February 20, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - For decades, Utah legislators have ignored responsible funding for our schools. Not only have the politicians failed to keep current, but the state is actually moving backwards. The Legislature and the governor are spending significantly less on education now, on a per $1,000 personal income, than over the past two decades. The sad truth is that our deadbeat parent state is falling further behind on its education commitments. Over the last 20 years, lawmakers have … Continued
February 14, 2017(KSL.com) - According to the State Office of Education, 40 percent of newly hired teachers quit within the first five years. And about 1,000 veteran teachers retire each year. As a result, Utah Foundation reports, half of Utah districts have non-certified teachers in our children’s classes. “I think we understand the risk of having teachers who aren’t well-qualified teaching our kids,” said state auditor John Dougall. He heard about a teacher shortage and commissioned a report to … Continued
February 03, 2017(UtahPolicy.com) - We are in last place nationally in per-student spending. And a new Utah Foundation study shows that the state is down $1.2 billion a year in funding, compared to what we would have been had not any number of personal income tax “reforms” taken place over the last 20 years. An increase in the tax rate from 5 percent to 5.875 percent would bring in an extra $750 million a year to public schools. And … Continued
January 31, 2017(Deseret News) - Legislators also like to pat themselves on the back for increases to the education budget. But that doesn’t deduct the cost of inflation or new student growth. The Utah Foundation said that the majority of recent funding has simply gone to maintain existing needs and not provide new tools to our children. Instead of searching for reasons to not support Utah teachers and students, lawmakers need to work together and find some common-sense consensus. The … Continued
January 24, 2017(Deseret News) - Earlier this month I asked Steve Kroes, president of the nonpartisan Utah Foundation, the same question. He was a little less certain about the future, but still a fan of the current system. The downside to Utah’s system, he said, is that “it tends to be privileged people who can serve.” Not many typical workers can take 45 days off each year to serve on Capitol Hill, not to mention regular interim meetings and special … Continued
January 23, 2017(Utah Public Radio) - We’ll put your questions to Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, House Minority Leader Brian King, Senator Ralph Okerlund, and Rep. Val Potter R-North Logan. We’ll also feature conversations with Bill Tibbitts, Associate Director of the Crossroads Urban Center, and Director of the Center’s Coalition of Religious Communities; Shawn Teigen, Research Director at the Utah Foundation; and Boyd Matheson, President of the Sutherland Institute.
January 21, 2017(Herald-Journal) - Utah businesses leaders agree. In November, Our Schools Now — a collection of executives from the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, Zion’s Bank, Questar, Inovar, Rocky Mountain Power, the Salt Lake Chamber, former legislators and school administrators — proposed a 2018 ballot initiative that would raise the income tax from 5 percent to 5.875 percent, an increase of 17.5 percent in what Utahns would pay. This would bring in an estimated $750 million annually … Continued
January 19, 2017(Spectrum) - The gap has been widening over the past two decades, with funding for education impacted by a series of tax cuts and rule changes over the years, especially mid-90s reform to property tax assessments and legislation in 2007 that essentially eliminated income tax brackets. An analysis published by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, suggested the state has dramatically cut its investment in education over the past 20 years. In 1995 Utah ranked 7th … Continued
January 18, 2017(UtahPolicy.com) - OSN is headed by some pretty politically savvy folks, like Nolan Karras, a former GOP speaker of the Utah House and a finalist in the 2004 Republican Party gubernatorial primary. In an interview with UtahPolicy Managing Editor Bryan Schott, Karras says his group is not fighting against anyone, nor any institution – like the Legislature he once led. But, pointing to a new Utah Foundation study, Karras says while public schools have gotten more money … Continued
January 17, 2017(UtahPolicy.com) - So our underfunded schools, with teacher pay and resources a real issue, are doing pretty well as is. But [Our Schools Now] says without concrete funding hikes, teachers will continue to quit the profession and Utah will fall behind the nation in quality education for our children. As it stands just one week before the 45-day general session starts, the state has a bit more than $200 million more from the income tax (which all … Continued
January 12, 2017(Deseret News) - Stephen Kroes, the longtime president of the foundation, told me Wednesday he is retiring, effective in July. He will return to Sacramento, from whence he came to Utah in 2001, and will begin his own consulting practice. He is doing this for a number of reasons, including family considerations. One thing is certain. The foundation’s board of trustees must find someone just as capable to keep the 72-year-old institution a respected source for facts that … Continued
January 10, 2017(UtahPolicy.com) - The backers of a proposal to put an income tax hike on the 2018 ballot in order to raise money for Utah’s schools say they’re tired of waiting for lawmakers to act. “We would welcome legislators to do it. They can do it more surgically and do it in a better way than a ballot initiative,” says former Utah House Speaker Nolan Karras. “We’ve been working for the last four or five years on this, … Continued
January 08, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - Even that much money, Our Schools Now figures, falls short of the $1.2 billion a year that public education has lost over the past several years as the Legislature has fiddled with the state’s property and income tax structures. The group notes that, measured as a percentage of a state’s total personal income, Utah’s tax effort for schools has fallen from seventh in the nation to 37th.
January 05, 2017(UtahPolicy.com) - It will cost the state $100 million this coming year just to pay for the growth in the number of new students coming into public schools. In fact, it has been two steps forward, one step back in public school funding for a number of years, a new Utah Foundation report on school funding shows. The report shows that over the last 20 years, various tax changes/exemptions have actually DECREASED public school funding by 29 percent from … Continued
January 03, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - Herbert says he wants Utah schools to be the best in the nation, but that talk is torpedoed by classroom funding that is the absolute worst. He hopes Utah can grow out of last place, but acknowledges it will take years, attributing the problem to big families — not to the $1.2 billion that the Utah Foundation recently reported has been diverted from education by years of tax cutting. It’s so bad that the state’s … Continued
December 17, 2016(Davis Clipper) - Public education in Utah has lost millions of dollars over the past 20 years due to changes in tax rates and structure, according to a report by the Utah Foundation, a non-partisan public policy research group. So much has been lost, in fact, that it would take a $1.2 billion investment to bring it back to where it was in 1995, according to the report. To reach the national average in per-pupil spending, the foundation … Continued
December 14, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - “The initiative process, I hope, never drives the legislative process or what the governor does. I think it’s a weapon out there for those who think we’re not paying attention,” Hillyard said. “Personally, I agree with what [Gov. Gary Herbert] is trying to do and that is let the economic growth pay for education naturally. I personally think a tax increase of 7⁄8 percent would be a death knell and it would undo everything [former … Continued
December 11, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - A nurse will touch every person’s life at one time or another. This happens when a family member is sick, or when we have our own health problems. People are living longer than ever before. They are facing an increase in diseases and chronic health care needs. There is a serious shortage of health care providers, especially RNs, to care for such patients. The Utah Medical Education Council says that the nursing shortage consists of … Continued
December 09, 2016(Herald-Journal) - The history of education funding in Utah shows a consistent decreased effort since the 1990s. The Utah Foundation reports that since 1994, Utah has dropped from 7th in the nation to 37th in terms of education funding. During the past 20 years, K-12 revenue has decreased by nearly $12 per $1,000 of income. Back then, [Nolan] Karras said, the economy was robust and growing strong. The income tax was growing with the economy. The Utah … Continued
December 07, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - Third graders at Wasatch Peak Academy in North Salt Lake use colored shapes to learn fractions in a geometry class. A new report by the Utah Foundation says that charter schools receive less funding than school district schools, but charter advantages make it difficult to determine if the funding is inequitable.
December 07, 2016(Utah Political Capitol) - In past polls conducted the Utah Foundation air quality and the environment were treated as a single topic — but this year, when the two topics were separated, air quality rose from Utah’s 7th most important issue to the 2nd, just below health care and just above education. 87 percent of self-described liberals and 58 percent of similarly defined conservatives called it an “important issue.” Liberal voters were more than three times more likely than … Continued
December 01, 2016(UtahPolicy.com) - So how to get that started? — First, you wait until after the November 2016 election to say or do anything in public. You don’t want your effort harmed by gubernatorial or legislative candidates afraid of angering voters. Then get a well-respected, independent group to take a look at long-term Utah education funding. An unbiased report would provide the critical facts that your signature-gathering/ballot PR effort would rely on. That report came on Monday – … Continued
December 01, 2016(Deseret News) - I really enjoyed a recent Utah Foundation’s report on how Utah’s tax policies since the mid-1990s have shortchanged Utah public schools. The bottom line is that since 1996 instead of raising taxes to cover increased costs of health care, social services, higher ed, roads, relocation of the prison, other infrastructure, economic expansion, etc., our Legislature has chosen to pay much of those cost increases by reducing funding for public education. What the report didn’t mention … Continued
November 30, 2016(Deseret News) - So, not to get all wonky on you (I know how you all love doing math), but here’s another number to consider — $2.9 billion. That’s how much more tax money it would take to raise the state from its current last place in per pupil expenditures for education to the national average. Are you up to it? That won’t get you to the top of the list, mind you. Doing so would take much … Continued
November 30, 2016(The Spectrum) - Utah has pumped some $400 million into public education since 2010, according to legislative analysts, and state legislators and Gov. Gary Herbert often cite education as their top priority. But most of the new money has gone to fund increases in student enrollment and inflation. An analysis published Monday by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, suggested the state has dramatically cut its investment in education over the past 20 years. In 1995 Utah … Continued
