Money for Utah schools has risen nearly $500 million over the past two years, helping turn around the state's declining efforts to pay for public education, a new Utah Foundation report says.

But that half billion dollars is unlikely to do much to move Utah's dead-last national ranking for per-student spending, according to the report, "Utah's Education Funding Effort, Update and Historical Perspective." In fact, to bring the state to 50th from 51st place, using 2005 numbers, would require another half billion dollars. And it would take about $1.4 billion to reach the national average.

"It's almost impossible, but that doesn't mean we give up" on efforts to move out of last place, said State Board of Education chairman Kim Burningham.

"I think certainly, the past couple of years ... we have made an improvement, and that's really commendable," he said. "But (historically) we're not making the kind of effort we ought to make."

The Utah Foundation is a nonpartisan research group aiming to foster understanding of complex issues.

Its report, made public this week, is a follow-up to last year's "Paradox Lost," which showed the state wasn't trying as hard as it once did to fund public schools.

Money for education is tied to Utah demographics. With the nation's highest birthrate, there are relatively few taxpayers to fund schools. That's even though all income tax money goes to education.

In the early to mid-1990s, Utah could say it was trying as hard as it could to eke out education budgets. Efforts to pay for public schools ranked in the top 10 in the country.

But by the late 1990s, according to "Paradox Lost," that effort dropped to around the national average, as measured by public education revenues per $1,000 of personal income. Lowered taxes, spending shifts and a constitutional change to fund colleges and universities with income tax revenues contributed to the change.

But the effort is strengthening, the report says. In fiscal years 2007 and 2008, income tax revenues going to public schools grew faster than the economy for the first time in a decade.

"That's exciting there's been a noticeable turnaround in funding, and I hope we continue that," said House budget chairman Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley.

"Can you ever say you've invested enough in children in Utah? I don't think you can ever say that," he said. "I don't think it's reasonable (to say) ... we can ever catch the national average. For us to put that amount of revenue all in one year, and stay up there, will be difficult. But that doesn't mean we can't try."

Higher education by next year could be completely paid for by income tax revenues — it has been a general fund/school fund hybrid — the report says. If income tax revenues keep growing, legislators could boost money for schools, cut taxes or put more money away in the schools' Rainy Day Fund.