SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Utah teachers will stage a one-day walkout on Dec. 5 to protest perceived shortcomings in state education funding, the state's main teachers union announced Thursday.
Utah Education Association President Phyllis Sorensen said teachers would use the day to educate parents and lawmakers about the urgent needs in Utah schools.
"We do not take any of this action lightly," she said. "We want the public to understand, we want lawmakers to understand what is at stake."
Utah spends less per student than any other state in the nation, has the most crowded classrooms and has tattered and outdated textbooks. The teachers' union wants that to change.
Union officials were frustrated that an education funding task force failed to come up with a long-term finance plan.
She said enrollment in Utah's public schools is expected to grow by 100,000 students over the next decade. Accommodating those students will require 4,000 new classrooms, about 11,000 new teachers and at least 172 new schools.
"We have to think about the needs of the students in the future," she said.
Gov. Mike Leavitt was dismayed by UEA's decision.
"I wish the UEA had chosen otherwise," he said in a statement. "I understand the message they want to send. The long-term challenges our system of education faces are legitimate concerns."
It's unclear how many of the state's 40 school districts will participate in the strike. In South Salt Lake's Granite School District, whose teachers staged a one-day walkout in February, teachers said they would not strike this time.
UEA members were surveyed before Thanksgiving about whether they would support a job action. Alpine and Sevier districts said they would not, but at least 21 other districts said they would.
Lilly Taylor, vice president of the teachers association in Alpine, said late Thursday that teachers will vote Friday on whether to support a job action, as UEA board members in the district have recommended.
The UEA represents about 19,000 of the state's 22,000 teachers. The other teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers, disagreed with UEA's decision, but encouraged its 1,000 members to honor the walkout.
Sorensen said teachers are giving parents 5 days notice so they can make child-care arrangements.
During the last legislative session, teachers said they would strike if the Legislature failed to devise a long-term funding strategy. But UEA officials saw the creation of the task force as a positive step and postponed a strike until the task force finished its work.
The task force recommended $30.6 million for textbooks, $10 million a year to help build schools and incentives for poorer school districts to raise property taxes.
Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton, who co-chaired the task force, said the recommendations didn't solve all of education's problems, but are a good start.
"With high effort and high taxes, I'm puzzled sometimes why our commitment to education is constantly questioned," he said. "No one seems to be happy. Teachers aren't happy _ they're threatening a job action. Lawmakers aren't happy because no matter what we do it never seems to be enough. Taxpayers aren't happy because their taxes are high."
Utah's limited education dollars are stretched thin because of the state's large families.
Rep. Lloyd Frandsen, R-South Jordan, who co-chairs the Legislature's education committee, said he understands teachers' frustration.
"Personally, I'd be a little disappointed. There is no commitment to long-term funding," said Frandsen, who is retiring from the Legislature. "Some kind of tax enhancement is the answer. It's not pleasant to deal with, but on the other hand, it's a wise investment."
Sorensen said the textbook money meets a critical need. The other measures will have limited benefits, she said. The property tax incentives only help poor districts, and the $10 million to help build schools won't go far considering the cost of schools _ as much as $12 million for elementary schools and $50 million for high schools.
State school Superintendent Steven O. Laing said he thought the task force made positive steps he was hoping educators could build on during the upcoming legislative session.
"I don't see the value of the timing, personally, for this type of an action," he said.
Laing and others are also concerned there could also be a backlash against teachers.
"I think (legislators) are going to think very hard before appearing to reward those who went on strike," said Senate President Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, who co-chaired the education funding task force.
But denying teachers education money punishes students, he said.
House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said he has been called by lawmakers who were upset and confused about the strike. He said teachers received an unprecedented increase in education funding last year, and with $400 million available this year education could do even better.
"With all the things going in public education's favor, to have them walk out because they want to raise taxes" doesn't make sense, Stephens said.
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
