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Show Foundation Notes School Cost Increase The state's share of local school costs will be increased by $12.1 million during the next bien-nium, bien-nium, if Utah's 1959 Legsilature adopts the program recommended recommend-ed by the House Education Committee. Com-mittee. According to calculations made by Utah Foundation, the state would be required to furnish $73 million in the next two years' for local school operations under the $5,300 program recommended recommend-ed by the House Committee. Continuation of the present $4,-800 $4,-800 million school program will cost the state $60.9 million during dur-ing the next biennium. The program recommended by the House Education Committee proposes to raise the basic classroom class-room allowance from $4,800 to $5,300, increase the state supported sup-ported supplemental program from 12 to 13 per cent of the basic program and provide for additional distribution allowances allow-ances by changing the professional profes-sional non-teaching personnel ratio from 1 to 9 to 1 for 8. This program suggested by the House Education Committee is a scaled down version of a bill sponsored by professional education educa-tion groups. The original bill would have increased the base alowance to $5,700, increasing the supplemental program to 15 per cent of the basic program, and changing the non teaching ratio from 1 for 9 to 1 for 7. The increased cost of this original bill would have been $24.2 million mil-lion greater than the biennial cost of the present law. Utah Foundation analysts now point out that regular nonprop-erty nonprop-erty revenue to the Uniform School Fund will be insufficient to meet school requirements in the next two years. The deficit will be $17.9 million under the present $4,800 program, $30.0 million under the $5,300 program pro-gram suggested by the House Committee, and $42.1 million under the $5,700 program, as originally proposed. Utah law provides that any deficit in the Uniform School Fund is met from a state wide property tax. If no new revenue or transfers are made to the Uniform Uni-form School Fund, the required state wide property tax during each of the next two years will be 6.7 mills under the present program, 11.2 mills under the $5,300, and 15.7 mills ($15.70 per $1,00Q assessed valuation) under the $5,700 program. The state property tax levied for the school purposes amounted to only 1.0 mills during 1957 and 1958, although it has been as high as 8.5 mills in 1947 and 8.9 mills in 1948. In his budget message to the Utah Legislature, the Governor recommended that $8.5 million be transferred from the General Fund to reduce the state property prop-erty tax levy otherwise needed to balance Uniform School operations. op-erations. If the full $8.5 million transfer were made, the state property tax levy would be 3.5 mills for the present $4,800 program, pro-gram, 8.0 mills for the $5,300 program, and 12.5 mills for the $5,700 program. |