"Meat and potatoes," he barked. "Let's get back to meat and potatoes. Let's spend the money on education and social services.

"Forget about all these morality issues. Forget about high school sex clubs and primates. Let's pay teachers more and make classes smaller. Get on with it."

The audience in the Olympus Junior High School auditorium burst into applause.

For two straight hours, constituents lined up to speak out to the three Democrats, sponsors of this town meeting. Arent, a state senator, and state representatives Moss and Jones share an area jagged in geography, but roughly comprising Holladay, Millcreek Township, Murray and a pinch of Midvale and lower Cottonwood Heights.

One woman requested more public school nurses. Amy Carlson, a young mother of a preschooler with developmental disabilities, asked for more money for early childhood intervention programs.

But over and over, the noise rang out for increased education spending - mostly on reducing the size of Utah's overflowing classrooms. One man complained that his daughter attends a kindergarten class with 22 children. A woman who followed him at the microphone responded: "You're lucky. My daughter's kindergarten class has 27."

'Tis the season for the town meeting - the one big effort many legislators launch during the annual session to take the pulse of the people. Arent, Moss and Jones host their meetings together and typically gather a respectable, bipartisan turnout. Their districts lean toward middle- and upper-middle-class income levels with a good slice of wealth thrown in. Jones reminded the crowd her Legislative District 36 also contains the second-greatest number of senior citizens in the state.

This year's meeting drew about 200 people.

From the action coming out of the Capitol halfway through this legislative session, it seems the game is all about tax breaks, tax reform and something about men and monkeys. But of the 30 or so Utahns who spoke out on this night, all of that ranks low on their list. Their mood might best be characterized as deeply skeptical - they fear their voices in support of a big shot for education will be ignored. Again.

Laura Pinnock, of Holladay, spoke for smaller school districts and a return to the neighborhood school. It's a subject that rankles these voters, as two of their elementary schools were closed this year by Granite District.

"I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there is a big groundswell of people who are fed up with being dead last in the nation every year in per pupil spending," Pinnock said. "There are coalitions and Web sites starting up and people are going to demand to be heard on this issue."

Arent had told me before the forum began that in light of a projected $1 billion budget surplus, her e-mail and telephone calls have been largely for education spending and scarcely for tax cuts and refunds. She told the crowd: "This year of all years we can finally put money into teacher salaries and classrooms."

That seemed to be what the vox populi was crying out for. And they certainly don't see extra money as any kind of windfall. Said one retired Granite School District teacher: "We don't have a surplus until we pay all of our bills. Education is our biggest bill. Let's pay it."

hmullen@sltrib.com or (801) 257-8610