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Show New Buildings Raise Expenditures of Utah's Schools, Colleges to $49 Million for 1948-49 Expenditures of Utah's public schools and colleges totaled nearly $19 million for the 1948-19 1948-19 school year, Utah Foundation reported in a study of school costs released today. The $10 million mil-lion college total for 1918-49 includes in-cludes SI million of state appropriations ap-propriations and St million from tuitions, Federal grants, and other sources. The public schools spent $38'a million, the colleges $10 million. According to the Foundation study, public school revenues of $38l million In 1918-49 compared com-pared with $30Mi million the previous pre-vious year, and $22 million in 1946-47, $13 million In 1940, and $13H million in 1930. Cited as a major factor In public pub-lic school expenditures are the Increased expenditures for new fchool buildings, which rose from one million dollars In 1946-47 1946-47 to $2 million In 1947-48, and Jumped to a record $7 million In 1948-49. In addition, substantial amounts were raised by tax levies le-vies and placed in building reserve re-serve funds, the tax study group reports. The major Increase In public Fchool revenues resulted from the 1947 Legislature's revision of the school financing plan, based upon Tax Study Committee recommendations rec-ommendations and amendments to the State Constitution. The Tax Study Committee recommended recom-mended a state-guaranteed minimum min-imum program of $3,000 per classroom unit. The Legislature ' uPPpd the guaranteed program to S3.3IK) and increased the number num-ber of classroom units by liberalizing liber-alizing the formula. Districts were given the dis-ciction dis-ciction to exceed the minimum piogram. Actual operation expenditures ex-penditures in 1918-49 averaged $4,228 per classroom unit, $928 above the state-guaranteed minimum min-imum program. State aid is provided from a state-wide property tax, the corporation cor-poration and individual income taxes, and rentals and royalties from state school lands. Local funds come almost entirely from the property tax. In 1948-49, property taxes furnished $20 mil-1 mil-1 on for the public schools, and nearly $6 million additional of school revenue came from the individual and corporate Income taxes. In recent years, new construction construc-tion has boosted taxable valuations valua-tions to new highs $823,900,380 in 1949 compared with a low point of $513,813,712 in 1939, and a pre-depresslon high of $723,-0G7.253 $723,-0G7.253 in 1929. Current collection collec-tion ratios have been high nearly 98 in 1949. The 1949 average total levy for school purposes was 26.46 mills, 30 above the tax rate of 20.42 mills In 1940, and 19.42 mills In 1946. School outlay per pupil In average av-erage dally attendance has increased in-creased from $107.16 In 1939-40 to $255.85 In the 1948-49 school year. The most slgnificent change occurred In the first yeai of the operation of the new school finance program. Total expenditures were $20,983,483 oi $162.34 per pupil in average dally dal-ly attendance in 1916-47, while the total was $38,046,993, oi $211.56 per pupil in 1947-48. While Utah is 37th among th( states In ability to support edu cation (Income per pupil in av verage dally attendance), this State is 5th In effort to suppor education (ratio of public schoo revenue to total personal In come). This was the finding o jthe Council of State Govern jn.cnts in Its study of the 4: ! state school systems. |