Senate advances school-district accountability bill requiring district-by-district fund and testing reports
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Summary
House Bill 158 was advanced in the Utah Senate after the sponsor described new reporting rules requiring districts to report state funding by source and expenditures by category and to provide testing data by school and district; the committee report was adopted and the bill was placed on the third-reading calendar.
Under suspension of the rules, Senator McMullen moved House Bill 158 (school district accountability) to the top of the second-reading calendar and described it as an education-package bill focused on financial and testing accountability. "What it requires is it requires a complete statement of the state funds allocated to each of the state's 40 school districts by source including supplemental appropriation and a comparison between each specific allocation and expenditure from allocations by category for each district," McMullen said.
Supporters described the bill as an important step toward fiscal transparency and academic accountability; Senator Steele said the reporting is vital but cautioned that a companion measure (House Bill 321) was necessary to fully realize the accountability goals. McMullen said he would work to bring the companion bill forward.
The committee report adopting the House committee recommendation was approved, and the Senate placed HB158 on the third-reading calendar after receiving 26 ayes and no nays with 3 absent when the motion passed to move the bill forward.
