The abuses of power by teachers unions that have led to on-again, off-again shutdowns of schools for nearly two years have shown that school choice should be the top priority of the GOP and the country. Utah GOP Gov. Spencer Cox apparently didn’t get the memo.
Cox has promised to veto Utah’s school choice bill. He claimed to support the bill but said he will refuse to sign a school choice bill until teacher pay is increased. “When teachers are making $60,000 a year to start, I will fully support vouchers,” Cox said.
Whether teachers in Utah should be paid more or not, Cox’s message is the same as that of teachers unions: Children and parents should always come last. Cox’s view is that if teachers aren’t being paid enough, children and parents should be locked into the same failing system they had to deal with throughout the pandemic. Utah schools were going to remote “learning” as recently as last month, despite the overwhelming evidence that children are not at risk of serious cases of COVID and that remote instruction is academically and socially destructive.
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Utah saw public school enrollment drop in 2020, the first decrease since 2000. Homeschooling surged. Those numbers have since moved closer to the state’s pre-2020 levels, but it was clear many parents wanted to do whatever it would take to make sure their children weren’t being subjected to ridiculous lockdowns and restrictions. Poorer families that want to have the same opportunity to do what is best for their children are having that ability held hostage by Cox, who is using it as a bargaining chip to increase teacher pay.
This isn’t just political malpractice, given how electorally powerful the issue of schools has proven to be in both Virginia and San Francisco. This is a failure of governance. Children trapped in failing schools because of their zip code was always an issue the GOP should have been pursuing. With COVID lockdowns exposing just how damaging these failing schools and school districts have been, the GOP’s top priority should be ensuring that families have the freedom to pursue a better education for their children regardless of their economic background.
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Cox has failed to meet the moment. He has decided that if teachers can’t get a higher salary, children and parents should be punished as well. There is no excuse for this, and “now is not the time” is not a justification. Utah Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the state legislature. They should drag this bill across the finish line with or without Cox. If he refuses to get on board, Utah Republicans should reevaluate his future as governor.
