House Rejects Charter School Funding Change

03.11.2010 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) The Utah House and Senate may spend a lot of time hashing out their differences over how to fund charter schools this evening.  This morning, House lawmakers removed a controversial proposal the Senate put in the education budget last night.  It would shift property tax dollars on a per-student basis from local school districts to charter schools over time.  Representative Ron Bigelow said lawmakers shouldn’t implement such a major change on the last day of the session.

“That is a significant policy debate, that rather than have that the last day of the session, we should have that over the summer,” said Bigelow.

But Representative Craig Frank argued the debate over revising charter school funding has already been dragged out long enough.  He expressed frustration at the idea of delaying it further.

“This year is last year’s next year,” Frank said.  “This is the year to fix this, and the original bill is the way to fix that.”

After taking out the revised funding for charter schools, House lawmakers approved the education budget in a 71-to-4 vote.  Now, the Senate and House will have to reach an agreement before midnight.