This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
On Monday, the Utah-based Waterford Institute announced that its free online preschool program, UPSTART, would reach 20 percent of the state's 4-year-olds, thanks to extra funding approved by lawmakers in March.
That funding evaporated late Wednesday night, when Gov. Gary Herbert included the new UPSTART money in roughly $3.7 million in line-item vetoes to the education budget.
Herbert also vetoed a $3 million expansion of an elementary reading software program, and duplicate funding for a bill to train students on gun safety.
In letters to legislative leadership, Herbert wrote that the five-year UPSTART pilot program, scheduled to expire in 2019, is already supported by more than $6 million in annual and carryover funds.
He said expanding UPSTART before the pilot ends could lead to inefficiencies between Utah's early learning initiatives.
"I believe we should evaluate the intended recipients of all three current publicly funded preschool programs to ensure that taxpayers dollars are being spent on the intended target populations," he wrote.
On Thursday, Waterford pushed back against Herbert's explanation, saying the governor's decision was based on an exaggerated estimate of the carryover funds the program holds.
In a prepared statement, UPSTART program director Claudia Miner said Waterford was disappointed that Herbert's action limited a popular program with a long waitlist.
"Unfortunately, the misinformation means UPSTART will be unable to serve about 2,300 additional children we could have served had we gotten the appropriation," Miner said.
UPSTART receives $4.7 million from the state each year, funding that will continue independent of Herbert's action.
And Miner said UPSTART will have $82,000 left over at the end of the current funding year.
Low-income households are prioritized for UPSTART, with state funding covering the cost of enrollment and, in some cases, free computers and Internet service for qualifying families.
The elementary reading program trimmed by Herbert receives $4.6 million each year, which goes toward purchasing learning software for use in schools.
A recent evaluation found that school districts were under-utilizing the software, and while kindergarten students in the program made reading gains, students in grades one through three showed minimal or even negative impacts.
Herbert wrote that injecting the program with $3 million would be inappropriate if the software is failing to deliver "significant" positive results.
Associate state Superintendent Angie Stallings said that in the wake of the vetoes, both UPSTART and the reading software program are expected to maintain current service levels.
"The programs themselves aren't going to be cut," she said. "It just may mean less kids or less schools will be able to participate."
Herbert also cut funding for SB43, a bill sponsored by Woods Cross Republican Sen. Todd Weiler to train eighth-grade students on gun safety.
Weiler described Herbert's action as "a friendly veto," in that the bill had inadvertently been double-funded by lawmakers.
"It's a technicality and it's actually restoring the intent of the legislation," Weiler said of the veto. "We move pretty fast and furious during the last week of the session. Despite our very best efforts and our capable and competent staff, there's a few things like that that slip through."
A bill that was to have exempted the state Board of Education from some public hearing requirements was also vetoed by Herbert, who wrote that enacting the bill would decrease opportunities for the public to weigh in on board rules.
"Our goal in all instances, particularly in rulemaking, is to increase transparency, and facilitate and improve public input, not limit it," Herbert said.
Stallings said the board is unique among Utah's rulemaking bodies, because state school board members are elected, and the board will continue to allow public input during the drafting and approval process of new rules.
"We already have a much more robust public process than the Administrative Rulemaking Act requires," she said.
She said the board and Utah State Office of Education staff are still looking into the impact of Herbert's vetoes, particularly how the $3.7 million of targeted funds will now be distributed.
"We still don't know exactly what the impact will be, fiscally, or how we will handle that," Stallings said. "Right now we actually have more questions than answers."
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