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Logan Sen. Hillyard Says Teacher Responsibilities Have Changed

utahpubliceducation.org

Utah lawmakers returned for their 45-day annual session Monday and are expected to take up a proposal for medical marijuana and a measure to toughen the state's hate crimes law.

They'll also try to find more money for public schools.

Northern Utah Republican Senator Lyle Hillyard of Logan says legislators and the public need to be aware that public education is in transition.

"Teachers today have much greater challenges than we did 50 years ago,” Hillyard says. “I look back on when I went to school, we didn't have any handicapped kids in class, and I don't think I knew any child in the school I went through that wasn't fluent in English.  So now you have teachers, especially in elementary schools, that have children where English is their second language."

Hillyard says it is sometimes a challenge to come up with the funding for education, but believes lawmakers will find a way.

"We always do,” he say. “Frankly, it's always a priority."

He is also confident that public education funds can be generated without raising the income tax. A tax increase proposed by Our Schools Now would see a .008 percent hike in the state personal income tax to fund education.

"Most [people] are really concerned that an income tax that large would have a very negative impact on the economic development,” Hillyard says.

Other proposals include lowering Utah’s blood-alcohol limit for drivers to .05 percent and allowing Utah residents to carry a hidden, unloaded gun without a permit. The governor vetoed a similar gun bill in the past.

Their return to business Monday will be met by an afternoon march by a group of Utah women.

The event is organized by the group Utah Women Unite and is a spinoff of the massive Women's March on Washington over the weekend.

It was organized by women dismayed at President Donald Trump's election.