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Leavitt seeks funding for 100 more Centennial Schools, class‑size reduction and $29M for statewide technology network
Summary
The governor proposed adding 100 Centennial Schools, $5M for class-size reduction (bringing total near $20M), expanded scholarships and guidance-counselor funding, plus $29M to build a statewide information network linking classrooms, hospitals and government.
Governor Michael O. Leavitt told the legislature his budget will expand education initiatives and accelerate a statewide technology plan.
On K–12, Leavitt proposed funding another 100 Centennial Schools and second-year funding for those that met their commitments. He said the budget includes an additional $5,000,000 targeted at class‑size reduction and brings total class‑size funds to nearly $20,000,000. Leavitt said the administration would fund textbook fees as part of fee-waiver relief but left district-level fee administration to local school districts.
Leavitt also cited the Centennial Scholarships program to help seniors transition to college and proposed $500,000 in scholarships for minority students. To strengthen school counseling, the budget includes $1.5 million to improve counselor staffing, noting an existing counselor-to-student ratio of about 1,200 to 1.
On higher education, Leavitt said the state has invested about $1.5 billion on campuses and serves about 75,000 students; he proposed redirecting a small portion of mineral-lease funds (about $300,000) to county-driven research vouchers and $150,000 to smaller institutions.
The governor proposed $29,000,000 in new technology funding to complete the ETI initiative and begin constructing a multi‑year statewide wide‑area network connecting classrooms, hospitals, courts and state government. “Imagine if you will every classroom in this state interconnected,” he said, describing training and incentives for local contributions.
Leavitt said the technology initiative will be multi-year and include public and higher education as well as general government and the private sector.
