| OCR Text |
Show Grand District to Receive $207,386 Increase in Operating Funds This Year Total operating funds available avail-able in the Grand School District next year are expected to rise by $207,386 or 15.1 per cent. For the state as a whole, the increase in school operating operat-ing funds will amount to $36.2 million, or 14.8 per cent. These were some of the facts reported by Utah Foundation, Foun-dation, the private research organization, in their latest analysis of 1975 legislation affecting education in Utah. The study indicates that Grand School District is expected to receive $1,579,103 or $760. per weighted pupil unit in school operating funds during the forthcoming 1975-76 1975-76 school year. This compares with $1,371,717 or $657 per weighted pupil unit available during the 1974-75 school year. Foundation analysts observe that the level of basic school support for local schools was raised by 10.9 per cent from $560 to $621 per weighted pupil unit. Inflation was the major factor responsible for this increase. ' In addition to raising the . level of basic school support, the 1975 Utah Legislature also boosted the amount of state ! aid for pupil transportation by 55 per cent and appropriated $2,000,000 to provide free textbooks and laboratory material ma-terial used by high school pupils. The increased funds for pupil transportation is intended to raise state participation partici-pation from 77 per cent to 100 per cent of approved transportation trans-portation costs The Foundation study also notes that legislation enacted this year will provide greatly expanded retirement benefits for public school and state employees. State aid to cover the local district's share of Social Security and state retirement costs for public school employees will rise by 26 per cent to $37.3 million next year. Altogether, state funds for both local school and higher education operating costs will rise by $50.4 million in 1975-76. This sum ; is equal to . 63 per cent of the total $80 million increase in state , spending for operating pur-' pur-' poses authorized by the 1975 ; Utah Legislature for all func-l func-l tions and activities of state government. In addition to the increased operating funds for education, most of the fund appropriated for new buildings this year also will be earmarked for education. The study notes that a toal of $66.7 million was appropriated for building projects pro-jects at the state institutions of higher education and an j additional $5.1 million will go for technical and vocational centers at Roosevelt and Richfield. General fund appropriations for higher education in 1975-76 were set at $87,847,000, an increase of $13.6 million, or 18.3 per cent above the adjusted appropriations for the 1974-75 fiscal year. The Legislature also authorized an $8 per quarter increase in resident tuition fees for next year. All nine institutions of higher education have approved approv-ed this maximum $8 per quarter (or $24 per year) tuition boost. Moreover, schools also raised some of the other special fees charged to students. According to the Foundation analysis, most institutions also boosted the special charges for nonresident students for next year, despite these increases in tuitions and fees to out-of-state students, total charges for such students still will be 30 per cent to 68 per cent below the actual average cost to the State of educating -such students in 1974-75. Over the past ten years, the proportion of nonresident students stu-dents attending Utah colleges has not declined appreciably despite the fact that there have been some substantial increases in-creases in nonresident fees during this period. For many years, Utah has had one of the highest net in-migration rates for college students in the Nation. |
