• Optional, full-day kindergarten in high-poverty schools would help address achievement gaps before they take hold, King said. Huntsman proposes $7 million for the program.

"We support this part of the governor's plan," King said. "We feel strongly this is a place we can make . . . a lasting difference."

• School libraries would get a $4 million boost, to be spent at schools' discretion, under a bill proposed by Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray.

• Class sizes would go down under a $35 million appropriation Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, seeks. Overall, Utah classes are the nation's biggest, with an average 23 students per teacher (the national average is 15.6 students per teacher). Moss wants to bring that down to 20 students per teacher in kindergarten through third grades.

• Democrats also backed the State Board of Education's proposals to improve elementary math instruction and Utah Basic Skills competency help, among others, said Sen. Karen Hale, D-Salt Lake.

Public education officials attending the press conference praised the proposals.

"Investing in kids is the smart way to help the state sustain the economic development everyone seems to want," Salt Lake City Superintendent McKell Withers said.

"We may not agree on the details of every single bill that comes out. But overall, the direction we see is very positive," said Pat Rusk, president of the Utah Education Association. "It's time to put education first."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com