Utah schools to receive record $82M from trust land funds

Stock image | Photo by BrianAJackson/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Utah schools next year will receive the largest-ever amount of funding from the Permanent State School Fund.

About $82.66 million will be distributed in July to schools, including those in Washington and Iron counties, State Treasurer David Damschen announced in September. That is a 12 percent increase from the current academic year’s funding of $74.25 million and a 29 percent increase from last year’s distribution of $64.25 million.

The funding comes from the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, which has helped generate nearly $1.9 billion in revenue to help grow the Permanent School Fund to $2.4 billion since its creation in 1994, according to a press release from the Utah Office of the State Treasurer. Trust lands are intended to support state institutions like public schools.

All K-12 schools will receive 10 percent of the $82.66 million under the School LAND Trust Program, with the remainder distributed on a per-pupil basis, Deena Loyola, information officer for Utah Trust Lands Administration, told St. George News.

For the current academic year, Washington County School District received $3.22 million while Iron County School District got about $1.1 million. The amount each school received in both districts can be viewed by clicking here.

The amount of funding each district will receive from the $82.66 million next year has yet to be determined, Loyola said.

How each school will use the money depends on what the school’s community council – comprised of parents, teachers and the principal – determines are the greatest academic needs of its students, according to the press release.

For example, Dixie High School plans to use its funding next year to continue having a coordinator facilitate its Rebound program, which allows students additional opportunities to improve in math, science and language arts.

“The Rebound coordinator will monitor and contact each student to ensure that the student attends teacher intervention requests,” Dixie High’s plan reads. “The coordinator will also meet with students who fail to attend Rebound and contact parents to ensure that academic needs and interventions are being met.”

The School Land Trust website has a list of how each school plans to use its funding.

Part of the funding for Cedar City High School will be used to increase ACT participating students’ composite scores by two points. To do that, teachers build a curriculum, advertise and teach an ACT prep course two weeks before the actual exam.

To learn more about the Permanent State School Fund, go to the Utah State Treasurer website.

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Twitter: @STGnews | @markeekaenews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

 

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9 Comments

  • hiker75 October 6, 2018 at 5:29 am

    So, why do they want a 10 cent a gallon increase in gas tax?

  • Vic October 6, 2018 at 6:31 am

    If the schools have this fund and it is increasing each year…..Why?……..do we need an increase in gasoline tax?

  • Proud Rebel October 6, 2018 at 8:22 am

    And yet they still want to raise the tax on fuel to “benefit the schools.” There will never be “enough” money to satisfy them.

  • beacon October 6, 2018 at 9:40 am

    Yes, the gasoline tax is an issue but also an issue is SITLA’s desire to build a huge “resort” in Ivins near Vista Charter School, the location of which was poorly planned and requires some students to walk along Puerto Drive where there are no sidewalks so kids have to walk in the street. The resort development, if allowed by Ivins leaders, would add additional traffic to an already-busy road that has vacation resorts and associated traffic springing up at the Santa Clara/Ivins boundary like bad weeds. SITLA can assert that they exist for the benefit of Utah’s school children but pushing a development such as this that puts kids at additional risk flies in the face of that assertion.

  • Not_So_Much October 6, 2018 at 9:47 am

    Why would anyone vote to increase any tax at this time?

  • tazzman October 6, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    Yet, despite this record, they want to increase the gas tax. Gee, brilliant move Herbert.

  • KR567 October 6, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    Hey If it even rains on Easter Island they’re going to add a gas tax. if a squirrel dies they’re going to add a gas tax

  • WaitingForAMadManInABlueBox October 6, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    I don’t see any of our county’s charter schools on there.

    • Red2Blue310 October 7, 2018 at 12:47 pm

      Look on your property taxes for taxes paid on charter, which by the way, should not be paid ther because they are private.

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