Nolan Karras, former Republican speaker of the Utah House and another member of the Our Schools Now steering committee, said at Tuesday’s presentation that recent increases in education funding have been mostly absorbed by inflation and the financial demand associated with a growing number of students.
Utah Foundation, a research group cited by the campaign, has concluded that about $110 million has been added to the K-12 education budget annually over the past five years. But the foundation also said about $88 million of that figure is canceled out because of inflation and increased enrollment.
The remaining $22 million per year average equates to $30 per year per student, Karras said, adding, “This is not enough.”
“Constantly underfunding education has the potential to undermine the foundations of our economy and our society,” he said.
Utah Foundation’s research concludes K-12 funding has seen an average annual reduction in funding of between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion since the mid-1990s because of various tax cuts, funding diverted to higher education and other policy changes.
“The cumulative impact of that number is huge,” Karras said.
