Dems propose taking money from higher ed to fund public schools

Dems propose taking money from higher ed to fund public schools

(Lissandra Melo/Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Education again tops Utah Democratic lawmakers' list of priorities for the upcoming legislative session, including a new idea to get more money into public schools.

Instead of sharing income tax revenue with higher education as state law requires, the proposal would direct all of that money to public education only. The change would require voters to amend the Utah Constitution.

House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said funding both education systems from income tax has "turned out to be a mistake."

"Our education is underfunded. That is a simple truth. Everyone knows it, but few people are willing to take a hard look at what we are doing wrong and what we could be doing right," King said.


Our education is underfunded ... Everyone knows it, but few people are willing to take a hard look at what we are doing wrong and what we could be doing right.

–Rep. Brian King, House Minority Leader


House Democrats on Tuesday rolled out their agenda for the 2016 Legislature that opens Monday. They are a decided minority in the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

King acknowledged it would be a "hard political pull" to take income tax revenue from colleges and universities.

He didn't have a specific plan to make up the potentially hundreds of millions of dollars higher education would lose. He did rule out tuition increases, but not raising sales and property taxes or redirecting earmarks in the state's general fund.

Take the poll
Is this plan a good one? Take our poll at the end of this story.

"This is not about robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, who is sponsoring the funding legislation. Rather, he said it's about restoring money to schools.

Dabakis said he would run a companion bill that would hold higher education "harmless." He would replace the 5 percent flat income tax rate approved in 2008 with a variable rate topping out at just over 7 percent rate. He would also increase state sales tax by 1 percent.

Related

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has proposed a $422 million increase for public and higher education, including funds for an expected 9,700 new schoolchildren next year and to ease rising college tuition.

The state has $561 million in new revenue for the budget year beginning July 1. About 70 percent of that would go to public schools and universities under the governor's plan, putting total education funding at $4.4 billion.

Bettering the lives of Utahns

Democratic lawmakers say increased education funding is one part of their proposal to better the lives of Utahns.

"It is time for all Utah families to feel like they matter and are not simply pawns in the game of big business and big politics," said House Minority Whip Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City.

Although the economy is doing well, Utahns still struggle with poverty, homelessness, job uncertainty and access to health care.

In addition to education funding, Democrats intend to push legislation for a living wage, paid family leave, Medicaid expansion, improved air quality and removing barriers to voting.

"We're the ones at the Legislature who represent real family values and support working Utah families," King said.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahEducation
Dennis Romboy

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast