Schools get cash, but the details in doubt
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1 Comment [ View ]By LORETTA PARK
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah Public Education Coalition wants lawmakers to put all ongoing funds into the weighted pupil unit, instead of new programs such as giving new teachers a signing bonus or performance pay for experienced teachers.
"We are questioning the process that spends two weeks debating the bills and then a small group of legislators decide what's good for educators," Kim Campbell, president of Utah Education Association, said at a news conference Monday.
Earlier, the House Republican Caucus approved a proposal by Gov. Jon Huntsman that would provide $5 million in signing bonuses for 5,000 new teachers at $1,000 each, plus $19 million to $20 million for performance pay for experienced educators.
Huntsman met with the House and Senate leadership within the past few days and proposed his idea.
"I've been pounding my head against the wall for the past two weeks trying to figure out how to get more money into the wpu," said Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace.
When Dee heard the governor's plan, "I thought I died and went to heaven."
Campbell said she is not against teachers getting a signing bonus or performance pay, but she is concerned the idea just came up and wasn't discussed in a committee meeting. And it's not just the $25 million, but other bills that propose to fund new programs.
"They are not listening to what the public education committee wants," Campbell said.
All of the education bills that require funding, such as accelerated programs and differential pay for teachers, are being placed in a large bill. House leadership said if representatives don't want a program, they can debate it when the large bill, sponsored by the Senate, gets to the floor.
Dee said putting all of the state education funding into the wpu won't sell with both bodies of the Legislature or with the governor.
"My goal is to get that money to educators," Dee said after the news conference.
The coaliton's concern is that lawmakers are taking away the flexibility of school districts by putting everything, including bills the coalition said didn't pass committee, into one bill.
Dee said he disagrees with members of the coalition saying bills that had not been approved were being put into the large bill for education.
"I sit on the Education Appropriations Committee and they were discussed and approved," Dee said.
Campbell said legislators need to build the education budget on basics, like increasing salaries for educators, decreasing class size and increasing funding for tools and resources for educators.
The wpu was created by the Legislature 30 years ago as a way to fund the state's 40 school districts, said Sarah Meier, of the Utah School Boards Association. Each school district gets a set amount of money for each student. It allows each district school board to spend the money in the way that best fits the local situation.
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