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As the Utah Legislature enters the home stretch of its 45-day session, the lawmakers are facing a good-news, bad-news proposition, when it comes to the state budget.
While revenue projections this week show more money will come into state coffers as the economy improves, the bad news is, it's not enough to make everyone happy.
So, as they decide just how to divvy up the dollars, it's critical that lawmakers remember what the public has said over and over again is its top funding priority -- public education.
The state has not had the ability to invest in schools in recent years, as the recession forced cuts everywhere. For two years, we have had to absorb a wave of new students, without additional funds, and this year, about 14,000 additional kids will be showing up for class.
It is encouraging that lawmakers appear to be focused on that reality, discussing a number of innovative ways to bridge the funding gap.
Even so, it's still likely some cuts to some government programs are inevitable, and none of them will be easy to make, or to accept.
There is also a growing understanding of just what a chronically malnourished education system means to Utah's future, if nothing else, as an issue of economic development. Among all of the things that attract new business, an educated workforce ranks at the top.
There may come a day when a stronger economy delivers revenues we could actually invest to reduce class size, increase teacher pay and generally make improvements to public education.
In the meantime, as the Legislature wraps up its budget for 2011, KSL believes no effort to protect necessary funding for public schools, is too small.
E-mail: cpsarras@ksl.com
