Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said his first Governor's Education Summit held Tuesday helped him set a baseline he can use to compare Utah schools' annual progress. Utah students' performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress appears to exceed national averages in reading and math, the governor said. However, when scores are separated by race and ethnicity or by socio-economic status, Utah falls below national averages in all categories. Huntsman hopes to change that by creating more rigorous high-school curriculum with more math and science for all students, and by strengthening teacher and principal training, among other aspects. "Why have this summit? It's important to bring policymakers together. We can all find common ground regardless of where we are on the ideological spectrum," he said. Educators and legislators in attendance discussed other options for improving education, including decreasing class size, providing incentive pay for teachers in challenging classrooms and increasing parental involvement. Funding such improvements is always the challenge. "I can't predict what my fellow legislators will do, but my sense is education funding increases are in the future," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, co-chairman of the Legislature's Public Education Appropriations Committee. - Sheena McFarland