Beyond that, the grim rankings go on. Utah got last place for teacher salaries, last place for revenue from the federal government and second to last place for total funding (much of which is spent on buildings — which is why it’s last place for pupil spending).
“I think it’s up to policymakers to see how interested they are in getting out of last place,” said Shawn Teigen, vice president of the Utah Foundation, a research organization based in Salt Lake City. “They say we get a lot of bang for our buck with high test scores and graduation rates. But is it a big enough bang? Or do we want a bigger bang?”
Herbert has long declared education his No. 1 priority. But, for his tenure, the state has not seen much of an increase in the per-pupil spending beyond inflation.
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