As often is the case, education will be a big issue this year, too. Utah continues to experience fast growth in its school-aged population, with little means with which to keep up. While we have long supported innovative ideas to improve public education and expand parental choices without a large infusion of new money, it is apparent that traditional public schools are being shortchanged.
That much was made clear by a Utah Foundation report last year, which showed how the education funding base has shrunk since the state constitution was changed 20 years ago to allow a portion of income taxes to go toward higher education.
Here, the discussion must be clear-eyed. According to the governor’s office, it would take $2.7 billion in new money just to raise the average per pupil expenditure in Utah to the average nationwide. The kind of tax increase needed for that is out of the question.
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