A letter from Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, to 227 of his House colleagues this week offers what any of them seeking re-election wouldn't mind: increased federal education funding for his or her district.
Owens just sent the letter to begin in earnest a campaign in the House to change federal education funding formulas that now give Utah less per pupil than any other state.If it passed, it would increase Utah's share of "Chapter 1" funding for low-income students by 20.7 percent, or $3.7 million a year.
The Utah delegation has come up with a revised funding formula that would benefit or not hurt 28 of the 50 states - and help 228 of the nation's 435 House districts. That would benefit a majority of senators and House members - increasing the chances for passage of the bill.
But members from states that would lose funding are expected to fight it vigorously, as they did earlier this month in the Senate when Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, brought the proposed revision to a vote and lost 55-37.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine - from one of the states that would lose funds in the proposal - opposed Hatch, and few Democrats dared cross him. But because of interest from the majority of senators whose states would benefit, key committee chairmen agreed to hearings on the proposal and said provisions would likely be included in education bills next year.
If Owens and other House members from Utah are able to push the provisions through the House this year, that could force the Senate into even earlier action as they work out differences in their versions of education bills.
Owens' letter noted that the current funding formulas designed to distribute money to the poor actually gives more "to poor children in wealthy states than it gives to poor children in poor states."
"For example, the formula distributes $1.50 to every poor child in Connecticut (which has the highest per capita income in the country) for every $1 provided to a poor child in Mississippi (which has the lowest per capita income)," Owens letter said.
That results because the more money a state pays into education programs the more matching money it gets from the federal government.
That hurts states such as Utah. While Utahns pay among the highest per taxpayer for education, the total spent per child is still low because of large family sizes in the state.
A recent study by the Education Department - which Hatch and Owens secured through a bill passed in 1989 - showed Utah received only $130 per student in federal funds in 1989, the least of any state. That was 38 percent below the national average and $20 a student less than the next lowest state, Nevada.
In contrast, Alaska receives the most per student, $972.