Opinion: Utah Should Lift Restrictions On Education Dollars

The Utah Legislature provides more than $5 billion each year to Utah's 41 school districts and 135 charter schools via nearly 60 different funding sources.

The Utah Legislature distributes more than $5 billion each year to Utah's 41 school districts and 135 charter schools via nearly 60 different financial sources. Almost three-quarters of the money has no strings attached at all. The money will be used by the Washington County school board to satisfy the needs of its kids. Because its kids, teachers, and staff have distinct needs, the Alpine school board may and does spend its part of that money in a variety of ways.

The Legislature limits how school officials may use the final quarter's funds (just over $1 billion). You must follow R277-324 and UCA 53F-2-411 if you want your share of paraeducator funds. You must follow R277-707 and UCA 53F-2-408 if you want your part of the funds for accelerated pupils. And so on.

One approach to consider these constraints is to imagine of the funds as a piano. School boards and administrators may play any music they choose with unfettered financing. They can play The Killers if their pupils need it. They can play Beethoven if their pupils need it. However, with limited funding, school boards and administrators can only play one song. Although the pupils in a certain district may not react to that melody, it is the tune.

These restrictions do not alter a school’s obligation to meet the needs of its students. Those obligations exist in state and federal statutes, independent of how schools pay to meet those needs. The restrictions only limit how schools can meet their students’ needs.

Utah's limits aren't really one-of-a-kind. The most recent survey of states’ education budgets (2013) shows that the number of restricted “programs” in state education budgets ranged from one (Florida and Montana) to 64 (Iowa). Keep in mind that Utah has 60! Legislators restrict funding either because they believe this regulatory structure will get more money to the students who need it, and/or because they believe that legislators are better consumers of the research on what will improve outcomes in public education.

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