Teacher suggestions bill

"Your child has been acting like a monkey in class." Allowed. "Your child has trouble focusing on simple assignments." That's OK, too.

"Have you considered putting your child on Ritalinfi" Teachers who dare, better beware.

That's the message behind HB 299, which passed through the House on Monday 48-24. It now heads to the Senate.

The bill would restrict teachers from talking about psychotropic medications or psychological disorders with parents. It would also prevent the state from seizing children from parents who refuse suggestions to put their children on medicine.

However, school officials would be able to refer their students to counselors or other health professionals working for the school. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Boat registration

It could soon cost a few bucks more to register your boat.

The state House of Representatives approved a bill Monday that would give the state's Parks and Recreation Department the authority to raise the current fee from $10 to $14.

The fee hasn't been touched since 1987, and Rep. David Cox, R-Lehi, said the increase is necessary to help pay for dock improvements at state-owned bodies of water.

School uniforms

The House voted Monday to allow parents to petition and vote on adopting school uniform policies.

The bill stipulates that if 20 percent of the parents at a school, a school district or a charter school sign a petition, a vote on a uniform policy would be required. A majority vote would mandate the policy.

"It becomes a fashion show that I wouldn't want my 12-year-old son and my 11-year-old son to experience," said Rep. Craig Frank, R-Pleasant Grove, the bill's sponsor about the current state of dress.

Schools would have to provide for those who couldn't afford uniforms, but Frank said the clothing is cheap.

But Rep. Susan Lawrence, R-Salt Lake City, said that could amount to high expenses in some "inner-city" schools.

The bill passed 46-25 and now moves to the Senate, where it got stuck last year.

Reading bill dead

The tumultuous ride for Rep. Karen Morgan's reading requirements bill has come to an end.

The House voted no for the second time on a bill designed to hold back third-graders failing to read up to par.

"Is there a limit on the number of times you can kill a bill up herefi" asked Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt, last week when the bill was revived after a second motion to reconsider passed 40-33. The first, which came earlier that day, failed because it was one vote short of the 38 needed.

In its final dying form, the bill would have allowed parents to override any school's suggestion to hold back third-graders. It also would have given students the whole summer to catch up with their peers.

-- Daily Herald

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A8.