Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams addresses luncheon. Pictured continuing left to right is Stephen Kroes, Mark Bouchard, Aaron Osmond, Michael Allegra and Natalie Gochnour
The Utah Foundation’s annual meeting Thursday deals with two traditionally conflicting issues facing Utahns, education and transportation. The foundation organizes the Utah Priorities Project along with the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. Stephen Kroes , the president of the Utah Foundation says conflicts between education and transportation going forward need to end.
On the second day of the 2013 Legislative Session, Utah Democrats called for a dramatic increase in state education funding, but where that money would come from remains uncertain.
Newly elected Utah Senate President Wayne Neiderhauser opened the 2013 Legislative session by urging senators to be fiscally responsible.
In his opening remarks Senate President Wayne Neiderhauser warned his fellow senators to be careful not to believe they can create money out of thin air as they go about tackling some of Utah’s tough budget issues. He says he hopes to see legislators pass laws that work in the long term, especially when it comes to education funding.
Utah schools have millions of dollars in federal funding at stake if congress fails to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” by early next week. The “fiscal cliff” is a combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that will go into effect at the first of the year if federal lawmakers and the president cannot come to an agreement on next year’s budget. But most schools in Utah would have some time to prepare for big cuts.
Utah College students who might be dragging their feet in completing their degrees have a new incentive from Utah’s Higher Education officials to hunker down and graduate sooner: higher fees. The Utah State Board of Regents on Friday tightened the state’s policy on excess credit hours.
Utah spends less per student in its public schools than any other state. Not just a little less – 15% less than Idaho, the next on the list. Utah’s been at the bottom since 1988.
There are several reasons for that last-place ranking, but the most important is the high ratio of children to adults in Utah – 20-percent more kids as a proportion of the population than most other states.
