Show Increased Funding For Davis Schools Total funds available to the Davis School District next year are expected to rise by or percent under the new school finance law passed by the 1973 Utah For the state as a whole the increase in school operating funds will total or percent in These facts were reported by Utah the private research organization in their analysis of the new school legislation enacted this ACCORDING to the Foundation the total school operating program per child in Davis School District will equal in and in an increase of or throughout the entire the rise in the total program will amount to per child in average daily or Utah's school finance laws were extensively overhauled by the 1973 Utah To a large this revision was made in response to various court decisions questioning the constitutionality of current school finance laws operating in their respective The Foundation study notes that since passage of new school legislation in the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that school finance is not a matter for the courts to determine and that present school finance laws do not violate the U. S. THE NEW Utah school finance law will change the basis for distributing funds from a concept to a A distribution unit has consisted of 27 pupils with modifications for handi capped vocational small supervisory The weighted pupil on the other begins with the idea of a single allowances and credits for special THE Foundation report points out that weighted pupil units are mathematically calculated divisions used to distribute school funds to local districts and should not be confused with the actual number of pupils attending The the Davis School for it is estimated that there will be weighted pupil units next compared with pupils actually in average daily attendance-Based on the funds available per school the study indicates that there could be less equalization under the new school finance law than there has been under the present For disparity in the funds available per the forty Utah school districts will increase from a range of to 1 in under the present school operating program to to I in under the new the average variation of individual districts from the statewide average is percent under the present school finance program and percent under the new program FOUNDATION analysts point that funds available per school child may not always be the best measure of how well school opportunities are equalized throughout the this was the measure cited in the court cases dealing with the school equalization In this was also mentioned in the Utah school finance study which led to the new THE REPORT observes that the new school finance lift is un extremely complicated measure that will be fully understood by only a few Because of this there is a danger that some of the districts may realize an unfair advantage over those who are not completely familiar with the intricacies of the new As a successful operation of the new program will require forceful supervision by the State Department of Education and an involved auditing system if the new law is to be applied fairly and uniformly throughout the In addition to the enlarged maintenance and operations the 1973 Utah Legislature substantially increased state appropriations for local school The continuing school program was raised from approximately million in to million in and a special one-time appropriation of million was made for districts with critical building |