This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utahns may well quibble over the specific means that the business all-stars of Our Schools Now are proposing to deal with the fiscal starvation of the state's public schools. But there is no arguing the need.
Apologists for the status quo argue at length that Utah schools are chugging along admirably despite wearing a hole in the bottom rung of state rankings for per-pupil spending. Any necessary improvements, we hear, can come from some technological or other miraculous reform that will accomplish much at little cost.
That's snake oil. And the Who's Who of Utah business, financial, educational and public service folks who have founded Our Schools Now aren't fooled.
That's why they are beginning the process of putting on the 2018 state ballot an initiative that would increase the state's basic income tax rate from 5 percent to 5.875 percent. Such a hike would yield some $750 million a year which, according to the plan, would be allocated directly to local schools in return for annual demonstrations that each school's students are showing improvement over previous years.
Even that much money, Our Schools Now figures, falls short of the $1.2 billion a year that public eduction has lost over the past several years as the Legislature has fiddled with the state's property and income tax structures. The group notes that, measured as a percentage of a state's total personal income, Utah's tax effort for schools has fallen from seventh in the nation to 37th.
The result has been overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers, high staff turnover and educational outcomes that, with a couple of exceptions, are alarming. From half to two-thirds of Utah students are not testing as adequate, proficient or college-ready on various state and national measures.
And even when Utah seems to achieve mere averageness on national standards, that's still pretty scary. As a nation, the United States is falling behind other countries.
And, the group rightly argues, we should take no comfort in the state's current low unemployment rate and welcoming business climate. So many of the jobs being offered and filled in Utah's population centers are call-center or service positions, not the cutting-edge and high-paying careers we deserve.
They also dismiss concerns that an increase in taxes will frighten off new business, noting that so many of the booming knowledge-based companies we envy are thriving in such high-tax states as California and Massachusetts.
The leaders of Out Schools Now are serious about increasing funding for Utah schools, but they are not necessarily wedded to their specific tax plan. If, they say, anyone is concerned that a higher income tax rate would be politically radioactive, or if they can offer another way to scare up a similar level of funding, the possibility of compromise or combinations of various income streams is something they might very well support.
Until such a deal is struck, though, the campaign to draft a formal initiative, collect the necessary 113,000 signatures and campaign for the voters' approval in 2018 will be full speed ahead. As it should be.