KAYSVILLE -- During his State of the State Address Wednesday night, Gov. Gary Herbert said his No. 1 focus is education. The education community has heard a lot about cuts, so they are excited the focus is on education growth.

"In this legislative session, funding our children's education must be our No.1 budget priority," Herbert said.

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That sentence drew applause not only from legislators, but also from a small crowd of teachers and parents in Kaysville. They say they're worried about looming budget cuts and the idea of asking teachers to do more with less, when less is what they already have.

"Teachers are pretty nervous about that. We've had lots of cuts in the last two years," said Gloria Smith, second-grade teacher at Kaysville Elementary School.

The state PTA is hoping to add all-day kindergarten, so leaders of the organization were thrilled to hear the governor mention the program.

"Investing in our children today benefits all of us tomorrow," Herbert said.

"He didn't mention cutting back in any area with education. He wanted to try to keep it strong," said Margaret Wahlstrom, public relations vice president for the Utah PTA.

That being said, this group realizes this is just the start of the legislative session. There is plenty of time to make budget cuts to education.

"We do have concerns, and we want to make sure that the most important things to our children are not cut," Wahlstrom said.

The biggest concern for the teachers and parents we spoke with Wednesday night is where the money for new programs is going to come from and where the cuts are going to be made.

E-mail: jstagg@ksl.com

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