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It's rare to hear any good financial news these days.
But Utah schools just heard some.
State schools this year will lose far less School Land Trust Program money than expected. It's money that goes straight to classrooms in the form of calculators, computers, SMART Boards, teachers aides and many other things. Schools had expected a 24 percent cut from last year; instead they face only about a 10 percent drop.
Schools statewide will get about $24.3 million in School Land Trust Program money this coming school year -- about $4 million more than anticipated based on October projections, according to numbers released this week.
"That's a big deal," said Stan Harbuck, a parent of five who sits on West
| Learn about your school
To find out how much School Land Trust Program money your school has received in years past and how it s spent go to: http://www.schoollandtrust.org.
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The money consists of dividends and interest earned on the permanent State School Fund -- a $781 million pot of money generated from trust lands throughout the state. Each year the interest and dividends on the fund are distributed, with individual schools getting anywhere from a few thousand dollars to nearly $100,000 each, depending mostly on enrollment.
The money will officially go out to districts on the last Friday of this month.
"It's like Christmas in July," said Margaret Bird, director of the School Children's Trust, of the new numbers. And it's money that comes at a tough time for schools, which face a net 5.2 percent cut in state funding
Bird said the extra money will mean more help for kids in after school programs, library books, science equipment, software and aides, depending on how schools want to use it.
Each school has a community council -- made up of elected parents, school employees and the principal -- that decides how to spend the money. Local school boards approve the plans. Schools must spend the money on their greatest academic needs.
The councils, however, have already come up with plans for how to spend the money based on the dire October projections. The new numbers mean they will get to spend on everything they had anticipated and more. Each of the plans includes a description of how any additional, unexpected money will be spent.
Morgan High School in Morgan, for example, had planned to use the money this year to pay for a part-time English teacher, a supervisor for the alternative high school, and remedial instructors for students who failed the state exit exam.
With the extra money, the school might now also be able to continue paying for someone to help Advanced Placement students practice essay writing and buy more SMART Boards, which are white boards hooked up to computers.
"It's a great thing," said Kelly Roundy, a mother of three who sat on the school's community council last school year. "Their technology is very outdated. It's a cut-throat world in college and if the kids aren't prepared for it, they fall behind quickly."
Cedar Valley Elementary School in Cedar Fort might be able to use the extra money to pay teacher's aides to work more hours and fund part of a Web-based writing program. The school got less than $6,000 last school year for its 127 students, but every bit helps, said Julie Barnum, a parent on the school's community council.
Barnum said it's "discouraging" that schools still have to take a hit -- they'll get about 10 percent less than last year, but she's grateful to get any money at all, let alone more than expected.
"A couple thousand dollars even, in an elementary school, makes a big difference as to what you can provide," Barnum said.
The 10 percent decline comes after a rough year for the school and institutional trust funds, which dropped from about $974 million in June 2008 to $863 million as of June 2009 amid plunges in the stock market, said Allen Rollo, an investment analyst at the State Treasurer's Office. The fund is now up, however, from $796 million earlier this year.
