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House amends school base budget after heated floor debate over growth funding
Summary
Lawmakers debated amendments to the minimum school program on Jan. 25, focusing on whether routine growth items — including applied technology and class‑size reduction — belong in the base budget. A substitute amendment to add two growth items passed and the House later circled the bill for further floor amendment.
The Utah House on Jan. 25 amended the minimum school program base budget (Senate Bill 3) after a contentious floor debate over which growth items belong in a base budget. Representative Gordon Snow, sponsor of the bill, proposed numeric corrections to line items in the base budget; Representative Jim Morgan (substitute mover) urged adding growth funding for applied technology and classroom‑size reduction so the base budget would include student‑driven increases.
“Those are the items that are above the line that we funded last year,” Representative Morgan said when urging members to support Amendment No. 3. “We’ve always funded them in the past.”
Opponents warned that amending base budget bills defeats the stated purpose of passing a pared‑down base bill. Representative Ron Bigelow said the body should pass base budgets as written and leave additional choices for separate budget bills. “I am opposing all amendments to these base budget bills,” he said, arguing the floor should avoid prolonged debate on items the committees can handle.
A key part of the debate centered on conflicting figures for the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) growth: members cited earlier estimates ranging from roughly $75 million to roughly $59 million and asked for clearer explanation of the data behind those variations. Representative Eurer pressed for transparency, saying the body needs “to know how the variations took place” so members can make informed decisions.
After a division and open voting, the substitute motion to amend (Amendment No. 3) passed on the floor vote. The House then voted to “circle” the bill — a procedural pause to allow additional work or amendment — after some members asked for recalculations of certain WPU‑related lines.
What happens next: The bill was circled for further floor action and is expected to return with the committee’s amendment language and any additional clarifying adjustments. The floor votes recorded the substitute amendment passing (71 yes, 3 no) and the motion to circle passing (52 yes, 21 no).
