By HILLARY GUBLER
Some Utah educators say their legislators did not work hard enough during the 1999 legislative session to provide funding for public schools.
Washington County Education Association President Evan Johnson said the reason public schools didn’t receive necessary money this year is that party leaders are more concerned with roads and Olympics than education.
However, Rep. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, said the reason why education didn’t get the money it had hoped for was due to a $17 million shortfall in expected tax revenue. An obligation to the Centennial highway program also contributed to the decrease.
Utah is one of the best in the nation in giving a high percentage of tax money to education, Hickman said. But because the state also has one of the highest number of students in the country, the money is spread out, making the Weighted Pupil Unit one of the worst.
The WPU is the amount of money given to education per student, and the 2.5 percent increase allotted from this legislative session won’t have a significant impact on education, said Washington County Assistant Superintendent Jim Johnson.
School districts have not been able to put the extra money toward necessary improvements and teachers’ salaries because of increased insurance premiums and funding of special programs, Johnson said.
Evan Johnson said Hickman doesn’t care for public education and would rather put his efforts toward more high-profile bills like the one that made Dixie College a four-year school. Hickman is a big supporter for higher education and voted for proposition six last year.
The proposition — Resolution Amending Revenue and Tax Article and Eduacation Article for the Support of Public Education and Higher Education — takes money from public schools to put toward higher education.
Both public and higher education contribute to the quality of the state, Hickman said. The amount of money taken from public education’s uniform school fund for higher education does not harm public schools.
Proposition six is not intended to have public and higher education work against each other, Hickman said.
Jim Johnson said if Bill Hickman did for public schools what he did for higher education, public schools would be in good shape.
Evan Johnson said his biggest concern for education is that Utah isn’t competitive with other state markets. Utah won’t be able to attract quality, capable individuals in the teaching profession because Nevada offers smaller classes and schools pay their teachers $4,000-$8,000 more.
“Good teachers are going to leave and we’ll be left in a crisis in Utah,” Evan Johnson said. “Legislators feel if it’s not broken, don’t add money.”
Sen. Lorin Jones, R-Veyo, said although the Legislature made some policy changes that were good for the education climate in Utah, public education wasn’t funded properly this year. He also added that legislators could pump a lot of money into the education system, but it wouldn’t change test scores.
Evan Johnson said legislators are complaining that test scores are lower this year in Utah, but the reality is that other states are more progressive to schools and their scores are rising while ours our staying the same.
However, Rep. Tammy Rowan, R-Orem, said she noticed the problem and is involved in organizing a task force for accountability in test scores.
Rowan would like Utah to follow the Texas model because Texas math scores are up 30 percent, reading 10 percent and writing 8 percent, with the biggest results in minority scores.
