Amendment A will still be on the ballot but votes won’t be counted
Oct 17, 2024 10:23AM ● By Becky Ginos
Utah has some of the highest class sizes in the nation but is near the bottom for funding. Courtesy photo
Another amendment died last week right before ballots were set to be mailed out to voters on Oct. 15. Amendment A, a measure that would remove the earmark on tax revenue for education to allow the state to fund other needs, will be on the ballot but any votes cast will not be counted. This came after 3rd District Court Judge Laura Scott ruled that the state failed to meet the constitutional requirement that sufficient public notice must be published in newspapers statewide for the proposed amendment to appear on the ballot.
“Legislative Defendants acknowledge that there is no basis to argue that the newspaper publication requirement of Article XXIII of the Utah Constitution was met with respect to Amendment A,” Scott wrote. Scott made the same ruling on Amendment D that voided it. Her ruling was upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in September. Amendment D will also appear on the ballot but votes will not be counted.
The legislature passed Amendment D in a Special Session held in August that would have changed the Utah Constitution and given the legislature the ability to repeal or amend citizen initiatives.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Amendment D and given the notice for all the amendments were the same, the Legislature chose to file a joint brief allowing the district court to resolve the case. This action aimed to prevent unnecessary expenditure of tax dollars,” said Senate President J. Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Schultz in a joint statement.
John Robison, who has been in education for 40 years and has spent the last eight years on the Davis School District Board of Education, believes the court got it right.
“I’m not representing the board on this issue, it’s my personal opinion,” he said. “This is a difficult thing. When you have a constitutional guarantee in writing the law has to happen. If you take that away you’re beholden to what the legislature decides to do. You’re dealing with a legislature that in four to five years could have whole different legislators.”
Legislators in the past are drawing on personal feelings and experiences, he said. “New people come in and say ‘we’re not the ones who made that commitment to you. We’re not beholden to what previous leaders said.’”
It’s going from an absolute guarantee to no guaranteed amount, said Robison. “They can resource that money how they want because it’s only a verbal commitment. I don’t know how it could be better than guaranteeing that all income tax money goes to education.”
When you look at the public in the state of Utah, they support an increase in taxes if it goes directly to kids, he said. “There’s a heavy emphasis on education here. The public absolutely agrees it should go into classes and for teachers and that they’ll vote to raise taxes to do that.”
Utah is in the bottom two or three in the nation for education funding, said Robison. “We’re the sixth highest ranked best for education based on test scores and graduation rates but if you look at the top five in funding, New York spends $25,000 per kid and the closest one to us spends $17,000. We spend $7,800 per kid, $4,800 WPU and $3,000 from property taxes.”
What would happen if Utah was funded like that? “We have the highest class sizes. It’s a mistake to take away from public education.”
The legislature has spent a huge amount of money to fund education but they’re just doing exactly what the law says, said Robison. “It’s exactly what they should have spent. It’s a tad bit misleading. If you break it down over time, they should be spending that much money.”
Amendment A really helped crystallize in the public’s mind that they need to be a voice on how they can help and what to do, he said. “I think it’s a win. Moving forward educators should continue to work with the legislature because they know what the needs are.”
The legislature certainly wants to do what’s right for kids, said Robison. “Educators need to have a seat at the table to explain what they need. I hope the legislature will continue to listen and engage with us to try and resolve some of the critical problems we have moving forward.”λ