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Fine arts outreach groups ask for inflationary adjustment; LFA outlines program funding and reach
Summary
The committee heard from POPS and related organizations about the fine arts outreach line item that serves schools statewide; groups requested a 4% annual inflation adjustment beginning FY2026 estimated at about $487,000 split between two line items.
The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee reviewed the fine arts outreach line item on Jan. 30, 2025 and heard a request from professional outreach organizations to add an annual inflation adjustment to two line items. Kiki Hudson, a legislative fiscal analyst, told the committee the fine arts outreach line connects nonprofit professional arts organizations with Utah public schools and receives approximately $6.2 million in ongoing income tax fund support.
Mary Ann Lee, director of Tanner Dance and a POPS representative, described the consortium of 15 professional arts organizations that together provide performances, in-class residencies, teacher development and curriculum-aligned activities across the state. "POPs served 568,762 students and 34,593 teachers and we traveled more than a half a million miles," Lee said, citing last-year service totals.
Lee and colleagues asked the committee to add both POPS and the IC (provisional) group to the statute provision for annual inflationary adjustments under Utah Code 53F so participating organizations receive an annual cost adjustment beginning in FY2026. They said the joint FY2026 request amounts to roughly a 4% increase, about $487,000 split approximately equally between the two groups (about $244,000 and $245,000 respectively). The presenters said the increase is necessary to offset inflationary cost pressures such as transportation and materials.
Representative Carol Spackman Moss and other committee members described classroom visits they had observed and the programs' reported impacts on student engagement and cultural exposure. Committee members thanked organizations for statewide reach into both urban and rural classrooms.
Why it matters: The request would create an ongoing statutory adjustment to two fine-arts line items, increasing recurring education expenditures if adopted. The groups emphasized that state funding leverages 1:1 private match and that removing the adjustment in a prior budget process left the groups without the expected increase.
Next steps: Committee staff did not record a vote on the request during this session. Organizations said they will pursue reinstatement of the annual adjustment during the budget process.
