Schools see funds shrink

Schools are getting an extra $269 million next school year, but their piece of the pie is getting smaller.

Public schools last year received 86 percent of the money set aside for them and colleges.

But in the 2006 legislative session, they got 77.5 percent of those income tax monies, according to a Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office comparison.

The rest is going to colleges and buildings. And a lawmaker overseeing the budget process thinks that within two years, both universities and elementary through high schools will be paid for entirely with rapidly growing income tax revenue. A decade ago, colleges got none of that money.

"We are on a slippery slope," said Rep. Lou Shurtliff, D-Ogden, who requested the fiscal analyst's comparison and last winter unsuccessfully attempted to guarantee public schools 90 percent of the income tax revenues. "We are not stepping up to the plate in what we need to do."

Legislators say people knew that would happen when they amended the Utah Constitution in 1996 to let colleges share the public schools' pot. But the state's largest teachers union disagrees, saying it's an effort to starve the public school system.

Colleges, on the other hand, don't care where the money comes from — they just want enough to keep tuition in check.

Money's always been a sore spot for Utah public schools, which receive fewer bucks per student than any other state in the country. Public school officials keep tabs on how the public's dime is divvied.

Public schools used to have sole claim on Utah's income tax revenues. The state's general fund, made up of fees, sales and other taxes, took care of everything else, including colleges. But in 1996, voters OK'd a constitutional amendment to allow income tax revenues to be shared with colleges and universities.

Of this year's $1 billion in additional income and sales tax revenue, lawmakers gave roads the lion's share, with 25.4 percent of the cache, according to analysis by state associate superintendent Patrick Ogden. Public schools got 23.1 percent. Colleges, 9.4 percent. After that, general government got 9.2 percent, Health and Human Services 9 percent, buildings 8.4 percent, a future tax cut 6.3 percent and an enacted tax cut, 5.2 percent. Law enforcement got 4 percent of the new money.

A report issued earlier this month by the nonprofit, nonadvocacy Utah Foundation research organization noted the once-high effort to fund public schools in a state with proportionately more children than any other has diminished due to tax and budget changes reducing revenue growth.