- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox travels to Manti Elementary to sign bill that increases support at the state's rural K-12 schools.
- The new legislation is designed to ensure students in rural communities receive high-quality instruction and educational opportunities.
- Rural educators applaud the support of the governor and Utah's Legislature.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox didn’t need to pull up his GPS app to find Manti Elementary School for Monday’s ceremonial signing of a bill boosting state funding for the state’s rural schools.
The Sanpete County native — by way of nearby Fairview — felt right at home flanked by Manti school kids for the ceremonial signing of House Bill 396 into law.
“When we want to celebrate some really important new law, we do what’s called ‘ceremonial bill signings’,” he explained to his young constituents. “They are already laws and I’ve already signed them — but we can get together and pretend like we’re doing it for the first time.”
Sponsored by Rep. Karen Peterson, R-Clinton, HB396 amends the funding formula used at Utah K-12 schools classified as rural schools — providing up to 1.5 of the weighted pupil units now being generally allocated to Utah K-12 students in non-rural schools.
To be concise: Supplemental funding is coming to rural schools. And rural schools and districts will enjoy the flexibility to, say, hire and incentivize teachers — or use the money in other ways that they deem necessary to improve their classrooms.
During Monday’s signing ceremony, Cox recalled attending rural Fairview Elementary School as a child. Like many Utah public schools in rural communities, there was not a large community tax base to supplement state education funds.
“It’s a lot harder in rural Utah where we don’t have the same amount of taxes — and sometimes we need a little help,” said the governor. “And that’s what this bill is about.”
Peterson said her rural school funding legislation is designed to ensure all K-12 students in Utah’s public schools have access to quality teacher, principals, school counselors and other educators — regardless of the size of their respective schools and districts.
“This bill makes sure that we have funding for you now,” Peterson told the Manti Elementary kids.
“Then this will continue so that your administrators can hire teachers and school counselors and bus drivers and school administrators and custodians and everyone that makes it happen here at our schools.”
After “signing” HB396 into law, Cox offered parting words to the young Manti Elementary students: “Keep up the good work. Study hard. Listen to your teachers. Listen to your parents. Be nice to each other. Be kind.”
‘Stepped up’ to fund rural schools
Following Monday’s ceremonial bill signing, Cox admitted a soft spot for the state’s rural schools.
“I care deeply about our teachers. I care deeply about our education system, especially in rural Utah. We want teachers to know, we want educators to know, we want parents to know, and we want families to know that the public education system in Utah is robust, that it’s supported and that we’ve got their backs.”
— Gov. Spencer Cox
“Some of the best schools in America are right here and there are so many good people in rural Utah, (but) the way we fund schools makes it really hard,” he said. “Schools are mostly funded with property taxes.
And without a sizable community tax base, he said, “it just makes it hard.”
The governor recalled attending rural North Sanpete High School where only one foreign language — Spanish — was offered. “And that was taught by the football coach.”
Meanwhile, high schools along the Wasatch Front and other populous areas of the state enjoyed the resources to offer several foreign language course options.
Utah’s Constitution, he added, mandates that every K-12 student, regardless of ZIP code, deserves a quality education. “And we need funding to do that ... and the Legislature has really stepped up to help supplement some of the funding here in rural schools.”
Headline-grabbing days for education
It’s been a volatile few weeks for public education across the country.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the disassembling of the U.S. Department of Education after his administration had already laid off a sizable chunk of the embattled agency’s workforce.
Meanwhile, Cox penned an op-ed articulating his support of the president’s actions within the DOE — saying the job of educating the nation’s youth is best accomplished by states, not the federal government.
Monday’s event at rural Manti Elementary, noted the governor, illustrates the importance of local decision-making within education. “What we’re doing is empowering people at the local level who can make those decisions and helping to provide the funding that they need to protect these schools.”
Cox added he’s disturbed by any narrative suggesting Utah’s leaders “don’t care about teachers or that we’re averse to education — and that’s just not true.”
The state, he said, has funded education over the past four years “more than at any time in our state’s history.”
“I care deeply about our teachers. I care deeply about our education system, especially in rural Utah,” he said. “We want teachers to know, we want educators to know, we want parents to know, and we want families to know that the public education system in Utah is robust, that it’s supported and that we’ve got their backs.”
Local educators prioritizing ‘in their community’
HB396, according to Peterson, remedies a funding formula that wasn’t working for Utah’s rural schools. Now an ongoing funding system will be in place that allows rural schools and districts to adequately hire principals, teachers, bus drivers and other essential staff.
“This money comes to them flexibly — so they can make those decisions,” said Peterson. “(The rural schools) can decide: Do we want more concurrent enrollment? Do we want more technical education? Do we just need another school counselor that maybe covers a couple of schools?
“The money comes to them, so that they can make the decisions about the highest priority in their community.”
Piute County School District Superintendent Koby Willis said Monday that the provisions outlined in HB396 do more than simply direct more cash to Utah’s rural schools.
“It incentivizes the right things — and then it creates a more sustainable formula for the future ... it creates a more sustainable long-term program for small schools in Utah,” he said.