Utah spends less money per student than any other state in the country, but not for lack of trying — or so it's said.

However, a Utah Foundation report released Thursday shows Utah has tumbled in its national rank for money dedicated to public schools.

In fiscal year 1996, Utah was fifth in the country in the percentage of money raised here that ended up going to schools, according to the report. In FY00, the ranking dropped to 42nd, but rose to 35th in FY02, the final year used in the study.

Meanwhile, Utah's test scores aren't as great as they may appear, the report states. While still above national averages, Utah's ethnic groups are falling behind national cohorts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

"We hope (this) . . . invites discussion on how we should prioritize our resources. With this boom of (145,000 new) kids coming into the school system (in 10 years), how are we going to accommodate it?" foundation executive director Steve Kroes said. "One way to accommodate it is to dedicate our resources toward education the way we used to."

The report is part of the foundation's "Utah Priorities Project," focusing on top election year issues.

It re-examines Utah's "education paradox," in which Utah puts more money into public schools than most other states yet still spends the least per student in the country. The most often cited reason is demographics: Utah has the nation's highest birthrate and youngest population, leaving fewer working-age people to support public education.

But the foundation found the paradox is unraveling.

In FY95, 32.6 percent of Utah's own state and local tax dollars went to schools, Kroes said. But by FY00, the number dropped to 26.7 percent. In 2002, 28.8 percent of the money went to schools.

The foundation examined all tax dollars raised within Utah and what percentage of that was spent on education. The methodology aimed to control for the influx of federal dollars for roads and other projects in the late 1990s, so numbers would not be exaggerated, Kroes said.

Utah is, however, putting forth a good effort to fund schools, notes Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association. Utah is 14th in the nation in terms of personal income devoted to public education. That number does, however, represent a decrease in recent years.

"(The report is) not an indication of effort going down, but our priorities being misplaced," he said.

The Utah Education Association agrees funds need to be reprioritized. Its plea often is tied to academic improvement possibilities — a concept included in the report.