Utah's standardized test scores typically are better than national averages.

But the report notes much of that has to do with demographics. Nationally, white students outperform most ethnic minority groups, a likely byproduct of higher incomes, educational attainment and, some say, test questions biased in favor of white student experiences.

More than 80 percent of Utah public school students are white.

But Utah's white students performed lower than the national average for white students on the 2003 National Assessment for Educational Progress. The same goes for Utah Asian and American Indian students, and on some tests, Hispanics, when compared to national averages for those ethnic groups.

"When we have kind of collectively patted ourselves on the back and said, 'Even with the low funding we've had, we've done pretty well because kids do so well on tests,' we're kidding ourselves," Kroes said.

Perhaps dollars could be reprioritized to address the matter, he said.

Maybe fewer tax dollars should be diverted to redevelopment agencies (RDAs), Jerman said.

Perhaps other ideas will come up in public discussion.

"I can't see how we can improve the schools without some more money," Kroes said. "We've got to have some creative thinking to come up with answers to make our system work better."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com