By Jessica Gurnsey
The Utah State Board of Education is seeking an additional $67 million to accommodate an extra 14,700 elementary through high school-aged students next year.
This is the largest increase in student enrollment in the past several years, said Mark Petersen, spokesman for the Utah Office of Education.
?The biggest growth is coming from new homes and a lot of migration along the Wasatch front and in Washington County,? Petersen said. ?Most of our rural schools are actually losing students.?
Alpine School District will open three new schools next year to accommodate its expected 1,800-student increase in enrollment, Mortensen said.
The Provo School District, however, has not had an increase in enrollment over the past several years, said Bob Gentry, personnel director. He attributes lack of growth to increasing property prices.
?The Alpine and Nebo school districts have grown tremendously,? Gentry said. ?People can?t find affordable property in Provo so they move out to the county .?
The Board of Education proposed a total increase of $347 million to the budget for next year, bringing it to $3.1 billion. This includes a 5 percent increase in the weighted pupil unit, or the amount of money given to schools for each student enrolled.
Money for the proposed increases will come from income taxes, Petersen said. Income taxes will not increase, however, there will simply be a smaller surplus left at the end of the year, he said.
The Board also included $16 million in its budget to help fourth through sixth graders with math, and $6.1 million to help high school students pass the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test.
?They?re looking to beef up the math programs in fourth through sixth grades because that is when you?re building up your core as you move into middle and high school,? Petersen said.
The Alpine School District plans to use this money to design workshops or courses to help students succeed, said Jerilyn Mortensen, spokeswoman for the district.
?We have some good interventions for first through third grades, but this will allow us to adopt some intervention programs and strategies for fourth through sixth,? she said.