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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that lawmakers say would more evenly spread the burden of providing capital funding for charter schools was recommended for House approval Wednesday.
HB119, if signed into law, would require some school districts to pay more than $500,000 to support ongoing capital funds for Utah schools. But bill sponsor Rep. Bradley Last, R-Hurricane, said it would be a "fair fix" of an oversight in policy.
When charter schools were originally established in Utah, local school districts were required to provide financial assistance to cover the capital costs of charter schools, which don't have authority to levy property taxes.
The current policy requires school districts to pay one-fourth of local revenues to a statewide capital fund, which benefits both charter schools and district schools. But the policy allows districts to select the lesser of two options: Paying 25 percent of per-pupil local revenues or paying 25 percent of charter school students' average local revenues.
This creates inequity among districts in what level they're required to participate, which places a higher tax burden on districts with fewer financial resources. As an example, the Davis County School District earns $852 per student in local revenues and pays $213 per charter student — 25 percent of the overall revenue.
The Park City School District, however, earns $5,528 per student in local revenues, but pays only $289 per charter student — just more than 5 percent of the overall revenue.
In all, 12 school districts currently pay the full 25 percent, and 26 districts pay a lesser portion for charter students living within the district.
Last's bill would remove the second option of paying charter school students' average local revenues, requiring all school districts to pay an equal portion.
"This is a minor attempt at equalization. We want all the districts to basically get the same bang for their buck when they make a certain effort," Last said. "Seems like everybody ought to be on the same basis, and that's really what this bill attempts to do."
If the bill became law, seven districts would have to divert in excess of $100,000 more to the capital fund. The Canyons and Salt Lake school districts would pay an increase of more than $500,000.
Last said the change would not affect individual taxpayers unless higher-paying school districts decided to increase their tax levy to compensate for the higher costs.
Sarah Jones, a spokeswoman for the Utah Education Association, said the change could harm programs in several school districts that would have to significantly raise their contributions.
"The majority of districts will lose money under this change, and this is a concern for us," Jones said. "The loss of revenue would inevitably mean that districts could not maintain the same level of services, so whether that means they reallocate funds or cut programs or raise taxes, (those options) would be a reality for them."
Royce Van Tassell, executive director of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, said that while $500,000 is not an insignificant amount to have to pay, it is only a small portion of funding for some Utah school districts that operate on a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I think that sometimes hyperbole ends up ruling the day," Van Tassell said. "It's important to recognize what that context means."
The bill passed the House Education Committee 10-2 Wednesday and it will now go to the full House. Email: mjacobsen@deseretnews.com Twitter: MorganEJacobsen
