Marty Stephens' Response to April 2004 Questionnaire on Utah's Top Issues

Registered voters identify Public Education as their number one issue of concern.

1) What role does public education play in shaping the future of Utah?

Public education provides the foundation of our future high standard of living. A well-educated citizenry ensures strong economic growth, less crime, decreased spending on costly social programs, and stronger families. The vital role of public education in Utah’s future cannot be understated.

2) Public policy debate has centered around ideas of school choice in the form of charter schools, tuition tax credits for private schooling and the creation of magnet programs focused on specific subject areas. What advantages or disadvantages do you see in implementing school choice?

Advantages: innumerable
Disadvantages: none, if properly implemented

a. How much choice should Utahns have – are charter schools and inter-district transfers enough or should the state adopt a tuition tax credit or some other solution?

The job will not be done until every Utah family has the option to send their children to the quality school of their choice, with tax credits to help make it financially feasible.

b. How do you address concerns of parents in rural areas that they will not have access to education alternatives?

I’m confident that the market will soon come to incentivize the creation of these schools.

3) Utah dedicates all of the state’s income tax revenue to fund public education, yet because of the large percentage of children in the state, per-pupil funding is the lowest in the nation. Utah is also anticipating a large influx of new students over the next ten years.

a. In your view, is the low per-pupil funding a concern? Why or why not?

While Utah’s per-pupil spending it the lowest in the nation, no other state dedicates a larger percentage of its budget to education than Utah. Ideally more could be spent on public education, but we must be resolved to make due with the revenue we have. That said, it’s vital to point out that despite the fact that our children deserve everything we can give them, Utah students’ scores on standardized tests are consistently among the highest in the nation, as are our rates of high school graduation and higher education enrollment. Our children deserve more, but are certainly not being short-changed. I feel our exceptionally talented and dedicated educators are largely to thank for that fact.

b. If so, what solutions would you offer for public education funding?

How much time do you have?
For starters, I will see that my APPLE Initiative is implemented. Specifically, the APPLE Initiative solves the problems resulting from the extreme difficulty of administering and taking advantage of Utah’s school trust lands. The APPLE Initiative is a roadmap toward helping Utah gain control of these lands and put them to good use – and thus reap an additional $800-million in one-time revenue, in addition to more than $200-million in new, ongoing revenues…all dedicated to Utah schools.

My APPLE Initiative truly represents an opportunity to bring revolutionary change to education in Utah.
To make my plan a reality, we must:

• Make the federal government and general public more aware of the problem the status quo presents
• Build upon my growing coalition of western states also saddled by these problems
• Encourage federal agencies to develop cooperative exchanges of federal and trust lands.
• Petition Congress to compensate western states accordingly

4) Survey respondents listed “teacher quality” as the education issue about which they are most concerned.

a. What solutions or programs would you offer to improve the quality of Utah’s teachers?

I plan to offer educators a 50% reduction in the cost of supplemental, graduate-level education.

b. Finding qualified teachers is a particular challenge in rural areas. What would you do to address rural residents’ concerns?

This problem will be substantially addressed as we increase economic development in rural areas and improve schools generally. In both cases, the successful implementation of my APPLE Initiative is a key component.

5) Do you feel Utah’s curriculum taught to students has weaknesses? If so, what are they and how would you address them?

6) Through the No Child Left Behind Act, future federal funding will be tied to improvements in Utah students’ test scores. Please briefly share your thoughts on the debate surrounding No Child Left Behind.

I applaud the intentions of No Child Left Behind, and feel the federal government is justified in trying to empower states to elevate their public education systems. However, I cannot approve of either the unfunded fiscal burdens the act currently imposes upon the states, nor the amount of local control it wrests away. Additionally, because I will always prefer local oversight over federal, I have concerns about any standards of performance for Utah students imposed by the federal government.

7) Finally, please share briefly your own experiences with the public schools and how those experiences have shaped your policy positions on education.

I have six children and six grandchildren. I think that says it all.

Job Creation and Economic Development ranks second on the list of issues Utahns are most concerned about.

1) Please outline how you would bring more jobs to the state and on which industry sectors economic development should focus.

• Businesses both inside and outside Utah must view this state as a state able to foster growth and success – with state government leading the charge. In doing so, we will create an environment in which our children can find high-paying, quality jobs that will allow them to stay in Utah.
• Build up industries that run counter to the traditional business cycle, in order to help us better withstand future economic downturns; these include industries such as healthcare and natural resources.
• Focus on growing in-state businesses first.
• Look first to private sector solutions.
• Coordinate economic development plans between the state and local governments in order to save money and ensure that regional market strengths are not unnecessarily competing against each other.
• Make economic development decisions based on sound, objective, financial models and cost-benefit analyses.

2) Utahns are also concerned about wages. Past economic development strategy for the state has focused on selling the state as a “low-cost” place to do business and low wage rates were part of that strategy.

a. Should that change?
b. If so, how would you market the state to companies interested in relocating or expanding?

To begin with, we need to abandon our “shotgun” approach to attracting new business to the state in favor of a “rifle” approach. This involves shifting our focus to the better utilization of Utah’s singular strengths, including, our high degree of bilingualism, strong high tech infrastructure, genetic and biotech research and development resources, and many other areas in which our unmatchable convergence of skills offers enterprise an undeniable competitive advantage.

3) What measures would you take to foster home-grown businesses?

First, work to identify and eliminate the unnecessary rules and regulations inhibiting business growth and development.

4) Innovation and technological advantage are key areas of future economic growth. Much of that takes place on college campuses. How would you assist universities in “spinning-off” new businesses?

I was a major supporter of the Venture Capital Enhancement Act, which passed in 2003. VCEA created a fund to finance Utah-based venture capital firms, which are key to facilitating the transfer of new technologies from our research institutions to the private sector, and is a prime example of how government can work with – not against – the private sector in encouraging its growth and success.

5) Rural economic development is very different from what can be done along the Wasatch Front. What would you do to bring jobs into rural areas of the state?

Improve the roads, schools, and other basic services in and around these areas.

6) What has been your greatest success in fostering business growth and economic development?