On paper, Utah public schools look flush with cash, pulling in about a billion extra dollars over the past 10 years.

Yet class sizes remain huge. Teacher salaries are below the national average. And Utah — still — has the lowest per-student funding in the country.

Why?

And what will it take for Utah to get ahead?

Doing something about education is on the public's mind. Thirty-six percent of Utahns surveyed by Dan Jones & Associates for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV say education should be the Legislature's main issue this year. No other topic, including tax cuts, came close to that level of interest.

Just over half of Utah small-business owners say the state needs to increase school funding — a somewhat surprise return on a poll conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business — with some of the state's $1.6 billion in one-time surplus funds and ongoing revenue growth. The federation has up to 4,500 member businesses; federation state director Candace Daly said.

"It's been below 50 percent the last few times they've polled," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised, because I really do think a little more money needs to be put in public education and higher education. Throwing dollars at anything doesn't fix it, but starving someone of funds can hurt."

In the past 10 years, the schools budget, looking at state dollars alone, has grown about 50 percent, from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion, according to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst. It's up about 58 percent, from $1.9 billion to $3 billion, if federal and other dollars are counted.

Lawmakers last year gave schools a $243 million infusion, an increase of nearly 10 percent, the analyst's office reports. "It was the largest nominal increase in the history of the state," said Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association.

It also was the first year in a decade that the budget increase exceeded the growth in Utahns' personal income, said Stephen Kroes, executive director of the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan group that examines Utah issues and trends.

"If we keep having years like that ... I think that's going to have a good chance of making an improvement," Kroes said.

But the public sentiment is that the public schools are financially starving, and getting thrown bones at best. Last year, legislators also gave tax relief, and public school advocates saw that as money taken away from schools. All income tax revenues go to schools and colleges.

"That's why a lot of legislators are frustrated," Jerman said. "They were hoping to get some accolades last year ... and all they heard was that the Legislature was cutting education spending."