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Senator Hilliard disputes report claiming $41 million cut to public education funding
Summary
Senator Hilliard told the Senate the Legislature increased K–12 funding in recent years and disputed a 'Voices for Utah Children' report that said public education funding was cut by $41 million, saying federal and local funding changes explain any shortfall.
Senator Hilliard used a personal-privilege floor statement on Feb. 27 to challenge a news account and a report from Voices for Utah Children that, according to the senator, mischaracterized K–12 funding trends. "I was disturbed last Monday when I read every account in the local newspaper... apparently we cut public education funding by 49 or $41,000,000," Hilliard said, quoting the report. He asked colleagues to consider the full budget picture before repeating the claim.
Hilliard said the Legislature’s appropriations work had provided significant increases: "we ended up giving, over $250,000,000 ongoing revenue to Public Ed, plus about a hundred million dollars 1 time money." He also noted that committee calculations showed more than $200 million in state-level increases and that some year-to-year shortfalls cited in public reports reflected reductions in federal and local contributions rather than state appropriation cuts.
"We certainly, certainly have not cut public education by $41,000,000," Hilliard told colleagues and invited anyone with questions to meet to "help straighten that out." The president and other senators acknowledged the comments; the chamber proceeded to other calendar business.
Context: the floor remarks referenced a 'Utah children budget report for 2019' produced by an outside nonprofit and articles in local media; Hilliard emphasized committee-level budget decisions and the mix of ongoing versus one-time funding.
Next steps: Hilliard offered to meet with members or analysts to reconcile numbers; the record on precise dollar figures should be checked against appropriation bills and the fiscal analyst’s written report for a definitive accounting.
