Equalizing School Funds Could Prevent Lawsuits

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Utah Could Avoid Legal Battles Other States Face

(KCPW News) Lawmakers are working on create a plan today to equalize funding for school buildings because they believe it will help two proposed district splits succeed on November's ballot. But there's another reason to pass the plan: it could keep Utah out of court:

"The constitutional basis for attacks on the way we fund schools would be the Equal Protection clause," says retired U of U law professor Ed Firmage. "We've got plenty of problems within equality within our school districts."

Firmage says during the last decade, U.S. courts have leaned in favor of poor and minority students who claim their education suffers because funding for their school buildings doesn't equal that in wealthier districts.

State Senator Howard Stephenson says that's a major reason he advocates a statewide system of pooling taxes for school buildings and dividing the money according to enrollment growth. Currently, Utah's school districts draw money for their buildings from property taxes within their boundaries. Since minority and low-income families often cluster in certain communities with lower property values, Firmage says inequalities are inevitable:

"One school district next to another in St. Louis, for example, would have a tennis court, swimming pool and a faculty to make Princeton envy," says Firmage. "And right across the way an area with low income families with holes in the roof ten-feet across."

Firmage says Utah's school districts may not yet have such dramatic inequalities, but existing gaps will only widen without more equal funding for school buildings. Lawmakers today opted not to consider a statewide equalization plan, focusing instead on just Salt Lake County where two proposed school district splits hang in the balance.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom, Legislative Coverage, and 2007 Legislative Coverage. Copyright 2009 KCPW