Utah Spends Less Than Nevada on Education

[bruce from bryce]

Whatever happened to the monies for sale of Utah land that were supposed go to fund Utah's education programs?

I knew that Nevada was low (47th) but Utah is lower than them.

What gives?

[stefan]

bruce, the answer has been quite simple.

UTAH IS STINGY WHEN IT COMES TO EDUCATION.

it's appalling really

the question is, do the people care that their politicians are stingy about education?

[offpiste]

its been that way for years we are dead last or near there every year.

[Mtnman1830]

I volunteer at my son's school for a few hours a week. I can't believe what they don't have, and also what the teachers put in out of her own pocket.

[KapitanSparrow]

I say open some casinos and use the revenue on schools

[Sombeech]

Whatever happened to the monies for sale of Utah land that were supposed go to fund Utah's education programs?

That's a very, very, very sore spot. Big time screw up. Our education would be funded completely independent of taxpayer money if polititians didn't get greedy.

I just happened to find out about this a few weeks ago. There's still a big chunk coming to the schools from this land, but it could have been all.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Well...the cash should've been spent on what it was supposed to be going to....but....Washington D.C. spends a ton of money on education and it doesn't do any good. On the other hand, Utah spends less, and gets more bang for the buck in the way of test scores. Education is just as much values and work ethic based as anything else. Frankly, from what I've heard, most of the money going into education never makes it to the schools themselves, and rarely improves a kids education. I'd like to see more oversight in this area, to make sure that kids are getting up-to-date history books and things like that. Math stays the same, but computers, history, and the sciences are always being updated.

[Alex]

Keep in mind the funding for computer, history and whatever else, all come from different budgets allocated by the state.

FYI, the legislature is planning to cut the state budget now and guess what's going to get the cut first.... Utah Education. It's not good enough to be almost the worst in the country in the amount of money we spend on education, we need to be the very last one!

[JP]

Will giving more money to teachers actually make kids smarter

[Alex]

Does more money to teachers actually make kids smarter

Yes, we can hire smarter teachers who are fleeing to other boarding states which pay at least 20% higher for the same job.

[JP]

Yes, we can hire smarter teachers who are fleeing to other boarding states which pay at least 20% higher for the same job.

Okay, what do you do with the dumber teachers that already have the jobs in Utah, give them more money How many are actually fleeing Utah? Other things would have to be considered before you would obviously flee, like a home (selling and then buying), family, cost of living elsewhere, etc.

[Alex]

Cost of living in Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming was about the same as Utah. The salaries were 20-30% higher. All the newly graduated teachers from Utah colleges weren't invested in the state enough not to take jobs outside of Utah.

So we were losing good teachers for a while. I am sure it has changed in the last 2 months with Nevada going bankrupt and the cost of living going up in Colorado. But the fact is, Utah teacher salaries are pathetic to say the least. I really don't know why anyone wants to be a teacher now days.

Besides keeping good teachers in Utah, spending/giving money to the teachers would provide better tools/books/educational material for students to use. Which directly affects the students learning curves. Also, student per teacher ratio is a joke here. Some of the classes in our district is pushing 39-42 students per teacher...

Sources:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=662567
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=664785
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=881897

[JP]

spending/giving money to the teachers would provide better tools/books/educational material for students to use. Which directly affects the students learning curves. Also, student per teacher ratio is a joke here. Some of the classes in our district is pushing 39-42 students per teacher..

The teachers wouldn't be spending the monies on the books, tools and educational materials for the students...that should be coming from the budget. Yes, some teachers go out of their way and spend their own pocket change to provide certain things, again that is a few. And they shouldn't be doing that, those things should be coming from the schools.

Teachers here in Connecticut make a pretty damn good living and with benefits to boot. Depending on the grade, you can see classrooms here with students averaging in the 40's per classroom.

[Alex]

Should is the key word. I have worked in a school district for 7 years, I was married to my wife who was a teacher all her life for over 15 years. So ya you can tell me about should all you want.

Dedicated teachers spend a lot more than "the budget" allows on the classroom.

[JP]

Dedicated teachers spend a lot more than "the budget" allows on the classroom.

I'm not doubting that...I do have an issue with the "giving teachers more money will make kids smarter" stance. The government just gave banks a whole lot of cash and didn't get us anywhere

[offpiste]

we spend less, get better scores for now. our population is getting closer to the norm in reference to other states and economy.

For a majority of white middle class students our test scores are low, my opinion. we should be blowing away other states.

Will more money help yep. Spent on teachers to retain them yep, or keep better benefits. in our area however most of our teachers leave due to husband jobs or motherhood.

accountability is getting better but money is still lost and we do need to do a better job at getting it to the classroom. the way it is set up though a lot of the money is ear marked for certain things and out of the control of the local school, state says where money is to be spent. same with fed money that comes in.

poor teachers need to be re-mediated or moved out of the system, but local unions make it near impossible to do so.

my .02

[JP]

poor teachers need to be re-mediated or moved out of the system, but local unions make it near impossible to do so.

The double-edged sword. The Unions protect all, the good and the bad.

There's not much you can do about the "Motherhood" issue. It doesn't matter what workforce you talk about, females when they marry usually have bearing children on their minds. Some leave the workforce for good, some return after a year or so. In any event, that always hurts the workforce, a person missing is always costing something, somewhere down the line.

[offpiste]

yep, to all that on motherhood. my thought was it isn't so much the paycheck as it is priority to be a mom. which is great.

[JP]

yep, to all that on motherhood. my thought was it isn't so much the paycheck as it is priority to be a mom. which is great.

Absolutely

[Wasatch Rebel]

Well you can check out all the Utah education stats and facts right here: http://utaheducationfacts.com