The problem with that is that all the figures from the other states also don’t count building and bonding. So if we still wanted to do an apples-to-apples comparison, we’d have to add in those costs in the other states’ spending as well. Which would almost certainly slide Utah right back down to the bottom of the heap.
Herbert has long made it clear that he thinks Utah needs to do better by its public school students and teachers. His budgets always propose putting every spare nickel into public education. But even when the Legislature goes along — which it doesn’t always — all those spare nickels can manage is to keep up with the unending growth in student population and, barely, inflation. Meanwhile, the state has cut income tax rates and otherwise fiddled with the revenue sources for education so that the effort we make to fund schools — measured as dollars spent per $1,000 of personal income — has actually plummeted from seventh in the nation to 37th. (Hat tip: Utah Foundation.)
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