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Show The Park Record A-10 Wed/Thurs/Fri, October 13-15, 2004 School Board: district grows 3.8% PCEA tells board It advocates higher taxes FRET. DINNEK LNTKLL When you purchase another entree ol equal or greater value. Winner of the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. Presant this coupon to your server when you ordor. LJmtt two coupons per party or table. Not valid with any other coupon or offer. Offer limited to DinB-In only. Tax, beverages, side dishes and gratuity not Included. A 18% gratuity will be applied based on the original amount Payment must be made with a credit card. Valid through October 3 1 , 2 0 0 4 . GO5 Main Street • Park Street • 649.THAI (8424) www.bangkokthaionmain.com ® at$50^FJns|a/terf: including full bulfnose edge, sink & cooktop cut out Most Jobs Finished in 2 Days No Hidden Charges!!! Stone Unlimited STONES F O R A R C H I T E C T U R E 801-48-STONE (78663) PLEASE VISIT OUR SHOWROOM AT 3267 SOUTH 300 WEST (1-15 EXIT 306) I] PARK CITY SALES REP: SUE LIPKE (435) 901-1722 By JARED WHITLEY Of the Record staff At its meeting last Ibesday, the Park City School Board discussed Utah taxes and enrollment. The school district released the numbers for its Oct. 1 enrollment count, with 4,215 students registered. That's up 156 students, or 3.8 percent, from last year's student population. "The numbers are what they are," said Von Horlin, district business manager. The district kept its goal of an average class size of 23 students per school, except at Trailside Elementary School, where the average class size is 23.8. Student population at both Trailside and Jeremy Ranch have increased due to residential expansion in those areas. Hortin said in an earlier interview. Jeremy Ranch is by far the largest elementary school with 710 kids, larger even than the two middle schools. Treasure Mountain has 663 students. Ecker Hill has 401. The school district added 23 students between the Oct. 1 count and the one on Sept. 7, when the student population was 4,192. Of those, 20 students are at Treasure Mountain Middle School. The state of Utah uses the Oct. 1 count to calculate how much money each district receives. The two smallest grades this year are kindergarten and 12, with 277 and 261 each. The two largest grades in the district are the eight and ninth, with 375 and 361 students each. This is almost exactly in line with the "peaks and valleys" of student populations in Utah currently. Murphy said. Taxes The Park City Education Association gave a presentation to the School Board, advocating higher taxes to grow Utah's schools and economy. "This is a little bit like preaching to the choir. We're going to agree on virtually everything," said Bob Burns, a Park City High School teacher and co-presidenl of the PCEA. Business and public education don't need to be enemies. Burns said, objecting to the mantra that the only way to attract new businesses is with low corporate taxes. Higher taxes can fuel services that contribute lo higher quality of life, he said, observing. "Every realtor uses our district as a selling point." Burns said well-educated students make better employees and education itself is a valuable employer. Business manager Von Hortin said the largest employer in Summit County is the Park City School District. The amount of state dollars spent per pupil in Utah is the lowest in the nation, according to an Ernst and Young study the PCEA presented. While that might look bad, its not because Utah doesn't fund education: it's because of the state's "huge student population," said School Board member Kalhryn Adair. No mailer how much money is put into the numerator of the perpupil equation, the denominator of students is still large. "Clearly the public doesn't understand that," Adair said. The PCEA also discussed the nature of funding for public schools. Presenting data from the National Education Association. Burns said properly laxes paid per $1,000 of personal income have decreased (from $27.12 in 1994 lo $24.77 in 2000) while comparable sales lax increased from $34.40 to $34.99. In the same time, personal income lax increased from $26.75 to $31.38 while corporate income tax decreased from $3.62 to $3.30. Concluding the discussion, the PCEA advocated, among other things, that educators vote for candidates who "understand and agree with this message." The PCEA quoted former Congressional budget director Robert Reischauer, who said, "I know of no valid economic theory that suggests that tax cuts provide more economic stimulation than a similar amount of government spending." The Utah Taxpayers Association feels differently "Evidence in this country and worldwide suggests exactly the opposite," UTA vice president Mike Jcrman told The Park Record. He cited Western European countries as those with higher taxburdens and low growth rates. "Basically they're saying business isn't paying their fair share," Jerman said. "'Ilierc are two flaws with that." One is thai income taxes are not the only taxes businesses pay: they pay sales tux. personal property tax on equipment, and 100 percent properly lax. A primary residence is taxed at only 55 percent. The second flaw, according to Jerman. is that business structures have changed significantly in the last 20 years. Most companies used to be owned publicly via stocks or by an individual or family Almost all small and midsized companies nowadays are LLC or S corporations, whose profits are taxed at the individual level, not corporate. "Although money is an issue, the real reform is not more money, but more parental choice and competition," Jerman said, endorsing tuition lax credits, which would function like Pell grants do in higher education. District 3: businessman vs. music teacher • Continued from A-9 International Management, in Arizona and, international and corporate banking. He managed the South American section for Texas Commerce Bank, and now runs his own investment and turnaround management firm. Based on this, Christensen says he has the skills to "analyze and help direct where the school district should be going." "At a board level, understanding the big picture is very important," Christensen said. With strong financial skills, Christensen feels he'd be an asset Vern Christensen for budgetary discussions. "I think it's important to have educators on the School Board, but I think it's also important to have business people," Christensen said. "1 understand the business side of what's going on." 'Hiis is probably true. At the most recent School Board meeting, Christensen caught a math error in a presentation on student statistics. "That's what 1 do lor a living: look at numbers," he said. Christensen is also the financial officer for the Park Cily Education Foundation, a position he says he would probably give up if elected. Through his work with the PCEF, he wanted to get more involved in local schools. According to Christensen, the most important issues for the School Board to address are 1) how effective arc our administrators, 2) differentiated learning, and 3) managing the are us growth. Growth also includes recent increases in students who speak English as a second language. "Us an area that just needs continual attention," he said. Candidates will respond lo specific education issues in coming issues of The Park Record, starting tJiis Saturday. GOING TO L It's not like we're running for office, we just want to bring special interest to Park City. 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