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Show i eunHiwi'- Vernal Express Wednesday, October 8, 2008 A5 Uintah School District lists AYP results The cuts include reduced funding Legislators By Brock Vergakis Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -State lawmakers cut$272 million in government spending Friday, racing to meet a constitutional requirement to balance the budget bud-get before the state went in the red amid a stumbling economy. Nearly every state agency except ex-cept public education will receive a 3 percent budget cut to make up for the projected revenue shortfall. The cuts include reduced funding for Medicaid, the arts and services for people with disabilities. dis-abilities. Some open positions in the Utah Highway Patrol and state prison system also won't be filled while others will be eliminated. "We had to get to this point but it does not come without costs," said House budget chairman Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley City. "The issue of it impacting people is very real." ; ,,, The budget lawmakers approved ap-proved cuts plenty of travel, Child exploitation A bill that would boost resources re-sources to protect children from Internet predators and make investigating child exploitation a top priority for law enforcement has passed the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Joe Biden, D-Del, the bill would dedicate more than $320 million over five t years to help cash-strapped law enforcement agencies investigate child exploitation. Some of the money would be applied to hightech high-tech equipment to track online predators. The legislation also coordinates federal, state and community efforts to tackle the insidious problem. "I am extremely proud of this legislation," Hatch said in a press release issued after the bill's approval late Thursday. "For the first time in history, this bill mandates an annual national strategy from federal law enforcement on efforts to address child exploitation." Hatch said the strategy should serve as a blueprint for cohesive efforts between law enforcement, & Ashley Regional MIOICAL CINTiR 150 West 100 North Vernal, Utah 84078 435-789-3342 for Medicaid, approve $272M budget cut administrative costs and jobs. It also reduces the amount of money the state will spend on new buildings, repairs and expansions ex-pansions by about $45 million. Another $35 million is being stripped from transportation projects. Legislators originally wanted to eliminate a tax cut that takes effect in January to make up for some of the budget shortfall, but Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. held firm that self-employed workers who buy their own insurance insur-ance needed the break. The budget cuts were necessary neces-sary because an economic downturn down-turn left lawmakers with less money to spend this year than they anticipated in February. They also had to plug an $82 million mil-lion hole in last year's budget. Utah'seconomyhasprimarily been hampered by a slowdown in the housing and construction industry, according to state economists. econ-omists. While Utah continues to have positive job growth and , relatively; low unemployment , rate, it ,has failed to maintain private businesses and community commu-nity organizations, whose collective col-lective expertise is essential for shining a bright light on those who "wish to stay hidden in the dark." Ed Smart of the Surviving Parents Coalition, an organization organi-zation made up of parents of children who were abducted, sexually assaulted, murdered, recovered or still missing, was also pleased with the Senate's vote. "The war against child pornography por-nography is not one of just graphic images, but one of saving lives, stopping abuse and exploitation, exploi-tation, " Smart said in the Hatch-issued Hatch-issued release. "The bipartisan efforts and compromise of both parties over the past two weeks has been outstanding." The bill will help coordinate the goals of each state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which provide invaluable invalu-able forensic and investigative activities, training and technical assistance, victim services and community education. It further I cf hi ( 11 Yiife i- M - ' - v. the robust growth state officials expected when they wrote the budget last winter. The $11.6 billion budget lawmakers passed earlier this year is the largest in state history his-tory and was about $776 million more than the previous year's budget. If the economy doesn't improve, further cuts are likely next year. Lawmakers say if that happens, hap-pens, the state's public schools could 'get the 3 percent cut they escaped this time and other state agencies will see another 1 percent cut. Legislators were able to avoid those additional cuts Friday by taking some money from programs pro-grams that were only funded for one year, such as pilot programs, to offset the costs of things like employee salaries, which need to be paid year after year. In effect, they only delayed the budget cuts. It was a prudent move for Huntsman and state lawmakers lawmak-ers who are up for election this year, Huntsman and legislators bill passes Senate calls for an annual report from the U.S. Attorney General, which will outline the national strategy for child exploitation prevention and interdiction. Moreover, it directs the Attorney Attor-ney General to set up a National Internet Crimes Against Children Chil-dren Data System to assist law enforcement agencies at all levels of government in prosecuting perpetrators of Internet crimes against children. It also requires the Attorney General to report to Congress each year about the progress made in combating child exploitation. The bill further amends the criminal code to facilitate the prosecution of crimes involving child exploitation, including the buying or selling of child pornography pornog-raphy and obscene visual depictions depic-tions of children being sexually abused. In 2007, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. identified 300,000 perpetrators who were preying upon children by buying or selling photos and movies of children being sexually abused. r - have boasted about the record increases they've made in public pub-lic education spending the past several years and didn't want to come off as doing anything to hamper that. Utah spends less per student than any other state in the country coun-try and has the nation's largest class sizes. Lawmakers denied that politics poli-tics were the root cause of education educa-tion being spared, but said they also wouldn't have any problems reminding voters of how they're managing state spending. "We felt it was the most responsible re-sponsible thing to do given the nature of where public education is in the state today," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo. While public education was protected by lawmakers, higher education was not. It received a 4 percent budget cut and the state's public universities and colleges were told they couldn't raise tuition this year to make up for the losses.- "I am sickened by the number of individuals across the country who actively share explicit child pornography videos," Hatch said. "These criminals seemingly operate with no fear of being caught. It is my hope that this bill, by providing for resources to expand state task forces, will allow law enforcement to go after these monsters with the fervent dedication and effort that the American public demands." The bipartisan bill, which is co-sponsored by 60 senators, enjoys widespread support nationally. :i .i .- ft - ' DIRECTV brings the Mt. West to you. The leader in sports now offers the Mountain West Sports Network. 51 Ot Main St, Vernal, next to the MON FRI 9:00 AM - 6 00 PM, SAT 10:00 AM Hardware and programming available separately. Receipt of DIRECTV programming subject to terms of the DIRECTV Customerc Agreement; copy prohibited at directv.comlegal and in your first bill. 2008 DIRECTV, Inc. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design logo are registered trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Under the accountability provisions of the the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, all public schools are evaluated for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools, districts and the state are required to meet AYP criteria on three indicators: 1. participation in testing, at least 95 percent of students, 2. language arts and mathematics mathemat-ics Core Criterion Referenced Tests (CRT) scores, and 3. either graduation rate (for high schools) or attendance rate (for elementary arid middlejunior high schools. The current report of AYP is based on student scores for tests taken in the spring of 2008. A school is listed as not having made AYP if any one of the above three areas is unsatisfactory for any of 10 possible subgroups, even though it may be doing a good job as a whole. Subgroups include whole school, English language learners, learn-ers, students with disabilities, low income, Caucasian, American Ameri-can Indian, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander. In the Uintah School District, the following schools made AYP Meet our Manager Cvnthia Shiner y". ' ''V" r. V ' - f y" t - it I -.- .'y Cynthia and her staff are waiting to give you the best small loan service in the industry! Call Today (435) 789-0812 Loans up to $800 Loan service in minutes Monthly payments No checking account needed We help establish and rebuild credit Also open on Saturdays to better serve you SFF HFR TODAY AT MS r Z i t i z - t ; 1 f (SI NO EQUIPMENT TO BUY NO START-UP COSTS COMMUNICATIONS & tlVTIHTAIiVMEMT Dinosaur Museum. 4,CJ7Q1 -OfiOO 4:00 PM, CL0SLD bUNUAY in all subgroups for the reported indicators: Ashley Elementary, Davis Elementary, Discovery Elementary, Maeser Elementary, Elemen-tary, Naples Elementary, Vernal Junior High and Uintah High Schools. In the Uintah School District, the following schools did not make AYP because on or more subgroups either scored below the sufficient level on the state criterion referenced and or had an insufficient attendance rate: Lapoint Elementary, W. Russell Todd Elementary, West Middle School and Vernal Middle School. NCLB requires that Title I schools not making AYP offer additional options to parents and students. In Uintah School District, West Middle School, W. Russell Todd Elementary and Lapoint Elementary are Title I schools that did not meet AYP criteria. Complete AYP reports can be found at http:www.usoe. Org or can be obtained at the school or district office, 635 West 200 South, in Vernal (435) 781-3100. ' JlliV lKSmi V U 25 S. Vernal Ave. Vernal, UT J DIRECTV. AUTHORIItO DIAL! 22 |