Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop are continuing their efforts on an education funding proposal linked to public lands. They introduced the APPLE Act for the second time in the House and the Senate on Thursday. The proposal would allow Utah and other Western states to take over 5 percent of the public land within their boundaries as long as that land is not in a national park or forest, a wilderness area or used for a military purpose. The money earned by selling or leasing that land would be invested in a fund in which the interest earned would go to education. "Utah should be commended for the resources it puts toward education, but our hands are tied as long as the feds have so much of our land locked up and off the tax rolls," said Bishop, a former high school history teacher. Scott Parker, Bishop's chief of staff, said he knows the bill is a long shot, but Bishop believes it is the right policy to help Utah schools. "He has said he will fight for this one until it becomes law or he dies, which ever comes first," Parker said. Bishop and Hatch argue that Utah routinely is at the bottom of the list in per pupil spending because education is funded by property taxes, which are hard to collect when 65 percent of the land is federally owned and therefore not taxable. - Matt Canham