How do we recruit, retain, and re-engage the best teachers?
For most of this year, our education staff has been working with a task force of Utah’s best minds in education, business, and policy to answer that question. We've come up with an answer at long last, and released it this past week: A Vision for Teacher Excellence.
The report offers recommendations for changes to teacher compensation and other aspects of the profession that we believe will not only address the teacher shortage but create a culture of excellence in education and improve student outcomes. 
 
That said, addressing the state teacher shortage has to come first, so we've split the strategies in our vision into two categories: stabilization and optimization. These are the basic recommendations in each group:
 
Stabilization:
  • Raise pay for all teachers to an average starting compensation of $60,000 and $110,000 by retirement.
  • Strengthen teacher induction programs.
  • Provide more scholarships for teaching majors at Utah colleges and universities.
  • Provide the option for teachers to work more days with commensurate pay.

Optimization:
  • Build stronger pathways so teaching becomes a more dynamic career.
  • Ensure class sizes are effective.
  • Provide adequate support professionals such as aides, nurses, counselors, etc.
  • Encourage greater family support for teachers.

The complete vision elaborates on each of these strategies and includes details about costs and outcomes for each one. While it's not a policy recommendation, we hope it will inform and unify Utah leaders in education and government as they make choices about how to improve education in our state.

Questions or comments? Reach out to jbrown@envisionutah.org and let us know what you think!
Utah Inland Port public engagement report
Together with the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA), we just released our findings from several months of public engagement that occurred earlier this year! View the report here.

We joined the project in February as a public engagement consultant for the UIPA. Our process focused on engaging stakeholders and members of the public to hear different concerns, perspectives, and ideas related to the 16,000 acres in the Northwest Salt Lake County. We heard from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, met with hundreds of members of the public, and heard from over 3,000 Utahns in an online survey.

During our outreach, four key issues consistently rose to the surface:
  1. Air quality. Primarily as it relates to port operations and increased traffic.
  2. Potential impacts to wetlands, habitat, wildlife, and water quality in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
  3. Ongoing political conflicts. There is distrust among the public and stakeholders stemming from a perceived lack of transparency from the UIPA.
  4. Fossil fuels. Some members of the public see the UIPA as a potential funding mechanism for fossil fuels to be processed, stored, or handled in Salt Lake County, although there is little market demand for such activity.

We also did considerable research into baseline conditions in the area, including zoning authority, current development patterns and more.

Phase Two of the outreach process involved convening six working groups to help generate ideas for solutions to concerns we heard from the public.

We'd like to thank everyone who participated and shared their voice! We believe that by working together, we can build a future that Utahns can enjoy for generations to come.
Valley Visioning scenarios and survey to be released next week!
For the past several months we've been hard at work compiling public input into scenarios for growth in Utah Valley—and we're almost ready to show you what we've been working on! Keep your eyes peeled for our scenarios and survey next week for an opportunity to share your voice on how you think Utah Valley should grow.

The Valley Visioning survey will give residents the opportunity to give input on growth related issues such as education, land use, transportation, air quality, and more within Utah Valley. Your input will help create a vision and framework for the future to be used by policy makers and leaders.

Click here for a sneek peek of one of our outreach videos with a special guest!
Support Envision Utah!
We greatly appreciate all of our contributors for enabling us to carry out these efforts. Please consider a donation to support Envision Utah today!
In the news
The Governor’s Education Excellence Commission unanimously agreed boosting teacher compensation as a way to improve recruitment and retention among educators as a legislative priority after Envision Utah released its vision for teacher compensation. 


 

Utah has taken a deliberative approach to considering what to do with the 680 acres at the Point of the Mountain. If done well, sustainable development could represent a generational opportunity to establish Utah as a global crossroads of technology and innovation. 


The recommendation to raise teacher's salaries to a starting pay of $60,000 has been approved by the Governor's education committee, with the GOvernor personally recognizing salary plays a large role in recruiting and retaining the state's brightest teachers.
Envision Utah | (801) 303-1450 | envisionutah.org