FY 2016 Appropriation

During the 2007 General Session, the Legislature passed House Bill 382, "Amendments to Education Funding." Implementation of the bill provides "salary increases and bonuses for educators and bonuses for classified personnel employed by school districts, charter schools, and the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind." The ongoing Educator Salary Adjustment was implemented in recognition of the need to attract and retain qualified and dedicated teachers in the public education system. The funding for salary increases was ongoing; the funding for bonuses was one-time in FY 2008 only.

Educators qualifying for the ongoing salary adjustment include: classroom teachers, speech pathologists, librarians or media specialists, preschool teachers, school administrators, mentor teachers, teacher specialists or teacher leaders, guidance counselors, audiologists, psychologists, or social workers. The program envisioned that each qualifying educator would receive the same increase in ongoing salary adjustment. Through this process, the Legislature provided a greater percent increase to beginning school teachers, in an effort to bring up the average beginning teacher salary in the state.

Each qualifying teacher received an ongoing adjustment of $2,500 in FY 2008. The Legislature increased this amount by another $1,700 in FY 2009 for a total of $4,200 over the two-year period. The $1,700 increase did not include school-level administrators. In addition to the appropriated amounts, the Legislature allocated sufficient revenue to pay for the associated employer-paid benefit costs of retirement, worker's compensation, Social Security, and Medicare. Qualifying teachers are required to pay all personal payroll deductions as they do with their current base salary.

Formula -- Funding is distributed to school districts and charter schools in proportion to the total number of qualifying full-time-equivalent (FTE) educators in the district or charter school when compared to the state total.

Funding History

Funding Issues

Enrollment Growth

Total enrollment in the public education system is projected to increase by 7,951 students in FY 2016, with a total enrollment of 630,104. Additional students in the system increases the cost to certain programs as designated by statute or legislative precedent. Adjustments are made in the following programs based on consensus enrollment and WPU estimates: Basic School Program: $24,284,600 Funds an additional 8,380 WPUs in FY 2016. Related to Basic School Program: $10,698,800 Provides a 1.3% increase to the following programs: Pupil Transportation, Enhancement for At-Risk Students, Youth-in-Custody, Adult Education, Enhancement for Accelerated Students, and Concurrent Enrollment. Provides an increase of $4,459,600 to the Local Replacement and $83,200 to the Administrative Cost programs for charter schools. Finally, increases th eamount for the Educator Salary Adjustment by $3,429,500 to account for additional teachers hired by LEAs in fall 2014. Voted & Board Local Levy: $23,023,600 Adjusts funding levels to provide the state guarante rate for all qualifying WPUs. Increases the state guarantee rate as provided in statute from $27.92 per WPU to $30.11 per WPU. The total local property tax revenue contribution to the cost of the Basic School Program is expected to increase by $8,462,600 in FY 2016. This amount works as an off-set to the total increased cost of the Basic School Program above.
Appropriation Overview

During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $163,381,000 from all sources for Educator Salary Adjustments. This is a 0 percent change from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $163,381,000 from the General/Education Funds, a change of 0 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.

Appropriation Adjustments

In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:

DescriptionOngoingOne-Time Enrollment Growth$3,430,000$3,430,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$3,430,000$0Education Fund
$0$3,430,000Education Fund, One-time
Total enrollment in the public education system is projected to increase by 7,951 students in FY 2016, with a total enrollment of 630,104. Additional students in the system increases the cost to certain programs as designated by statute or legislative precedent. Adjustments are made in the following programs based on consensus enrollment and WPU estimates: Basic School Program: $24,284,600 Funds an additional 8,380 WPUs in FY 2016. Related to Basic School Program: $10,698,800 Provides a 1.3% increase to the following programs: Pupil Transportation, Enhancement for At-Risk Students, Youth-in-Custody, Adult Education, Enhancement for Accelerated Students, and Concurrent Enrollment. Provides an increase of $4,459,600 to the Local Replacement and $83,200 to the Administrative Cost programs for charter schools. Finally, increases th eamount for the Educator Salary Adjustment by $3,429,500 to account for additional teachers hired by LEAs in fall 2014. Voted & Board Local Levy: $23,023,600 Adjusts funding levels to provide the state guarante rate for all qualifying WPUs. Increases the state guarantee rate as provided in statute from $27.92 per WPU to $30.11 per WPU. The total local property tax revenue contribution to the cost of the Basic School Program is expected to increase by $8,462,600 in FY 2016. This amount works as an off-set to the total increased cost of the Basic School Program above.
Statute

The following statute governs the Educator Salary Adjustments.

  • UCA 53A-17a-153 -- defines the purpose of the salary adjustments and details qualifying educators. The statute provides direction to the State Board of Education on the distribution of the salary adjustment to qualifying educators within the school district or charter school.

Intent Language

HB0002: Item 2

The Legislature intends that the State Board of Education review the Pupil Transportation Allocation Formula and recommend ways to improve the formula to increase efficiency, simplify allocation methodology to school districts, and provide incentives for alternative transportation methods. The Legislature further intends that the State Board of Education report its recommendations to the Education Interim Committee and the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee by October 31, 2015.

HB0002: Item 2

The Legislature intends that the State Board of Education and State Board of Regents provide joint recommendations on how to ensure that each concurrent enrollment course is taught by a qualified instructor, that credits earned by students count towards major and minor degree requirements at state colleges and universities, and that students are advised on the transferability of credits to private and out of state institutions. The Legislature also intends that these recommendations be reported to the Education Interim Committee and the Public Education Appropriations Committee by October 31, 2015.

During each General Session, the Legislature reviews the program's appropriation to ensure sufficient funds for the number of qualifying educators. Supplemental adjustments may be made each year depending on the number of new educators qualifying for the adjustment.

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COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.