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Utah school districts will pay a uniform percentage of their local revenue to charter schools under a bill that received Senate approval on Tuesday.
Currently, the money that districts contribute to charters is based on the lesser of local per-student revenues and the statewide average. That means comparatively wealthy districts contribute less of their budgets to local charter schools than comparatively poor areas of the state.
"The greatest burden of local replacement funding is placed on the districts with the most amount of need," Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan, said.
Under HB119, all districts will be required to pay 25 percent of their local per-student revenue to charters in their area. The bill was approved by the House last month and will now be sent to the governor for his signature.
Draper Republican Sen. Howard Stephenson, the bill's Senate sponsor, said HB119 would put school districts on equal footing. And the losses experienced by wealthy districts would be "dwarfed" by other education funding increases approved by lawmakers.
"There is no tax increase in this bill," Stephenson said. "If a district chooses to increase taxes next year, that's up to them."