10% boost sought for student funding

Schools want a big chunk of the record surplus the state says it's seeing this year, in the form of a 10 percent boost in the student funding formula alone, the State Board of Education voted Friday.

While number crunchers haven't pinpointed how much that would cost, state associate superintendent Patrick Ogden said every one percent increase in the weighted pupil unit costs about $17 million — putting the 10 percent request somewhere in the $170 million range.

The total is more than the 6 percent WPU hike the board was poised to ask for last month and could be unprecedented, at least in recent years.

The increase is hoped to raise teacher salaries and is "consistent with the philosophy ... to improve the quality of teachers," board chairman Kim Burningham said.

Meanwhile, the board also will ask for a half-million dollars to create a high school testing package to better prepare students for college or the world of work. That package may include making everybody take the ACT college entrance test.

About two-thirds of Utah kids take that test anyway.

The test would be used to diagnose students' deficiencies in about the ninth grade — something the controversial Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, linked to high school diplomas, doesn't do well, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington said.

But, she added, "this philosophical discussion (on the ACT) is still pending," indicating the discussion might pick back up in December.

ACT bosses also have made clear they don't want the exam used as an exit or graduation exam, state education bosses have noted.

Burningham questioned whether more tests would be well taken by a public that's sick of testing anyway. Colleague Randall Mackey questioned whether the ACT would be worth students' time, especially since not everyone has a desire to go to college.

But state school board and Board of Regents member Marlon Snow said the ACT would make it easier to track students' interests and strengths and help them channel their studies.

"If this is what they're looking at from higher education for the acceptance of students, you ought to be looking at it ... from this side," Snow told the board's finance committee.

The $500,000 request would fund a pilot involving about 25 percent of high school students, Harrington said.