It's a distinction the Beehive State is not likely to escape anytime soon - if ever. The reasons are Utah's extraordinarily high birth rate, a comparatively small, low-paid work force and a history of inadequate funding. Even the Legislature's infusion of $500 million in new spending for Utah schools this year won't budge the state out of last place.

More to the point, this year's boost cannot be a one-time event if Utah is to meet the challenges of growth, the high costs of educating immigrants and low-income students and the global demand for a highly educated work force.

More money is desperately needed to reduce class sizes - Utah has the largest in the nation. Class-size reduction was a top priority of the Utah Board of Education, but legislators this year decided against adding funding until they get an audit on how effective past allocations have been.

That's fair, but reducing class sizes should be next year's priority.

The Legislature also failed to provide additional funds requested by the state board to teach students who don't speak English. That decision is shortsighted given the changing face of Utah's students. Especially in urban areas, students are less white, less middle-class and more foreign-born. Utah's Latino enrollment has jumped 120 percent in the past decade, while public-school enrollment overall has increased 9.7 percent.

It costs more to educate many of these new students - to teach them English and to make up for their lack of early-childhood education and, in many cases, help from parents at home.

The achievement gap between white and minority children is huge, about 20 points on some standardized tests, and the dropout rate is an astonishing 30 to 50 percent among Latinos, blacks, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans.

Our last-place spot in per-pupil spending is familiar territory. But we can't become comfortable there. As the needs of Utah children increase, so must the Legislature's commitment to providing the money that schools must have to do the job well.