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Senate passes house education budget amendments (HB 5,012) after floor presentation by Sen. Hilliard
Summary
The Utah Senate considered and passed House Bill 5,012, public education budget amendments, after a floor presentation by Sen. Hilliard outlining a more-than-2% base increase, a 1.8% WPU increase and program trims and reallocations; the bill was returned to the House for the speaker’s signature.
The Utah Senate on Monday passed House Bill 5,012, a set of public education budget amendments the House transmitted to the Senate.
Sen. Hilliard presented the measure and summarized key elements: an increase to the base public-education budget of more than 2 percent from the prior year, a 1.8 percent increase in the WPU (weighted pupil unit), about $50 million for enrollment growth and approximately $60.5 million described in the transcript as tied to the WPU increase. Hilliard also described fiscal adjustments including a $13 million change to LEA administrative-cost allocations with mitigations for smaller districts and charter schools, termination of a $6.5 million math-and-science program, and a reported $42 million in unspent special-education funds that the sponsor said could help fill budget gaps.
"We found $42,000,000 in special ed money that has not been spent," Hilliard said, describing that discovery as a factor that helped the package address shortfalls without larger across-the-board cuts. Hilliard acknowledged the economic downturn from COVID-19 and said the Legislature faces about $750,000,000 less ongoing revenue than anticipated earlier in the year; he framed the bill as an effort to protect core funding while giving school districts more local flexibility.
The Senate considered the bill under suspension of the rules and took a roll-call vote. The clerk’s readbacks in the transcript show slight variation in reported tallies (different readbacks in the transcript indicate 26–27 yay votes and 1–2 absent in different lines), but the Senate declared the bill passed and returned it to the House for the speaker’s signature.
The floor discussion was abbreviated; the sponsor said he would circulate talking points and be available to answer questions. The bill’s changes include program terminations and reallocations that district leaders and education stakeholders will now consider as local budgets are finalized.
