The U.S. Department of Education is set to deploy $122 billion to K-12 schools across the nation through the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary Schools (ARP ESSER) funds. Fortunately for Utah schools, federal CARES Act funds in the amount of $67,821,787 were judicially dispersed in 2021 across districts with educator input.

But the remaining $205 million set for Utah schools this fall is entrusted to the guy who was flummoxed by his own two-page Campaign Financial Disclosure document — Rep Burgess Owens (Utah-4). And he’s about to blow Utah’s portion on some trippy A.I. school security system he claims can detect a hidden gun, automatically lock doors and call 911 all by itself. Or not. He’s also okay with a resource officer guarding the door.

The Daily Herald reported on Owens’ Sutherland Institute speech in which, following yet another insufferable slog through Owens’ life story, he said, “My deal is why don’t we take some of that money back, have each district decide how they need it…” It’s stunning that Owens doesn’t know where the first $67 million went or that districts did decide “how they need it.” For example, Granite District decided to focus on summer school programs in literacy and math for elementary school students and recovering credits for secondary school students; Cottonwood decided on Jump Start’s broad academic program; South Kearns on full-day experience based on community needs, and across the districts administration directed funds for school bus drivers, school nutrition workers and crossing guards.

In his excitement, Owens told The Sutherland Institute audience that “every district in the county for this coming semester should be flooded with money.” Aside from the embarrassing money grubbing — ummm, semesters? Does it bother anyone else that the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education thinks elementary and secondary schools are on semesters?

Owen’s plan for the coveted ARP ESSER money is a bill he is calling “Securing Our Students” and if you read the bill, it’s about as vague as the A.I. system Owens is pitching. Other cities in states across the nation are putting ESSER funds to practical use — Dayton, Ohio is using the financial boost to hire more teachers in over-crowded 1st-3rd grade classrooms; North Carolina to secure a nurse in each of its 54 districts, Arkansas is creating a Tutoring Corps to support students in rural areas.

But Owens has no interest in exploring promising practices to address “learning loss” during COVID, or meeting urgent staffing needs. He’d rather repeat the word freedom, and blame educators for “why our kids can’t think anymore.”

In his Sutherland speech Owens demanded to know “why is it that we aren’t free to put our kids in the best schools possible no matter what our zip code is?”

The answer is — you can. Owens doesn’t seem to know about Utah’s Unrestricted Open Enrollment program, enshrined in law and updated in May (Utah State Statute and Code 53G-6-402).

The few specifics that are in Owens’ bill about the actual implementation (Securing Our Students Act), are outweighed by its emphasis on including non-public schools, which are already included in ESSER funding but with a separate application process. Additionally, the bill encourages districts to “immediately amend their plans” to his plan, which would mean money invested in programs already in progress could be dropped.

So while teachers are striking in Ohio and Pennsylvania over pay and class-size, and Florida has a teacher shortage so dire it is hiring non-accredited teachers to fill 9,000 openings — Owens is grandstanding and squandering the ARP ESSER funds on expensive unproven technology and/or vague ideas. The language in his speech undermines teacher autonomy, heightens fears about non-existent curriculums, and bites the hand that feeds the social, emotional, mental health and academic needs of students.

Kathy Adams was the dance writer at the Salt Lake Tribune (2002-2019) and has written about dance for Salt Lake Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine and more.