Salt Lake City – Gov. Jon Huntsman proposed a $10.7 billion budget Tuesday, the largest in state history, with much of it dedicated to education.
Huntsman’s plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 raises spending by 6.7 percent and includes total surplus revenue of $1.6 billion from the remainder of this fiscal year and next.
Huntsman’s spending priorities rest with education. He’s proposing $3.4 billion for K-12 and $1.2 billion for colleges and universities.
“Utah’s school kids are definitely on Santa’s good list this year,” Huntsman said.
Huntsman is proposing $7.5 million for all-day kindergarten for low-income students, $25 million for a one-time teacher bonus and a 7 percent increase in per-student spending designed to raise teacher salaries.
Utah has long spent less per student than any other state and has some of the nation’s largest classrooms. One of Huntsman’s initiatives would designate $28.7 million to keep the student-teacher ratio to 20-to-1 in kindergarten through third grade.
“We’re very pleased with this proposal. He’s added many of the things we’ve talked about needing to be added in public schools,” said Kim Campbell, president of the Utah Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “In light of the huge surplus, we’re really looking for some heroes. The governor stepped up to the plate and changed the trajectory for education funding and we’re looking to the Legislature to do the same.”
Huntsman also wants to increase salaries at the state’s public colleges and universities. He’s proposing $38.2 million for higher-education employee raises.
“It is a very competitive environment on our college campuses in terms of (other schools) trying to raid talent,” he said. “Part of higher education is going to be invested considerably in key faculty and staff retention.”
Of the $38.2 million Huntsman is proposing for higher-education raises, $13.2 million is for key faculty and staff.
Huntsman also wants to continue working on Utah’s income-tax system. He’s setting aside $100 million to reduce the top rate to 5 percent from 5.35 percent in conjunction with a refundable earned income-tax credit.
Earlier this year, lawmakers created a two-track income-tax plan that allows taxpayers to choose whether to pay a lower rate of 5.35 percent without deductions or a higher rate of 6.98 percent with deductions.
The plan was criticized because the new low rate only benefited about 2 percent of taxpayers.
