This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Representatives of Utah's major education organizations gathered at the Capitol on Friday to urge lawmakers to boost public school funding.

Kristi Swett, president of the Utah School Boards Association, said parents, teachers and students have waited years for the economy to recover from the Great Recession. But conditions are now right for lawmakers to take action.

"It is time to devote significant funding to Utah's public schools, just as parents in Utah have requested," she said.

Swett was joined by Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, president of the Utah Education Association; Liz Zentner, president of the Utah Parent Teacher Association; Steve Carlsen, president of the Utah School Superintendents Association; and Brent Bills of the Utah Association of School Business Officials.

They spoke in favor of Gov. Gary Herbert's proposed budget, which would increase per-student spending by more than 6 percent and add $500 million to the state's education budget.

"When we look at the money that's available, it looks like that should be a reasonable goal," Carlsen said.

But lawmakers involved in budget negotiations caution that Herbert's recommendations may not be feasible.

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said the governor's budget moves funding from transportation to education, which is a "struggle" for lawmakers concerned about the condition of Utah's roads.

Hillyard said he felt positive about funding for schools, but it was too early to speculate on how much per-student spending would be boosted.

"We really don't know," he said. "We certainly support education and would like to have it as high as possible."

But educators say their support for Herbert's recommendations goes beyond the total dollar figure allocated to schools. The governor's budget emphasizes unrestricted funding through per-student spending, which school administrators prefer to a budget that targets new money to specific programs.

"It limits our ability to react locally to the people in our area and what their needs are and their wants are," Bills said.

Gallagher-Fishbaugh said teachers in the state are frustrated by the hundreds of new education bills that are debated at the legislature each year. She said lawmakers need to put aside their preconceived notions about educational organizations and work with teachers and school leaders to improve the state's schools.

"We are not enemies in this fight for great schools," Gallagher-Fishbaugh said. "We are shared stakeholders and it is time that we put a halt to all of the micromanaging and really sit down together."