Registration for the UMEA State Band Festival is now open. You can download the application and pay your fee online at www.umea.us/stband.php
Registration materials must be received by April 17, 2015. No bands can be scheduled until payment, application, and proof of qualification has been received.
Please be familiar with State Band policies as outlined on the website. We look forward to a great State Band Festival!
Thanks,
UMEA Band Committee
Dear UMEA Membership:
The Utah State Legislature is currently discussing House Bill 203, the
Teacher Salary Supplement Program Amendments. This bill provides
supplemental pay of up to $10,000 for secondary science, engineering, math,
and technology (STEM) and special education teachers. The bill passed the
House on February 23, 2015. On March 5, 2015, the Senate Education
committee approved the bill for consideration on the Senate floor.
Click on this link to read the bill and follow its progress:
http://le.utah.gov/~2015/bills/static/HB0203.html
For concerned educators to affect this bill, immediate action is needed.
Please contact your senator voicing your concerns about HB 203 as soon as
possible. The UMEA Executive Committee is inviting members to contact their
state senator to share your opposition to HB 203. To contact your senator
go to http://senate.utah.gov/contact/index.html, select your senator and
leave your message.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Sam Tsugawa
President, Utah Music Educators’ Association
The following statement is UMEA’s position on HB 203:
HB 203 only compensates secondary teachers who teach science, engineering,
math, and technology (STEM) courses, as well as special education
teachers. These designated salary increases would create stark pay
discrepancies between secondary STEM teachers and all other teachers,
including all elementary, and secondary language arts, world languages,
social science, physical education, and fine arts teachers.
Additionally, the bill is unclear regarding how STEM teachers may become
eligible for their supplemental pay. According HB 203, eligibility
requirements for salary increases are primarily based upon a STEM teacher’s
degrees earned and teaching assignment. The bill does not mandate State
and district school boards to require STEM teachers to submit Student
Learning Objectives (SLOs) and account for student learning and improvement
as a condition to receive supplemental pay (a procedure required by law for
all teachers to receive merit pay).
Given the exclusionary nature of the bill, as well as the lack of
accountability, we are concerned about the unintended consequences that may
result if the current bill is enacted into law, including a marginalization
of subject areas not included in the bill. Such distinctions fostered in
HB 203 may affect teacher recruiting and retention, student enrollment and
participation, force districts to reallocate time and money away from
non-STEM courses, and create an unhealthy competitive environment between
teachers.
It is our hope that any action taken by the Legislature to improve
education is done with the utmost care and awareness of the effects that
proposed laws have on all students and teachers. We believe that HB 203 is
exclusionary and will eventually disenfranchise and devalue the teaching
efforts of teachers not included in the bill. We propose that any effort
to improve education, even STEM education, include all subject areas, even
the fine arts. Research affirms music’s efficacy in overall learning,
creative and critical thinking, and collaborative skills; in other words,
the traits or “soft skills” students need for professional success.
As music educators, we are eager to share with decision makers the
demonstrable positive impact music has on learning, and its lifelong
benefits music students take from our classes into the workplace. An
equitable and inclusionary professional environment would value the efforts
of all teachers and keep open continued dialogue between decision makers
and the entire education community.
--
sharee jorgensen
Canyons District Arts Specialist
UMEA Executive Director
