Half of Utah’s third graders can’t read as well as they should, and may struggle for the rest of their educational lives as a result.
More than 5,000 of our Utah neighbors with disabilities are on a waiting list for state services, and may stay there for years. And there may be thousands more who would be eligible for these services but haven’t even asked for aid.
But what has so far been the focus of our Legislature this session? Looking for ways to cut spending for these essential services, even as they plan yet another pointless, performative round of income tax cuts.
This is a deplorable situation. Utah deserves better, and Utah voters should demand it.
Our state university system is looking at a third straight year of funding cuts, even as enrollment grows and our economy, health care system and public services demand more trained people.
No one in power has articulated a reasonable need for these spending reductions, other than, perhaps, a resentment of wisdom and a lingering distaste for the fact that most institutions of higher education have a habit of reaching out to underrepresented populations and getting their children enrolled.
At the K-12 level, members of the Utah State Board of Education were upbraided by lawmakers recently for not finding an easy way to cut state school spending by $163 million.
Their cover story, which has more than a kernel of truth in it, is that state revenues stand to be reduced as a result of federal spending cuts, as well as other economic factors that may slow the flow of income.
Yet, in the face of this perceived revenue shortfall, lawmakers are once again talking about cutting state income tax rates for the sixth year in a row, this time from 4.55% to 4.45%. It is the state income tax that funds education, at all levels, and services to the disabled.
Why another cut? Because the Republican supermajority in the Legislature derives more pleasure from cutting things down than it does from building up our democracy, our society and our culture.
The most vulnerable among us are those suffering from some sort of mental or physical disability. Some 7,000 Utahns and their families are now getting some level of services to help them remain in their homes and make the most of their lives. To extend those services to the 5,300 humans on the state’s waiting list would cost, the state says, $74 million.
To have left the state income rate at the 5% it was six years ago would have avoided the loss of $1.4 billion in revenue. Way more than enough to reduce the waiting list for services to the disabled and avoid the need for cuts to education at all levels.
More than we would need to actually beef up our early-grade reading instruction, rather than just use the threat of keeping third-graders back as a cudgel to threaten teachers and parents with.
Call your lawmakers, and tell them the paltry amount of per-household income tax savings they are promising won’t help anyone the way a modern educational system and support for the disabled would help everyone.
Editorials represent the opinions of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
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