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Show Utah challenged to maximize school expenditure results Utah is faced with the particular par-ticular challenge of obtaining maximum results from the expenditure ex-penditure of available funds for education. This was the point brought out by . Utah Foundation, the private research re-search organization, In their latest analyslis ' of public school comparisons, and trends, trends. According to the Foundation study, Utah ranks very high in its educational load vand very low in its' ability to finance fin-ance education. Consequently, the effort put forth by Utah to support public education Is considerably above regional and national averages. Despite the superior effort made to support education, Utah ranks relatively low In the amount expended per school child. This, of course, is due to the large number of children in the State to be educated, and the relatively low financial ability of Its people. The Foundation report em- for this expenditure increase, the Foundation indicates that 36 of the rise is accounted for by enrollment increases and the decreased purchasing power of the dollar. The remaining re-maining 64 of the expenditure expendi-ture rise is attributed to other factors, such, as Improved salary sal-ary levels, reduced class: size, broadened services and special programs for students, more supervisory and guidance personnel, per-sonnel, and the cost of social security and retireiment programs pro-grams for teachers. Recently, there has been, a leveling off in Utah school enrollments. en-rollments. This is primarily the result of a decline in birth rates that secured In the miid-1960's. During the past two or three years, however, there has been a renewed upsurge up-surge in Utah's birth rate. Foundation analysts warn that this sudden increase in Utah births probably will result re-sult In another rise in Utah school enrollments during the latter half of the 1970 decade. phasizes that per pupu expenditures ex-penditures are not always a good measure of financial a d e q u acy or educational quality. It cited examples In Utah where per pupil expenditures expendi-tures in isolated rural districts dis-tricts are several times those In the larger urban districts. It concluded that differences In organizational efficiency, population concentration, geographic geo-graphic characteristics, special pupil problems, and prevailing prevail-ing wage and salary levels are all factors that may account ac-count for per pupil cost variations varia-tions among districts as well as among states. Jn the past, Utah has enjoyed en-joyed a comparative advantage advant-age over other states in the years this advantage has narrowed nar-rowed as other states have made rapid strides in the consolidation con-solidation of school districts and the elimination of small, inefficient, but expensive schools. Utah, on the other hand, has not made any substantial organizational improvements In district organization tn more than half a century. The Foundation report observes that various study groups over the years have urged further consolidation of school districts dis-tricts in Utah. Recent developments have stressed the need for greater accountability in th evaluation evalua-tion of public school performance. perform-ance. Advocats of this accountability ac-countability movement hope to establish tests and guides that will measure educational output or performance and weigh this against the amount expended to obtain such results. re-sults. Foundation analysts point out that total school expenditures expendi-tures in Utah have risen by $190 million since I960, an increase of six and one-half times over the past 21 years. ! Approximately $157 million or four-fifths of the expenditure rise was for current opera -I tkms. i la analyzing the reasons |