The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Utah Legislature, in a special session, to drastically reduce the amount of state funding for public education for this school year. The big problem is that, because of the pandemic, schools will actually need more funding to adequately do their job of properly educating students.
Therefore, we need wealthy Utahns, big Utah businesses and charitable organizations to step up and help provide the money our schools desperately need. Businesses that want to be responsible Utah corporate citizens should include Huntsman Chemical Company, Rio Tinto, The Utah Jazz and Larry H. Miller Auto Group, Zions Bank and Merit Medical. Charitable organizations could include the Eccles Family Trust, Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Salt Lake, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Catholic Church of Utah. Wealthy Utahns who could probably afford a major contribution to this vital and most worthy project include Jon Huntsman Jr., Sen. Mitt Romney, Gail Miller, Scott Anderson, Kem Gardner, Fred Lampropoulos, Donovan Mitchell, Thomas Wright, and if they are still alive, O.C. Tanner and Stephen Covey.
The Utah Department of Education will need to set up a special trust fund to collect, prioritize and distribute these donations. A good makeup of trustees for this fund would be two public school teachers, two public school principals, two or three businesspersons, two state legislators (one from each party), one parent and one student.
Working, middle class Utahns may want to donate some to a local, nearby school.
William E. Fisher, Salt Lake City