Currently, charter schools cannot claim property tax money. The state makes up the difference from income taxes. When charter schools were first approved in Utah, the claim was that they would be so much more efficiently-run that they could provide education for less and didn?t need the property tax funds. They do receive the WPU from the state and the state has a special line item in the general education budget that helps them with capital and start up expenses.

If these two bills are passed, the extra expenses to the state income tax for charter schools will go away and local property taxes will have to pick up the slack. The...

As you may remember, after the success of the voucher referendum, the Legislature passed several laws that would make it increasingly difficult to qualify another citizen-led petition for the ballot. In this way they managed to hold off legislative ethics reform and the creation of an independent redistricting commission in 2010.

As the deadline for the Fair Boundaries and ethics reform petition drives neared, both groups were having difficulty gathering the increased number of signatures in the shortened span of time. They began using electronic signature gathering in order to speed up the process.

There was no law prohibiting this method. Electronic signatures can be verified and, in fact, are used for online voter registration. In spite of that, the Lt....

This is an assumption that the State will fund, at least in part, each student?s education. If this assumption is universally accepted, it will have long-range impacts on public schools. It represents a subtle shift in the concept of public education.

The establishment of public education in the 1890?s put a school system in place that would service children in their neighborhoods. It was clearly understood that we have a stronger community and a brighter future when our children are educated. We can take pride that we offer education to all comers. Over time, programs have been created to address the many different abilities and challenges of an increasingly diverse population.

At the same time, there has never been a requirement that families must choose the public schools for their children?s education. Just as you are free to choose a private doctor for medical care, you are free to choose a...

I wrote about SB142 in an earlier post. It requires all elected officials to have their direct contact information available to the public. It affects public schools particularly because members of School Community Councils are elected officials. It has now passed the Senate and the House and is on its way to the Governor's office for his signature.

It was amended along the way to say that email addresses and phone numbers must be posted online ?if available?. That means that members of Community Councils who don?t have a computer and therefore no direct email availability, aren?t required to get a computer with internet access in order to serve ? same with a phone.

The other thing I think of with regard to this bill is the amendment that added the word "directly". This means that if you want to contact the Governor, you should be able to call a phone number that goes to him directly. Will his secretary or intern answer the phone? Will this be considered direct? If it is allowed, it will definitely be a disadvantage to School...

The Senate debated SJR9, the resolution that would amend the State Constitution so that education, K-12 and higher education (UVU, MATC, U of U, etc.), would become a department in the Governor?s administration, subject to the rules made by the legislature, instead of being controlled by the elected State Board of Education. The resolution passed the Senate with a two-thirds majority and will now be sent to the House. If it passes the House with a two-thirds majority, it will be on the November ballot in 2012, when voters can decide whether to amend the State Constitution this way. As rigorous as this may seem, remember that last November every Constitution amendment question on the ballot was approved by the voters.

There is another resolution removing control from the State Board of Education, as is currently a provision in the State Constitution. SJR1 would have put the control of education strictly in the hands of the legislature. While SJR9 is moving forward, the sponsor of SJR1 is dropping his resolution in favor of SJR9.

Those who are guarding the interest of the...

If you are bugged by the changes on and off of Daylight Savings time each year, Representative Wilcox has drafted a bill you will like. It calls for Utah to discontinue the time changes for Daylight Savings Time and just stay with Mountain Standard Time all year long.

Daylight Savings Time has never made sense to me. I won't miss it if it goes away. It will still be a problem to keep track of the other states who use it but at least it won't disturb my sleep patterns.

I can?t predict how this bill will be received; it doesn't look like it is moving right now. I?ll be sure to let you know before the next time change!

The Provo School District has been offering Optional Extended-day Kindergarten (OEK) at some schools for children who need help getting prepared for mainstream first grade. The results of this program has been very positive; however, funding for this program has run out so if it would be continued, the legislature would have to include it as a new item in the budget.

Currently, the proposal we are hearing is to allow districts to apply for Early Intervention Block Grants, which could be used for OEK, if that is how the district wants to use it. That may be a good way to fund it. The size of the grants will determine whether it is adequate.

A long-awaited report came to the Legislature this morning. As legislators were asked to make appropriations in this first half of the session, they made them with no information about how much money would be available. Meanwhile, state financial officers have been gathering data from all kinds of indicators in order to make their best guesses, called ?revenue projections?. Everyone was watching for the revenue projections to give a better idea about how much tax money could be appropriated to government services. Those numbers came out today.

There are two sets of numbers. One set is one-time money. I am no expert but I believe that this is from Federal or other sources that can only be counted on one year at a time. The other is on-going funds based on income taxes or fees that will stay in place. Both sets of numbers show that the economy is recovering slowly but surely. There are more people employed and more taxes are being paid to cover the costs of government.

This is good news...