BYOP (Bring Your Own Pencil) - HJR 8 Resolution Regarding School Supplies

Bill: HJR8
Sponsor: Rep. Powell

When I first moved back to Utah, I went to my local elementary school to ask a few questions. My first question: Where do I get the supply list from? The secretary gave me a blank look. So I followed up with: Is the list mailed to me before school starts, or can I find it at Walmart? More silence. One more try: Does my son need to bring crayons, a pencil box, Kleenex? Finally the secretary tentatively answered all he needed was probably a backpack, but his individual teacher may have some items she would need for her classroom. I should have realized then, that education in Utah is very different than in other parts of the country, but nope I followed up with one more question: Where do I get fingerprinted so I can volunteer in the classroom? I think by the time I left there she thought I was mentally unbalanced.

Bringing school supplies is routine in other states. The list is sent out before the beginning of the school year with the usual items: pencils, crayons, rulers, Kleenex, folders, etc. Every Walmart has the suggested supply list posted for each elementary school in the area on their shelves near the back to school items. The items on the list are never required. It is more an invitation to help the school and teacher by providing a few items for the classroom.

In Utah, I have had elementary school teachers ask parents to donate nonessential items to the classroom: snacks, stickers, items for the class store, or water bottles. The Utah Constitution states: Public elementary and secondary schools shall be free, except the Legislature may authorize the imposition of fees in the secondary schools. To allow elementary schools to ask for essential supplies requires a Constitutional Amendment - hence Rep. Powell's HJR 8. Powell seeks to add the clarification: Nothing in this article may be construed to prohibit a school or teacher within the public education system from inviting a student to furnish, on a voluntary
basis, school supplies for the student's own use. (Languages comes from Powell's amendment)

For our family, sending a few supplies to school would not be a financial burden. I recognize though, every family does not have the same financial resources as we do. Every school would have to decide on their own policy based on their student population. What would be appropriate to ask for, and how those supplies would be distributed would have to be determined locally.

As with any Constitutional amendment, the bill would require support of two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, then be ratified by voters in the 2012 election. The bill is just beginning the process. Today it was approved by the Constitutional Revision Committee and is on the House Education Committee's agenda this afternoon.