Utah arts education program sees Spy Hop-sized cut after lawmaker criticizes ‘Queer Prom’ event

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Utah lawmakers support cutting a chunk of funding to a program that brings arts organizations into public schools, exposing students across the state to dance, theater, film, music and more.

The cut totaled $271,900 — the exact amount of money the Professional Outreach Program in the Schools (POPS) specifically allocates to Spy Hop, an arts center that offers afterschool and summer programs for kids.

It came two weeks after lawmaker Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, criticized Spy Hop for holding a “Queer Prom” event at its Salt Lake City headquarters in 2024. He has argued lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure all vendors align with “legislative priorities.”

The “Queer Prom” event, POPS officials told MacPherson, was not part of the programming Spy Hop offers in schools as a longtime partner.

Still, MacPherson asked Sky Hop to provide more information about any materials it shares with students and other details about its curriculum.

In a meeting Tuesday, MacPherson asserted he never received that information. So he told the subcommittee that recommends the budget for public schools that he supported shaving exactly $271,900 off POPS’ budget.

“We’d asked for some additional information, including some of the take-home papers they send to their students,” MacPherson said. “They have not yet provided that to us.”

But Spy Hop did send that information to MacPherson — in the form of an email that followed an in-person meeting between Spy Hop’s executive director, MacPherson and Rep. Jason Thompson, R-River Heights.

The email included a list of the schools Spy Hop serves, copies of handouts and an offer to answer any more questions MacPherson may have.

MacPherson apparently hadn’t seen the email at the time of the subcommittee’s vote, which Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, tried to reverse.

She said she felt the Spy Hop program was being unfairly “targeted” and motioned to restore the funding. All Republicans on the subcommittee rejected her attempt.

Spy Hop officials declined a Salt Lake Tribune request for comment.

The organization has received POPS funding since 2014. It’s one of 15 arts nonprofits including the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Symphony and Ballet West that receives a piece of the roughly $6 million the state provides POPS.

MacPherson later acknowledged Spy Hop sent the email, but he said his intern moved it before he saw it. The email was also resent, which MacPherson told The Salt Lake Tribune he didn’t see until after the vote.

He argued the email doesn’t resolve a larger issue that stems from two years ago, when members of the budget subcommittee asked POPS officials to verify they were complying with state policies against funding “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs — documentation he asserts they never received.

He added the cut did not explicitly target Spy Hop. POPS can still decide how it wants to allocate what remains — including providing some money to Spy Hop — should the cut be finalized.

“There is a legislative priority here, and if we’re looking at reductions and we’re not getting transparency from one of our organizations, it needs to be assumed that we may put you on the chopping block,” MacPherson said.

Following the vote, Escamilla told The Tribune that she had seen the email Spy Hop sent to MacPherson and argued Spy Hop shouldn’t be treated differently than other organizations that go through the budgeting process.

POPS is among dozens of education programs facing possible funding cuts next school year after the Legislature asked every state agency to model what a 5% cut would look like. The Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee is looking to build up a reserve in case of a financial downturn.

K-12 education, which receives the most funding from the state, has uniquely been told it doesn’t need to model the full 5% — which would amount to $295 million of the state’s $5.9 billion schools budget.

Instead, lawmakers directed USBE to plan to cut $163 million. The board came up with two proposals that members presented to the subcommittee last month.

The plan the subcommittee recommended — with the POPS funding reduced — now goes to the Legislature’s full budget committee, made up of House and Senate leadership.

Escamilla said that she hopes that committee will restore POPS funding.