Tax accountant Keith Prescott, chairman of Gov. Walker's Tax Review Commission, told the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission he philosophically could not support so-called earmarking of tax revenue because it limits flexibility in meeting changing fiscal conditions. But the vital importance of a well-educated workforce to Utah's future has swayed him, Prescott said.

"I'm conflicted by the fact that this funding is for our most precious resource that most controls the future of this state," said Prescott, who ostensibly had come on behalf of a Tax Reform Task Force subcommittee to argue for removing the historic link between education and income tax revenues. "The framers knew about the pressures the legislators would be subject to from special interests."

Some members of the Constitutional Revision Commission, however, supported the education earmark because the link has become little more than a symbolic fiction.

A 1996 change allowed the Legislature to also use income tax revenue to support higher education.

That modification effectively allows lawmakers to divert general fund money, previously spent on higher education, to other needs.

On the other hand, former legislator Byron Harward said lawmakers, aware of the importance of education, regularly supplement education funding out of the general fund.

PTA spokeswoman Rhonda Rose said earmarking keeps lawmakers honest.

"Removal of earmarking makes it so we cannot track education funding," she said.