The Utah Legislature will pass a $29.4 billion budget at the end of the 2024 session, much of which will go toward public education, as it has in past years.
Curious about how states organize their education budgets? The simple explanation starts with the base budget, which makes up the bulk of public education funding. This includes all money spent on public education in the previous year, less one-time funds. In that case, lawmakers would have to adjust funding based on enrollment growth and inflation. Throughout the session, lawmakers will pass legislation allocating more funding for public education and pass a final budget.
Education has become:
weighted pupil unit
Local school districts share responsibility for school funding, but the state typically covers about 75 percent of the cost.
The brightest part of the state's education budget is the weighted pupil unit, or per-pupil funding amount. This determines how much money a school receives based on enrollment and other factors.
Lawmakers increased the WPU by 5% this year. This is an additional 1.2% above the 3.8% increase needed to cover inflation. This means funding per student has increased from $4,280 for her last year to $4,443 for him. In total, this represents an increase of $211.7 million. That falls short of the 12-13.5% increase advocated by the education community, but is in line with Gov. Spencer Cox's budget request.
Still, Terry Rose, president of the Utah School Boards Association, said he values 5%.
“For the past three years, I feel like the Legislature has been really focused on making sure public education in our state is adequately funded.”
The Utah Education Association said in a statement that while the increase was less than the groups requested, “UEA found this portion of the education budget to be encouraging given the myriad needs in schools.”
school voucher
The state's newest school voucher program, the Utah Fitz-All Scholarship, starts this year. At this time, it is still in the application stage and families have not yet received benefits.
Still, lawmakers poured an additional $40 million into the program. While this is lower than his originally requested $150 million, it nearly doubles the number of students who can receive vouchers starting this school year.
Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, co-chair of the public education appropriations subcommittee, said the funding increase was necessary because demand was so high even before people applied. Lawmakers based their numbers on numbers provided by the advocacy group Utah Education Fits All.
“I don't think we've even scratched the surface of what the demand will be,” Fillmore said.
This funding increase was not supported by the public education community.
“It was really difficult for us to get through it,” Rose said.
She believes the program not only hasn't started yet, but also doesn't include enough accountability for its tax dollars.
“It costs a lot of money to preserve public education.” [the] private sector. “
For educators
Student teachers also benefit from the budget. People currently working without pay will be able to apply for $6,000 in benefits through a program created by lawmakers this Congress.
There is $8.4 million in one-time funding, enough for 1,400 student teachers. However, the state board has flexibility in the amount awarded to each student. This is currently a pilot program and is scheduled to end on July 1, 2028.
Lawmakers also allocated $8.4 million in one-time funding to give teachers more money to buy school supplies and $74 million in one-time funding for more paid professional time.
Fillmore's bill, Market-Informed Compensation for Teachers, includes $150 million in one-time payments to give bonuses to “high-performing” teachers. He said the pilot program would allow for payments of up to $100,000 to teachers.
Rose said it's difficult to put a dollar value on education, and that some people have expressed similar concerns about how good teachers are determined.
She called the bill “interesting” because school districts that choose to implement the program would be able to decide how to implement it, and is interested in seeing if districts can create a successful model. said. If so, she would like to see Congress provide more ongoing funding for teacher bonuses in the future.
funded by others
Lawmakers earmarked $100 million in one-time funding for a massive school safety bill. He also committed $100,000 in continuing funding to provide teachers with free training on firearms and how to protect their classrooms from threats like active shooters.
Lawmakers also made some tuition fees free beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. After hearing concerns from education officials, they added a one-time infusion of $35.5 million to ease the transition for schools that lost a source of income.
Rose is excited about eliminating tuition fees, but said while the money helps, it's not enough. He said the Cache County School District, where Rose is on the school board, would lose about half a million dollars a year, an amount the district could not easily absorb.
