November 30, 2016(Politico) - TAKING OFF A CHUNK: Utah public schools have lost about $1.2 billion worth of funding over the past 20 years because of the state’s tax policy choices, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The nonpartisan Utah Foundation reported that around 2.8 percent of taxpayer income in the state went to schools in 2014, down from 3.9 percent in 1995. One of the culprits: a 1996 constitutional amendment that allowed income tax revenue to be shifted … Continued
November 30, 2016(Deseret News) - 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. … Continued
November 30, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - A recent UtahPolicy.com poll found broad support — 67 percent — among voters for an income tax increase to fund schools. The poll, conducted by Dan Jones and Associates, included 812 Utahns and had a margin of error of 3.43 percent. Additional results from that poll showed 30 percent of Utahns responding that they, personally, pay too little in income taxes. Utah’s income tax rate was lowered from 7 percent to 5 percent in 2007. … Continued
November 29, 2016(Utah Political Capitol) - Two decades of declining investment in Utah’s K-12 education has lead to a $1.2 billion reduction in available funds, according to a new report released Monday by the Utah Foundation – a non-partisan, Salt Lake City-based think tank. The report, entitled “Getting By with Less: Two Decades of K-12 Education Revenue and Spending,” reaffirms the fact that the beehive state has the lowest per-pupil spending in the nation due in part to Utah’s young population. … Continued
November 29, 2016(Washington Times) - A new report by the Utah Foundation has fond that changes to Utah’s tax policy have cost public schools $1.2 billion annually. The Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2fyvT3y ) that according to the report, released Monday, the amount of school-supporting taxes Utah residents paid for each $1,000 of personal income fell from $39 to $28 between 1995 and 2014. Utah Foundation researchers looked at changes to Utah’s tax code like the Truth in Taxation process … Continued
November 29, 2016(New West) - Finally, down in Utah, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, two decades of Utah tax policy has cost the state’s public school system $1.2 billion, a surprising deficit considering that lawmakers have approved millions of dollars to the education budget over the years. But as Utah Foundation research director Shawn Teigen, those increases are chewed up by inflation and enrollment growth: “Those big increases, on average, have been basically whittled away to about $22 million … Continued
November 29, 2016(KSL Newsradio) - The Utah Foundation says income and property tax collection and allocation means Utah’s funding effort is lower now. (w/audio link)
November 29, 2016(Utah Public Radio) - A new report by the Utah Foundation has found that changes to Utah’s tax policy have cost public schools $1.2 billion annually. According to the report, the amount of school-supporting taxes Utah residents paid for each $1,000 of personal income fell from $39 to $28 between 1995 and 2014. “Tuition is having to cover more and more of the cost,” said Utah Foundation Research Director Shawn Teigen. “Tuition used to cover about a quarter and … Continued
November 29, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - A report released Monday by the Utah Foundation details how the additional money sought by recent governors, and appropriated by successive sessions of the Legislature, may sound like a lot. It amounts to about $100 million a year. But, the Foundation calculates, the rapid growth in the number of students and the growth in the cost of educating each one of them rapidly eats up all but some $22 million of each year’s additional funding. … Continued
November 28, 2016(UtahPolicy.com) - Changes to Utah’s tax rates and structure as well as the allocation of revenue dedicated to public schools has meant a decline in funding effort for K-12 education in Utah. A new report released today by Utah Foundation, an independent, non-partisan public policy research group, shows the funding effort – defined as dollars spend for K-12 education per $1,000 of personal income – has dropped from 7th place in the nation in 1995 to 37th place among the … Continued
November 28, 2016(The Spectrum) - Two decades of declining tax obligations has taken Utah from one of the states most invested in public education to a state that ranks well below average, according to new report released Monday. In the last 20 years, Utah has fallen from having the nation’s seventh-highest K-12 education funding effort — or the percentage of personal income spent in schools — to having the 37th-highest, thanks to what amounts to a 29 percent decrease in tax … Continued
November 29, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - Two decades of Utah tax policy has cost public schools $1.2 billion a year, according to a report released Monday by Utah Foundation. Between 1995 and 2014, the amount of school-supporting taxes Utahns paid for each $1,000 of personal income fell from $39 to $28, the report states. And while lawmakers have added hundreds of millions of dollars to the education budget in recent years, Utah Foundation research director Shawn Teigen said, those increases have … Continued
November 20, 2016(Standard-Examiner) - The Utah Foundation determined that this threat was the No. 1 concern for Utahns prior to the election. The concern: Health care. We all know the parable of the Good Samaritan. A certain free-market, non-Medicaid expanding, up-by-your-own-boot-straps-I-can-do-this-myself gentleman is walking down the road when he is stricken with a severe asthma attack due to the winter air quality. (The second biggest concern for Utahns.) Select Health sees the stricken man on the sidewalk and walks … Continued
November 20, 2016(Salt Lake Tribune) - Monday’s poll released in The Salt Lake Tribune about Utah’s liquor laws misses the point. The poll specifically asked whether newly licensed restaurants should have a “Zion Curtain” to hide the preparation of alcoholic drinks. The truth is, Utah voters just don’t care that much about liquor laws. In Utah Foundation’s Utah Priorities Project Survey, we asked over 800 Utah voters to rate their top priorities. Out of 21 policies, liquor laws came in dead last. It … Continued
November 16, 2016(Heal Utah Podcast) - Matt chats with Shawn about the work he does as the Research Director for the Utah Foundation, a local think-tank. Shawn talked about his journey to work at the foundation, which included a stint in Kazakhstan. He described the Utah Priorities Project which asked voters this year what their top policy priorities are, such as healthcare and air quality. Matt and Shawn then drill down deeper on how Utahns think about a few environmental issues, including … Continued
November 08, 2016(Deseret News) - That’s a good question, one that our own Dennis Romboy looked to answer in his latest report. The United States has to choose between some of the most divisive candidates in recent history, which has political experts worried. “It doesn’t help that the campaign has been the most angry campaign that I can recall in my 53 years of life,” Steve Kroes, who heads the Utah Foundation, told Romboy. “It’s going to leave a lingering … Continued
November 08, 2016(St. George News) - Sixty-nine percent of the more than 800 Utah voters surveyed for the Utah Priorities Project earlier this year ranked healthcare as an issue of top concern, rating it a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale, according to a research brief published by the Utah Foundation. That was enough to push it to the top of the Project’s top 10 list as the most significant issue in the survey, ahead of air quality, K-12 education … Continued
November 07, 2016(KUTV) - When it comes to regulations on businesses Congressman Chris Stewart and his Democratic challenger Charlene Albarran have contrasting views. Stewart says new regulations from the Department of Labor requiring employers to pay overtime to salaried employees will hurt small businesses. “We’re trying to preclude them from implementing those rules,” Stewart said. “We’re trying to protect these mom-and-pop shops.” Stewart says he will try to insert language into the federal budget to void the rules. Albarran … Continued
November 06, 2016(KSL.com) - Nearly 70 percent of Utah voters surveyed this year about their top priorities said health care is their biggest concern. It is the No.1 priority among voters, shooting from fourth place in years past, above air quality, K-12 education, taxes, and jobs and the economy. “It’s maybe not so much that the interest in health care has risen, but some of the other issues previously considered more important aren’t as much of an issue this … Continued
November 03, 2016(Deseret News) - Nearly 70 percent of Utah voters surveyed this year about their top priorities said health care is their biggest concern. It is the No.1 priority among voters, shooting from fourth place in years past, above air quality, K-12 education, taxes, and jobs and the economy. “It’s maybe not so much that the interest in health care has risen, but some of the other issues previously considered more important aren’t as much of an issue this … Continued
November 03, 2016(Utah Political Capitol) - A 2015 study reported that the Utah cities and counties which voted by mail increased voter turnout. And, cities with numerous options including SDR are more likely to have a higher turnout. The Utah Foundation sampled 70 cities providing VBM and found that Utah cities conducting all VBM elections saw an average increase in turnout from 21 percent in 2011 to 38 percent in 2015. VBM has been criticized in that it mobilizes people already … Continued
November 02, 2016(KTVX) - As many begin enrollment in the healthcare exchange under the Affordable Care Act this may not come as a surprise that healthcare is the number one concern among Utahns. As ABC4 reported, during this election cycle Utahns are most concerned about the rising cost of health insurance. That’s the finding of a year long study of top priorities of 2016 by the Utah foundation. On Wednesday, researchers released details of those findings. Researchers at Utah … Continued
November 02, 2016(KUER) - A new survey out by the public policy group, the Utah Foundation, found that there’s one issue that tops the list for voters in 2016. More than energy issues, more than the environment, more even than K12 education, this year Utahns are thinking about healthcare. That’s according to a report released Wednesday by the Utah Foundation’s Christopher Collard. “When asked what is your priority concerning healthcare? 60 percent of Utahns responded cost,” Collard said. Collard says concern over healthcare … Continued
October 28, 2016(Skagit Valley Herald) - The quality of the environment is extremely important to Utahns. Three of the top 10 voter priorities identified by the Utah Foundation were air quality (#2), water supply and quality (#6) and the environment (#10). This suggests there is a broad swath of voters in this state care about the outdoors. The question is, how do we make sure the people we vote for represent our views? One advantage of voting by mail in Utah … Continued
October 26, 2016(Urban Milwaukee) - Historically, millennials have not shown up to vote. But that does not mean the generation hasn’t influenced political institutions. The millennial population overtook baby boomers as the largest generation in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Utah, the millennial generation has been larger since at least 2000, according to the Utah Foundation, a public policy research firm. Salt Lake City is home to the second-highest percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds in the country … Continued
