September 06, 2011 (Deseret News) - The Utah Foundation, a non-partisan research group, issued a report last week that laid out, in dry facts and figures, the truth about teacher salaries. Utah ranks in the middle of the pack among the Mountain States with which it typically has to compete for workers.
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September 02, 2011 (The Rod Arquette Show) - Utah\’s teachers earn comparable salaries to teachers in other Mountain States, despite national data that ranks Utah 49th in the nation for average teacher salary, according to a study released Thursday.
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September 01, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah may be 49th in the nation when it comes to average teacher salaries. But it’s near the middle among states in the mountain region when comparing starting and mid-career pay.
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September 01, 2011 (Deseret News) - Utah\’s teachers earn comparable salaries to teachers in other Mountain States, despite national data that ranks Utah 49th in the nation for average teacher salary, according to a study released Thursday.
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July 05, 2011 (Deseret News) - Utah no longer can say with any credibility that it devotes a higher percentage of its residents\’ personal income to fund public education than nearly every other state. That had been the standard comeback to the often-cited other side of the coin, that Utah spends less per pupil than any other state. A new study by the Utah Foundation, an independent research group, effectively lays that to rest.
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July 05, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Of all the education bills Jon Huntsman signed as governor of Utah, at least one stands out in many Utahns’ minds: school vouchers.\r\n \r\n But amid the controversy that followed the signing — a referendum, TV commercials and millions of dollars poured into each side’s campaign — Huntsman himself did not stand out.
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July 01, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - It’s not just about money when it comes to Utah’s system of public education. It’s about how much we’re able to value it.\r\n \r\n Last week, the Utah Foundation reported that, from 1992 to 2009, the state’s “funding effort” dropped from eighth in the nation to 26th. This on top of Utah’s long-standing rank at dead last in per-pupil spending and the Legislature’s unrelenting need to control it.
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July 01, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - It’s an old myth held dear by many Utahns, including far too many state legislators: While it’s true that Utah spends less per student on public education than any other state, taxpayers are forking over more of their personal income for schools that other Americans.\r\n \r\n That once was true. But now it decidedly is not.
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June 30, 2011 (Deseret News) - Funding for education in Utah isn\’t the priority it once was, according to a report released earlier this week by a local think tank. \”In reality, Utah is not exerting a heavy effort and has not since the 1990s,\” the Utah Foundation report states.
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June 29, 2011 (KCPW) - It’s already widely known that Utah spends the least amount of money per student in K-12 public education. But a new report from the Utah Foundation says on top of that, the effort put into public education funding has declined significantly since 1995. KCPW’s Jeff Robinson spoke with Steve Kroes, President of the Utah Foundation, about the report’s findings.
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June 28, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - The decline in Utah’s education funding effort over the past 16 years is “unprecedented,” according to a new Utah Foundation research report. The report, released Tuesday, says that Utah’s funding effort has fallen significantly since 1995, placing it 26th in the nation for the amount of money public education receives for every $1,000 in personal income. The report calls the decline “unprecedented, especially given the state’s history of high proportions of personal income dedicated to … Continued
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April 17, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - In Utah — a state with a high proportion of children and the lowest base per-pupil spending in the nation — school funding is a perpetual concern. But its often misunderstood. Utah’s system for funding schools is a complex web of programs, formulas and terminology that can make it difficult for average Utahns to understand exactly how their tax dollars pay for education.
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March 23, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Population growth over the past decade should give more legislative seats to northern Utah County, southwestern Salt Lake County and Washington and Davis counties, a panel of leaders involved in redistricting said on Tuesday.
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February 19, 2011 (Deseret News) - Utah may be among the nations best managed states, and it may be poised to move forward in a recovering economy while many other states are in a prolonged crisis, but that does not mean the Beehive State could not benefit from some better rules.
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February 13, 2011 (Deseret News) - I am guessing not many of you want to pay more in taxes, just as not many of you would volunteer for unneeded dental surgery or to use your head as a doorstop. At the same time, I am guessing not many of you think your current tax burden is too light. Taxes are to an adult what baths are to a child. No matter how little effort is involved, you would prefer to avoid … Continued
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February 01, 2011 (Utah Pulse.com) - By national standards they are young and they are smart. They are the individuals that make up Utahs workforce. They are also Utahs greatest strength and most competitive advantage in terms of economic development.
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January 28, 2011 (Deseret News) - Every chair in the seventh grade science classroom has a student — 32 in all sit side by side at the black lab tables, learning about cell cycles.\r\n \r\n Half of the students are on computers, while the other half are looking through microscopes. On days when all students in the integrated science class are present, another student would have his desk in the back of the classroom, along a table with a bug exhibit.
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January 23, 2011 (ksl.com) - If the 2011 Session of the Utah Legislature is typical, members will divide their labor by some percentage between the business of making sure our government is working, and making sure the world is aware of exactly where certain lawmakers stand on any number of hot-button issues.
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January 23, 2011 (Deseret News) - The tendency to devote time to so-called message bills is too great a tradition to expect this or any Legislature to bypass. And interestingly, a recent poll of Utahns shows the citizens themselves are not opposed to having messages on some issues sent from Utahs Capitol Hill, directly to Washington.
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January 20, 2011 (Utah Pulse.com) - Economists are optimistic about Utah’s economic future and they believe Utah is in a unique position as the nation begins to emerge from the Great Recession.
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January 11, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - It’s not the kind of report card you would post on the refrigerator door.\r\n \r\n Utah ranks 41st in the nation for education performance and policy, according to Education Weeks annual Quality Counts report released Tuesday, down from a ranking of 38th the previous year. The report gave Utah an overall grade of C-minus, slightly lower than the national grade of C.
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January 11, 2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah business leaders who gathered Tuesday to formally launch an initiative to boost Utah education are calling it one of the most important announcements the business community has made in many years.
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January 09, 2011 (Deseret News) - It was just another immigration rally on Capitol Hill: about 80 people on both sides of the issue glared at one another from behind signs made from poster board and yardsticks. But before Rep. Stephen Sandstrom could finish, a twenty-something Latina in the back was spouting off snarky comments and the Utah Minutemen were going red in the face. By the time the microphones were turned off, the Utah Highway Patrol had to step in … Continued
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December 29, 2010 (ksl.com) - 2010 was a tumultuous year for education. Budget cuts forced educators to teach more students with less money; and for the first time, research showed the strain of growth and funding may finally be taking its toll.
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December 15, 2010 (Deseret News) - The State Board of Education believes Utah needs more money to handle its ever-growing population of public school students. We agree, although there is room to quibble over exact dollar amounts.
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