Utah lawmakers, school officials bicker over public education budget cuts

Tensions arose between Utah lawmakers and the state’s school board leaders in a recent meeting over cutting the public education budget.

“It’s not even close,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, of the board’s Jan. 23 proposal, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Legislature had requested all state agencies to estimate a 5% cut to their budgets. However, public schools had reportedly received an exception.

“K-12 education, which receives the most funding from the state, has uniquely been told it doesn’t need to account for the full 5% figure (which would amount to $295 million of the state’s $5.9 billion budget,” the Tribune noted.

Even with the exception, the Utah State Board of Education’s first plan fell far short of the requested $163 million figure – going only up to $37 million.

“I don’t know why you would come to us with this massive one-time reduction and say, ‘This is part of our plan,’” Fillmore told Amanda Bollinger, the board’s vice chair.

“We realized that this didn’t get us to where we needed to be,” Bollinger admitted during her presentation to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, “which is why we also have a second plan.”

‘This is just uncomfortable’

The second plan involved “a sweeping 6% reduction across all remaining programs” to reach the desired amount, despite criticism from board members over such cuts.

“This is just uncomfortable,” board chair Matt Hymas said. “It is difficult to make a decision here.”

Joe Kerry, another board member, agreed.

“We just don’t have all of the relevant information we need,” he said. “We are looking at these programs as dollar signs and not the students behind these programs.”

The Tribune described ongoing complaints from board members over “lawmakers’ short notice and limited data as obstacles to making decisions that would best support students.”

Recommended cuts included eliminating the state’s foreign exchange program, “competency-based education grants” and incentives for teachers to earn STEM education endorsements at elementary and secondary levels, according to the Tribune.

“Lawmakers, not the board, have the ultimate say on state spending. The latest legislative session started Jan. 20 and runs for 45 days, during which time a budget must be approved, including any cuts to public education.”

Utah has been recently recognized as a leader in school choice, alongside such states as Florida and Texas.

However, some analysts have recommended further steps toward educational freedom, including the improvement of state open enrollment policies.

“While Utah has made great strides in increasing funds for public schools and simultaneously providing families with scholarships for private education, there are problematic gaps in its open enrollment policy and implementation that should be filled,” wrote Christine Cooke Fairbanks, education policy fellow at the Sutherland Institute and former public school teacher.