SALT LAKE CITY — A bill and companion funding request in the Utah State Legislature could help schools in some of the state's fastest-growing communities.
Senate Bill 189, sponsored by Sen. Emily Buss, FWD-Eagle Mountain, tries to help school districts in some of Utah's high growth areas that are finding themselves in a conundrum.
"In Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain... we’re anticipating between 230 to 250% growth over a 30 year period," said Julie King, the president of the newly-formed Lake Mountain School District Board of Education. "It’s just really unprecedented. Because school districts cannot charge impact fees, schools are infrastructure, we’re just seeing a significant gap in the amount of funding we can get to actually provide support and building so we can provide quality education for our students."
The income tax is a popular thing on Utah's Capitol Hill to cut to provide financial relief to families (and it's earmarked for public education and some social services). School districts can raise property taxes, but that isn't always popular — especially when you're raising it on homes already built in anticipation of properties that have yet to be built. So Sen. Buss is proposing to create a special fund for school districts in high-growth areas to cover land acquisition for classrooms and infrastructure needs like buses.
"School districts with a high amount of growth taking on that burden of the new housing developments can have a little bit of support to just not be so overcrowded," Sen. Buss told FOX 13 News on Friday.
Sen. Buss is seeking $15 million for the high growth fund. She said she envisioned it in communities like Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Tooele, Brigham City and Cedar City where development is booming. The money would be handed out in the form of grants.
"Really, we’re solving a statewide housing shortage," King said. "So this is a statewide issue, it deserves statewide support."
SB189 won unanimous approval from the Senate Education Committee and now goes to the full Senate for consideration. The funding request also received a warm reception from Sen. Heidi Balderree, R-Saratoga Springs, who chairs the legislature's Public Education Appropriations Committee. She pointed out her community will soon open another high school that, because of the high growth, will already be at capacity and the demand will only keep growing.
"Something’s gotta change," Sen. Balderree said. "The growth is unprecedented and I think my city alone, Saratoga Springs, 10% of the state’s growth is in my city."
