dollars being moved to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and as a preliminary step towards moving them back to the states, our board supports President Trump's effort to move money back to the states and add to Governor Cox's request to allow Utah to be the first to lead out in the country," the letter states.

The letter also acknowledged the key role of many K-12 programs funded by the Department of Education — including Title 1 programs for schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that helps pay for special education services for students with disabilities.

"We assert that the state of Utah is better situated in dispersing these funds to meet the unique education needs of Utah's students," the letter states. "These funds can be preserved and properly utilized when the people of Utah are empowered to address the academic progress of Utah students."

The letter requests that the federal government allow the Utah State Board of Education "to become the stewards" of the education resources within the state — without federal oversight.

"It is our commitment to work with state and local leaders to ensure that the services not only continue, but are accelerated with input from local education experts on the best use of these funds."

The letter concludes that while Utah students consistently perform well in various facets of education in comparison to other states, improvements are needed.

"Allowing Utah education leaders to allocate these resources, the funds would be invested more efficiently and effectively. Utah is uniquely qualified because of our commitment to families and the work ethic of our classroom teachers. The Utah State Board is ready to lead out and show the rest of the country that our students are better served at the state and local level," it says.

School board member: Scrap Washington's 'red tape'

Kelley said the proposed letter of intent is not binding — it's simply designed to communicate to federal, state and local leaders of the state school board's intention to be independent of federal reach.

He added that only about 8-10% of the money funding operations at Utah's K-12 schools comes from the federal government. And a sizable chunk of those federal dollars are going toward school meal programs for Utah students on free or reduced-price meals that are funded by the Department of Agriculture.

The remaining federal dollars, said Kelley, help fund education programs such as Title 1.

"We absolutely value those programs and recognize the importance of those programs to our students — and so it certainly is not our intention to in any way eliminate those programs or to minimize those programs," he said.

"In fact, I think we could actually do more to help those programs in the state of Utah if we had local control, and that funding was coming straight to our state," he said.

Eliminating federal control of those funds would also diminish "the level of bureaucracy and red tape" burdening many Utah teachers, said Kelley.

Special education teachers in public K-12 schools, he observed, spend a "significant amount of their time" filling out paperwork and legal documents and "jumping through multiple hoops" currently required by the Education Department.

Utah's disadvantaged and special education students would be more efficiently served by local educators managing resources with a clear understanding of the state's classrooms and schools, said Kelley.

Utah's teachers union fearful of diminished Education Department

Calls to eliminate the Education Department have been divisive at both the federal and state levels.

Days before Trump signed his Education Department executive order, Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney released a statement saying dismantling the federal agency "will have detrimental effects on Utah's public school students and the vital services they currently receive."

Educators across Utah, Pinkney added, are "deeply concerned about their most vulnerable student populations."

In her statement, Pinkney highlighted the millions of dollars supporting Utah students:

"Losing even a portion of these federal dollars would further exacerbate the educator staffing shortage plaguing Utah public schools, leading to even larger class size," she said.

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