Demos want to use surplus for public education

Democrats want the state's $1 billion surplus to go toward more than the big tax cuts and transportation improvements that have grabbed the early headlines in the 2006 legislative session.

In their weekly Monday press briefing, members of the state's minority party unveiled a slew of education-funding proposals that they say would make good use of the extra money at the Legislature's disposal.

"We think if we just commit uniformed school dollars to public education, we will have enough money to fund our public education needs," said House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, referring to the income tax revenue earmarked by the state constitution to fund education.

Rep. LaWanna Shurtliff, D-Ogden, is sponsoring a bill that would do just that.

HB84, which has not yet been assigned to a committee, would guarantee that at least 90 percent of the state's education revenue would go to funding public schools. To do that, a 10 percent cap would be placed on the amount of the revenue that could go to higher education.

In the past nine years, money from the uniform school fund going to public education has decreased almost 10 percent, from 95.6 to 86 percent.

The decrease is attributed to the rise in funding to higher education, which usually gets appropriated money from the general fund.

But in 1996, voters amended the Utah Constitution to permit higher education to dip into the general school fund. As transportation costs escalated, higher education started using that option.

"To us, the critical piece of (education reform) is to prioritize state funding," Becker said. "(Shurtliff's bill) will have a positive fiscal note for public education."

The increased funds would go to addressing what Becker called "critical shortcomings" in the education system, including student achievement and overcrowded classrooms.

Two bills tackle the classroom-size issue.

HB62, currently in the Education Committee, would focus on classroom-size reduction to combat the literacy problem, with language in the bill restricting class sizes in kindergarten through third grade to 20 students or fewer.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, seeks to improve reading proficiency for student advancement in kindergarten through third grade, ensuring at-risk students advance.

Morgan proposed a similar bill last year that passed with some dissent in the House before the Senate ran out of time to hear the bill.