Teachers might get more money

Teachers might get even more money now that a potential budget showdown appears to be settling.

House and Senate GOP leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. are hashing out plans to boost the state's basic per-student funding formula — the weighted pupil unit (WPU) — by an extra 1 percent. That would amount to about $25 million.

But it's not a straight-up increase because even though the money is funding the WPU, it is only one-time funding. Traditionally, the WPU funding is considering to be ongoing that legislators would build on next year.

"Those are details, frankly, we are working on," Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said Thursday. "We've negotiated with the governor, and we're pretty close on some additional compensation for teachers, and we are working on a (funding) source that we do not yet have fully firmed up."

Funding education has been a priority for legislators and the governor, even after reduced revenue estimates came in last week.

"We have always had a very strong interest in putting as much money as possible into education," he said. What we needed was a source; we think we found one."

Valentine said details of the plan would be firmed up in GOP caucuses in the next day or two. But he did acknowledge that "bonuses were discussed."

Earlier Thursday, Valentine said finding the extra money for teachers was the one major area of disagreement remaining this session between majority Republicans and the GOP governor.

Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News he believed there was a way to increase teacher salaries even more than the 2.5 percent increase in the WPU and the $1,700 teacher raise already approved by the Executive Appropriations Committee.

"Given what I think we can do, I'm not yet content with that final number," said the governor, who had sought a 7 percent increase in the WPU in his budget. "I want to get compensation as high as we can get it."

The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee had prioritized less than Huntsman wanted, a 3 percent WPU hike and a $2,500 straight-up raise for teachers — the equivalent of about a 6.6 percent WPU increase. But that was reduced after new revenue estimates came in $340 million short of projections, even though they were still among the heftiest ever recorded.

Huntsman said he was willing to consider either the one-time WPU increase or a one-time teacher bonus. "I want to get it in a way that maximizes teacher compensation," he said.

Before Valentine announced progress was being made on the governor's request, Huntsman said some $36 million in non-lapsing funds could be tapped to pay for the boost. There was also talk of using some of the $100 million set aside for unexpected enrollment growth by the GOP majority.