Secondly, the committee recommended a $1.6 million allocation to address the nearly 1,900 disabled Utahns waiting for services from the state Division for Services with People for Disabilities. Though well short of the some $8 million advocates had asked for the fully fund the list, Human Services Executive Director Lisa-Michele Church said the money — one of her top priorities for the department — will make a substantial dent on the waiting list.

Rounding out the top five priorities for the Department of Human Services was increased funding for drug courts, additional beds at the Utah State Hospital and monies for adoptions of at-risk foster youth.

Overall, Church said she was pleased with lawmakers prioritization, thanking lawmakers for recommending funding to her department building blocks in the face of the dramatic federal cuts.

As for the Utah Department of Health, committee members gave top priority to a program that provides early intervention for young children with delayed development, and also paid special attention to overworked Medicaid caseworkers and those helping implement the new Medicare prescription drug plan in Utah.

"By and large, I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone," Sundwall said after learning that committee members put two of his top priorities — funding for community health centers and ongoing monies for a state epidemiologist — in their top five.

Public Education: Full-day kindergarten, charter schools and funding for a remediation and testing for the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test are some of the top funding priorities of the Joint Public Education Subcommittee.

The committees prioritizations "have allocated amounts that allow us to make some improvement in student achievement," said Patti Harrington, state superintendent of public instruction. Those included $7 million for a full-day kindergarten initiative and $2 million for a math and reading initiative to help students pass the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test.

But the priority list had charter leaders smiling the most with $7.7 million in local replacement money to make up for funds charters don't get through property taxes. Lawmakers also prioritized $2.1 million for charter administrative costs, $600,000 in training and staff support.

"How can we not be happy," said Dave Moss, charter board president. "It's not going to be perfect but it is sure going to be a lot better... this funding is going to make the road a lot less bumpy."

Higher Education: Retention funds for key faculty and staff were rated as the top priority for committee members, a decision that pleased higher education officials, even if the money was not as high as requested.