Show utah foundation makes study of state aid funds the need for or a continuous audit I 1 of the accounts of local school districts participating in the emergency state a aid d school construction program waa was emp by utah foundation the private nonprofit non profit tax research org organization antion in a recent analysis of the present school housing pio blent in utah according to the foundation report date state aid old disbursements to districts for school construction are being made on the basis of estimated rather than actual local resources the foundation points out that tha t the available of a local district to meet capital outlay needs may change considerably between tho the time a survey of a district Is made and the time that a building is actually constructed the purpose of the state aid program gram is to supplement not replace the resources of a local district when those resources ore are insufficient to meet the districts building requirement utah foundation reports that the state hag has allocated a total of f 3 30 0 million in state funds 0 to local local school for new now school construction and remodeling As of august 1 1054 1954 actual disbursements from this state ald aid fund have totaled sat 1538 an additional has been allocated but has ham not been disbursed 0 this amount is for projects that arc tire under contract and for projects project a on which the building contracts had not been awarded on au august 3 1054 1954 governor lee d directed led that approval of future contracts from these latter funds should be withheld pending a complete investigation vesti gation of the program the foundation report takes note of the C controversy relating J to the state aid program lor for public 11 C 9 school chool construction that kas has received considerable prom indence in recent weeks the basic points of contention in this controversy have been 1 whether the state board of education has raised standards tor for the emergency state aid program above the minimum intended by the legislature and 2 whether one school al district strict murray has received special favoritism in the allocation of available state funds both the temporary school building survey commission and the utah legislative council have been critical of tho the school building standards for tho the emergency state old aid program as being too va the foundation study points out that einer emergency gency chool school plant ant needs in garfield Oar field and ayne wayne districts using state board education standards were computed to be more than twice as great as the total school plant lant needs reported by a special fal committee which was appointed by the utah legislative council to study the needs of these two utah school districts according to foundation analysts the emergency school ba building jsn I 1 g program if 11 continued will be much mo more costly Is than was at first antici anticipate anticipated pat one estimate places the cost to the state if the pir program Is continued to completion under present tt terms al at 30 million or more thus tar far eight 01 ol forty school districts have participated in the program in order to provide facilities for the expected influx to new pupils during the next ten years in schools ch the foundation eftim estimates ates that 2750 classrooms coating costing in excess of will be needed this amount is in addition to the need tor for replacing or remodeling present facilities which are now ob solete or will become obsolete within the next ten years the report attributes the present school housing problem to a number of contributing factors the most important of which ore are construction post pone ments during the d depression rest world war II 11 an the immediate postwar post war period a 8 chat changing te ln g concept of school building design ign and requirements in fla tion interstate and intro state population shifts increased attendance by the school age population and a greatly increased birth rato rate |