"That's where the playing field is leveled," he said referencing closing the achievement gap in the early grades. "I think that process begins with all-day kindergarten."

Education leaders remain frustrated by legislative decisions to spend surplus dollars on a tax cut rather than in the classroom at a time when Utah has the lowest per-pupil funding in the nation. Though the governor pushed an education agenda last year that included all-day kindergarten, he failed to garner enough support for his key proposal.

Along with the early childhood initiative, the governor will work on some English Language Learner programs for speakers new to English in light of the state's rapidly changing demographics. With great teachers leaving the profession, the state also needs to do a better job recruiting and training, the governor said.

"With an economy booming like ours, it's not surprising teachers might find jobs somewhere else," he said.

Huntsman suggested the state might need to "incentivize" jobs as Nevada or Wyoming have, maybe even offer signing bonuses. In Nevada, teachers new to the state receive a signing bonus of $2,000. Those with certain specialities such as school psychologists, speech pathologists or school counselors as well as teachers with national certifications receive an extra 5 percent of their base salary every year, according to the Nevada Department of Education. Those incentives are in response to staff shortages.

The governor also hopes to work on the state's class sizes, an announcement that brought loud applause from the teachers. If classes in kindergarten through third grade were no larger than 20 students, "then I think we will have done what needs to be done," he said.

The extra classroom space that would be needed probably wouldn't be initially available statewide, so the program might be phased in, according to Christine Kearl, the governor's education deputy.

"You can't retrieve these kids in middle school," the governor told the crowd.

jlyon@sltrib.com