After about an hour and a half of what I characterize as "bloviating" (not a word, I checked) by legislators who love the sound of their own voice, the senate and the house approved the 101 million from the "edujobs" bill. From the hyperbolic speech from some legislators you would think the Federal govt was sendin another " Johnson's army" to attach the State of Deseret and take our first born girls back to D.C. Even those (Speaker-elect Becky Lockhart-Utah County sponsored the bill in the house) who supported the strongly worded resolution spoke against the "intrusion" of the federal government on our state. The best speech (can't remember which legislator made it) equated the money to the federal money that flowed into Utah after our fires and floods..other crises...well education is in crisis and this is a little help.
The state office of education will now send application forms to the districts and the money (which has been sitting gaining interest in Utah since Sept) can be disbursed in the monthly payments to the districts.
Both OEA and WEA need to get back to the negotiations table now and talk about how the money will flow to employees. (all employees are eligible except district administrators)
We have had preliminary talks about how the money will be used. Of course, the districts' refusal to pay step increases is the reason we are still in mediation. Hopefully, this new money will help us achieve a settlement.
Rick
Ogden Teachers Rally for Collective Bargaining
