The State Board of Education wants more than $230 million in new money to help prepare kids for the high school graduation test, pay for new students and cover rising costs of doing business.

That's according to the preliminary budget request the board OK'd Friday. The request will be forwarded to the governor's office for consideration in Gov. Olene Walker's proposed budget.

The request for new funding is big, considering the state is recovering from an economic downturn that required budget cuts a few years back.

"Be assured, the (money) we've listed is more than what they'll have statewide" in new money, state associate superintendent Patrick Ogden said.

The request includes $201 million in ongoing funding.

Some $82 million of that would boost the state's basic per-student funding formula, or weighted pupil unit, by 5 percent. The increase would cover the past four years' worth of inflation, the State Office of Education reports.

"We have not had a significant increase in years," Ogden said. "Unless we have funding that keeps up at least with inflation, we're in trouble."

Last year, the Legislature funded a 1.5 percent WPU hike.

The request also includes $62 million to pay for a projected 8,500 new students and $9 million to cover charter school growth.

Other money would help prepare students for notched-up educational standards.

Just over $10 million would help prepare students to take the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, required for high school graduation. The money could help students who failed parts of the test on the first few tries or fund practice tests for younger students, state education office spokesman Mark Peterson said.

The state board also wants $2.5 million to help kindergartners through third-graders learn to read. The money was given this year, but as a one-time allotment in the state's $15 million contribution to the governor's reading program. It also seeks $16 million to help fourth- through sixth-graders in math, mainly to prepare them for higher junior high standards proposed in Performance Plus.

Other requests include:

• $5.5 million in one-time money to help teachers buy class supplies.

• $15 million in one-time money to buy reading and math materials.

• $3.6 million to cover rising busing costs, including transporting students who want to transfer to higher-testing schools under No Child Left Behind.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com