Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee approves 15 motions shaping FY2025–26 education budget

The Public Education Appropriation Subcommittee unanimously approved 15 motions on Tuesday that together shape committee recommendations for the final FY2025 and FY2026 public education budget, including approval of federal fund receipts, several reallocations and statutory changes.

The actions affect the roughly $8.3 billion annual public education budget — about 30% of the state budget — and were adopted as the committee worked within a constraint of zero new ongoing dollars and limited one-time funding for the coming year. Senator Heidi Baldry, chair of the subcommittee, opened the meeting by praising Utah educators and reviewing recent outcome data, then asked staff and committee members to move through the proposed motions.

Key decisions approved by the committee include adoption of the State Board of Education’s estimated federal fund receipts for FY2025–26; approval of fee schedules (including fees for the schools for the deaf and the blind); technical line-item reallocations; and several pieces of intent and statutory language to guide distribution of one-time and ongoing funds.

Among the larger budget moves, the committee approved a motion to reallocate $269,269,300 appropriated for the Professional Staff Program (Senate Bill 1, item 27, 2025 General Session) into the Flexible Allocation Program in the Minimum School Program and to repeal the related statutory provision (53F-2-305). The committee also approved reversing a double appropriation and removing $50,700 from the education budget that now will be managed through the Tax Commission for the autism awareness account, and it approved a direct award intent for Utah State University Extension of $225,000 for the informal science education enhancement program.

The subcommittee adopted intent language and statutory drafting requests that affect how…