Students struggling to pass the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test will get state money for tutoring that helps them make the grade.
Teachers will share $7 million to help them buy classroom supplies, and a few could get a pay raise for boosting fourth- through sixth-graders' math test scores.
Schools will see a 6 percent boost — the largest WPU hike since the 8.6 percent given in 1991, state associate superintendent Patrick Ogden said — in the dollars used to educate Utah children.
All said, public schools are getting $269 million in new money — a 10.6 percent budget increase — from the 2006 Legislature, said school budget chairman Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt.
"I think it's been a good year," he said.
Still, Utah Education Association executive director Susan Kuziak is not calling it an outright victory. "It's only a down payment on what we need to make schools the best that we can."
The approximately $120 million infusion into the WPU, the state's basic per-student funding formula, is more than the State Board of Education asked for. The 6 percent hike takes the WPU value from $2,280 to $2,417. The amount exceeded the State Board of Education's 5 percent request, a top budget priority. But it probably won't translate into a 6 percent teacher pay raise, considering rising energy and insurance costs districts must fund.
Several other bills and initiatives upheld the promise of more cash. But in one, money will pay out for results. And others fizzled in the session's waning hours.
HB181, sponsored by Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, put a twist on the State Board of Education's pleas for UBSCT help and elementary math improvements. It splits $15 million between UBSCT vouchers and a merit-pay-based math pilot program, with priority for the latter given to low-income schools.
"Some want to fund inputs such as math endorsements, and to get teachers better trained in math instruction," HB181's Senate sponsor, Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said in the bill's Wednesday Senate debate. "Others want to fund results."
But opponents said the bill contained too many elements. "I'm having a really hard time with this bill because of its omnibus nature," said Sen. Greg Bell, R-Farmington.
Attempts to narrow the bill into a single math-improvement program failed in both houses.
Some initiatives never came through. A bill enabling schools to offer full-day kindergarten for disadvantaged children — one of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s top priorities, backed by the State Board of Education — passed the House, but died when lawmakers failed to pay its $7 million price tag.
The House budget chairman's 1,000-teacher initiative, in which he suggested giving teachers $1,000 pay raises, $1,000 bonuses and adding 1,000 professionals to their ranks, went nowhere.
"I thought it was a very, very good idea," said Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley. "It just was not well received (among House Republicans), to my disappointment."
Contributing: Tiffany Erickson
E-MAIL: jtcook@desnews.com