Financial advisers from Brigham Young to Suze Orman have said the same thing: It just doesn't make sense.
There is merit in the governor's pledge to work for smaller class sizes in the early grades at Utah schools. There is no doubt the state's education system and its students would benefit tremendously from such a costly and long-overdue reform.
What's confusing is Huntsman's advocacy at the same time for a reduction in the tax revenues that now barely fund the largest class sizes in the nation. He urged his Republican colleagues in the Legislature to build at least a $70 million cut in income taxes, which are earmarked for education, into the budget. Lawmakers will meet next week in special session to finalize that cut.
And the governor is hinting this cut is only a first step.
Utah ended its fiscal year June 30 with a $215 million surplus beyond appropriations in the Uniform School Fund, which comes from income tax. Huntsman argues that the state can afford to increase spending for education and cut taxes because of its current robust economy and, more important, because lower taxes will entice more companies to locate here and that will eventually boost revenues even more.
That's taking a big risk. With Utah's current standing at rock bottom in the nation in per-pupil spending, an expected influx of 150,000 new students in the coming decade, a looming teacher shortage due to low salaries and a growing number of low-income, minority families whose children need extra help, can we really afford such a gamble?
If the economy takes a dip or, worse, a nosedive, where will funding come from to maintain even basic educational services, never mind the improvements the governor is proposing?
The current "extra" revenue in state coffers should not, as State Superintendent Patti Harrington said recently, be considered so much a surplus as an opportunity to bring about long-promised improvements in education funding.
That will not be possible in the short term, and quite probably not in the long term, either, if the money is returned, instead, to taxpayers.
The current "extra" revenue in state coffers should not be considered so much a surplus as an opportunity.
