Paradox Lost: Utah's Public Education Funding Effort No Longer Surpasses the Nation

Utah Foundation has written in the past about Utah's "education paradox" -- that despite one of the highest funding efforts in the nation, Utah continued to have the lowest per-pupil funding for K-12 public education. Education funding effort is a measure of how much we are willing to tax ourselves to fund schools. Utah has historically exerted a very high funding effort, even fifth highest in the nation in the mid-1990s.

The paradox no longer exists, as Utah has slid to below the national average in education funding effort. This report details the reasons for the slide and issues a call for dialogue and brainstorming on what can be done to reverse this trend.