With little fanfare, lawmakers agreed to spend $1.45 billion on Utah's public schools in fiscal 1996, nearly $83 million more than the previous year's funding.
Introducing SB215 in the House, Rep. Jeff Alexander, R-Provo, attempted to focus lawmakers on the magnitude of the bill and the expenditure. "Representatives, we're about to debate 47 percent of the (state) budget," he said.Apparently accustomed to dealing in billions of dollars, legislators approved the bill with relatively little debate. The budget bill passed 64-9 in the House and was approved unanimously in the Senate.
SB215 increased the WPU (weighted pupil unit) by 4 percent from $1,608 to $1,642. The WPU is the amount of money the state appropriates for each child from the Minimum School Fund. Additional money is appropriated to school districts for handicapped children and students who participate in applied technology education programs. The money is used pri-mar-ily for basic school programs and compensation.
Only a proposed amendment by Rep. Mike Waddoups, R-Salt Lake, stirred controversy. Waddoups' amendment would have required school districts to use the increased value of the WPU to ensure students have an adequate supply of textbooks.
"Cutting to the chase, it will take it out of salaries if they don't buy books first," Waddoups said.
The amendment failed by one vote.
Sen. Steve Rees, Senate co-chairman of the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Education, said the record minimum school program budget is indicative of legislators' commitment to public education.
"The Legislature provided these dramatic funding increases in a year when Utah schools are projected to see their smallest enrollment growth in 15 years," he said.
For the first time ever, bilingual education was funded as a separate line item in the minimum school fund budget. The $1.6 million expenditure is intended to help school districts meet Office of Civil Rights Standards in providing a personalized education for students who speak English as a second language.
In recent months, bilingual education programs in six Utah school districts were subject to random reviews by the OCR. None fully met federal requirements.
The also bill earmarked $585,000 for education programs for youths 21 and under who are in the custody of a state agency other than the Utah State Training School, Utah State Hospital, State Division of Corrections or Utah State Prison.
Also, the bill appropriates $3.2 million to implement an incentive program for high school applied-technology programs.
The budget also includes $300,000 for school districts to develop and implement "character education" programs.
Other highlights of the bill include $6.8 million to address enrollment growth and more than $9 million in ongoing funding for technology - $4.9 of which will fund UtahLink, the state's public education onramp to the information highway.