Welcome to The Senate Site

By Curt Bramble
Senate Majority Leader

I appreciate Senator Hillyard's sentiments in his previous blog. It's something all of us have felt many times. Maybe it will take a few years for the unprecedented funding increases to sink into the public consciousness. We have truly taken some giant steps in funding education and expect to do more in the next few years.

Here is a progress report:

Education employee compensation growth has outpaced other government salary increases in each of the past three years. In FY 2007 and FY 2008 the increase was almost double.

In FY 2009, compensation items funded for public education equal a 6.6 percent increase in the value of the WPU compared to a 5 percent increase for state employees.

In FY 2008, compensation items funded for public education equal a 9.6 percent increase in the value of the WPU compared to a 4.5 percent increase for state employees.

In FY 2007, compensation items funded for public education equal a 6 percent increase in the value of the WPU compared to a 3.5 percent increase for state employees.

In the last three years, the Legislature has nearly doubled the rate of increases to the WPU. From 2006 to 2009 the value of the WPU increased 13 percent (Compared to 6.9 percent 2003 to 2006).

Charter school enrollment increased 256 percent from 2004 to 2007. Number of charter schools increased from 28 in 2004 to more than 55 in 2007-08.

From 2006 to 2009, Education fund appropriations (including the Uniform School Fund) supporting public education increased 37.7 percent (compared to a 13.5 percent increase from 2003 to 2006). Total education appropriations (including all funds) increased 36.6 percent from 2006 to 2009. (Compared to 19.1 percent 2003 to 2006).

Total education appropriations increased 11.3 percent in FY 2007 and 14.4 percent in FY 2008 – representing the highest annual increases since 1991 at 11.4 percent.

Since FY 2000, total education appropriations have increased more than 73 percent. Student enrollment has increased 15.7 percent.

The average annual change in education appropriations from FY 2000 to FY 2009 equals 6.4 percent compared to the average annual change in student enrollment of 1.6 percent.

A few more stats . . .

Utah Criterion Reference Test (CRT) results have increased from 2004 to 2007:

• Language Arts: 75.78 percent proficient in 2004 to 77.09 percent in 2007
• Mathematics: 69.9 percent proficient in 2004 to 69.98 percent in 2007
• Science: 60.62 percent proficient in 2004 to 63.6 percent in 2007

Keep paying attention. The vast majority of my colleagues are fully committed to meet the funding [and other] challenges faced by our students and teachers.

2 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

Are you counting 3.5 million dollars of funding from HB 200 (from SB 2) for funding pre-school home computer programs?

If you are, that should fall under home school funding, not public education funding.

5/09/2008 2:36 PM  

 Anonymous said...

What is being omitted is the way the funding is "pigeon-holed" into special programs that don't affect all students or all classrooms. It's not going into the WPU. In fact, $100 million went directly into a "savings account" yet the legislators count that money as "increase". If a few more legislators would take some lessons in school finance they would recognize how they are hindering school districts with the way they appropriate "one time" money. Districts can't use one-time money for anything that is "ongoing" like employee compensation or salaries. When they give technology money, they give it for "hardware" and "software" but NONE for teacher training, in-service, or salaries. When they give millions for "math and science" teachers (but exlude biology as a science) they create disparity and frustration. Do we not value Language teachers, reading specialists (which are so needed) or music teachers? How can that kind of money be counted in Senator Bramble's version of WPU increases. The true WPU increase was just 4.5 percent this year.

If the the legislature has been doing such a great job funding education, why does Utah continue to be dead last in per pupil funding in the nation. Not only are we dead last, but for the 10 years prior to 2006-07 the gap continually widened between dead last and the next state above us. The Republican legislature can pat themselves on the back all they want, but the truth is that for the past 12 years (since the 1996 constitutional change) Public education funding has been losing ground. Just check the Utah foundation report. While the teacher salary increases the past two years have been wonderful, it's too bad that there has been little money to give to bus drivers, lunch workers, aids, secretaries and technicians--some of who are very qualified and trained, but on the bottom of the pay scale. Our schools could not function without them.
If the legislators would spend more time really talking to education leaders and seeing firsthand the things that are happening in the schools, perhaps they would better understand the value of abiding by their own mantra of "local control" and quit trying to be the "super school board."

5/10/2008 5:30 PM  

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